Lessons on Management

Most of us are in management. For starters we manage ourselves – or should be managing ourselves. Then, we manage our children. We manage around our spouses :-). Then perhaps there are those who manage others at work. Even if you are not at the top of the management chain but manage someone immediately at the next tier, you are still managing.

This week we read two Torah portions, Behar and Bechukosai. Behar means The Mountain. The Mountain we speak of here is the famous mountain of Sinai fame. Sinai’s greatness was its’ humility as the Midrash tells us. A mountain of power but humble at the same time.

Bechukosai means statutes or decrees. The indication of the word and context is a word that connotes detail.

I believe in these two words, these two Torah portion names we have the secret to management.

On the one hand there needs to be a belief in the one you are managing (including yourself) that you are a mountain! You are powerful! You have unlimited G-d given potential! It’s not an ego driven power, but a power that when recognized causes you to become humble. “Look at the talents that G-d has given me. I must have the ability to do something powerful and to make a real impact”. When we believe in ourselves in that manner, when we believe in our employees in that manner, when we believe in our children in that manner, they are all on the road to amazing success.

Now we need to bring the knowledge that makes us their manager to the table. That knowledge is by and large life’s experiences. As a manager at work, we have experience that we need to draw on to educate our employees how to actualize their potential. As parents we need to bring our experience to actualize the potent that lies inside this child.

When we believe in the amazing G-d given potential and incorporate the right amount of technical guidance, then we can stand back and let people succeed beyond anything we can imagine.

Think about it; if someone believed in your amazing potential to give you the confidence in your ability and then gave you just the right amount of technical support, where would you be today? Where could you be in a year, in five?

Let’s manage G-d-like and watch the world become a better place around us!