Dr. David Altman Teaches Leadership

Aliza Owen is today's blogger.

Leadership

We are listening to David Altman speak to us about creative leadership.

We are looking at images and picking out the aspects of leadership within them. Independence, courage, helping others, and hard work are only a few of the characteristics that were plucked from the pictures. The pictures do not necessarily show well-known leaders in them, but images of everyday people and things that can be interpreted as the symbol of a leader. This first activity is showing that you can find a leader’s characteristics in everyone or everything.

Next, we are discussing what makes someone a leader. Is every Rabbi a leader for simply being a Rabbi, or do they need to have a certain way about them that makes them a leader? Not every person was born a leader, but they can become one if they live up to the characteristics that belong to a leader; or maybe they were not destined to ever be a leader. A leader cannot have too much power, either, or they may overpower another and become evil with power.

Now, we pick up cards with quotes on them that describe our perspectives on what a leader does. From going and fighting for what they want to accomplish, to finding the adventure within, all of these quotes show us that a leader does not simply sit around and wait for someone else to do something they wanted to happen; they take action and do things themselves.
            Lastly, we were given cards with characteristics and were told to put them in order of which we always, often, sometimes, seldom, and never value. We arranged our “always” columns onto one table and looked for similarities. Some of the words that came up the most were freedom, wisdom, family, justice, and love; but the words spirituality, adventure, and responsibility were used sparingly. This shows that not all of us are the same, but we also do value similar things.