J3: Leadership

Issue Navigation:

Leading and following

- Ask for a show of hands to see if your audience see themselves as leaders or followers. Ask a few of them to explain why. Do any of them say that they are both?

- Explain how every Jew can become a great leader and a great follower at the same time. Is this a contradiction? Are the qualities required for each opposites or just different?

Three way biblical leadership

- Draw a three column table on the board with the titles: Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Ask your audience to call out all the stories they know about each biblical character and write them up as one phrase summaries (e.g. burning bush, 10 plagues, singing at the red Sea etc.) in the appropriate columns. Now use these to describe the different kinds of leadership displayed by these characters.

- Discuss the importance of having more than one leader for in a group. Each one will have different qualities and can bring different skills and perspective to the role.

Hero worship

- Cut out some magazine adverts that show famous people endorsing products. Show these to your audience and ask them if this kind of advertising works. If they think not, point out that the product manufacturers might disagree, after all, they are willing to spend many thousands of pounds to advertise in this way!

- Can you set up a video for your programme? If you can, then play them two or three adverts that use famous people in them. Analyse each one and try to work out, with your audience, what exactly is the message of the advert. The recent series of "Nike" sportswear adverts are very interesting. Many people have seen these so you can discuss them even without a video, but make sure you describe them accurately before talking about them:

(a) Seeing magic Johnson make a basket has become a spiritual experience. The advert shows him in slow motion with the whole world watching and a soprano choir singing in the background. Johnson's success in sport is thus linked with some kind of divine higher ability. He becomes a kind of god, which is how many Americans like to see him.

(b) I am Tiger Woods - Showing different teenagers all saying: "I am Tiger Woods" has a very clear message. Woods is a new golfing champion, the youngest ever to win so many titles. The advert shows young people telling themselves they can be like him and therefore they too can be great. It is unashamed hero worship. But is it healthy?

False messiahs

- Can your audience think of any fallen idols? How about Kurt Cobain or River Phoenix? Both of these people caused their own death despite being loved by millions of teenagers across the world. What effect does this have on their fans? Are there responsibilities that go with being a public figure?

- Why do we turn our heroes into godlike figures? Is it a failing in us? Find out some "obsessive fan" stories to tell your audience. Discuss with them why this happens.

- Ask your audience if they know what a false messiah is. Tell them about Zvi and Frank and ask them if this could happen today.

Leadership qualities

- Brainstorm: What characteristics does it take to be a good leader? Write all their suggestions on the board. Now ask them to try and categorise all of these qualities. Discuss different methods of doing this. Suggest the Will, Knowledge, Skill approach. Do all the qualities on the board broadly fit into these three categories. Do you need a fourth?

- One man's meat is another man's poison: How much do leadership qualities depend on the situation? Can they really ever be generalised?

Leadership training

- Brainstorm: What are the qualities of an ideal teacher? This is a very informative exercise. Pupils often criticise their teachers so it is interesting to see what they think they should be like. Analyse how sensible the list is. Ask: Is it possible to learn to be like this or do you have to be born with it?

- Use the story of Ender Wiggin to discuss what makes a good leader. How important is loneliness? Give examples of people who have been through great hardships in their lives and become great leaders. e.g. Nelson Mandela and Anatoly Sharansky. How necessary were these hardships in making these people great?

In every generation

- Brainstorm: Who are the great leaders of Jewish history? e.g. Abraham (JPB II:4), Joshua, King David, Rabbi Akiva, Yochanan ben Zakkai (JPB 1:12), Rashi, Maimonides, Theodore Herzl (JPB I:7), Moses Montefoire, Ben Gurion etc...)

- Do they list many women? Why are there less women than men in their lists? Is it to do with the different ways in which the different sexes achieve greatness?

- Do they give any contemporary examples. What about Rabbi Hugo Gryn? He was a survivor of the Holocaust who became a famous spokesman for morality and human decency in this country. What about Chief Rabbi Sacks? He too is recognised by this country as a central contributor to the spirituality and morality of British life. Do we find it harder to recognise great Jewish leaders in our own generation?

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