Friday, February 22, 2013

United We Stand, Divided We Probably Fall

Where did the ideas for teams logos, colors or emblems come from? Why of course, like most other things we have today, it came from the Torah. In this parsha there are descriptions of the precious and semiprecious stones used in the Choshen Mishpat or Breastplate of Judgement. here is an example from a auction house, clicking on the picture will take you to the auction website.
Detail 1

Each stone was to represent one of the 12 sons of Yaakov and as we know them the 12 tribes of Israel. As can be seen in 28:15-29 some of which is below:
15. You shall make a choshen of judgment, the work of a master weaver. You shall make it like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, purple, and crimson wool, and twisted fine linen shall you make it. טו. וְעָשִׂיתָ חשֶׁן מִשְׁפָּט מַעֲשֵׂה חשֵׁב כְּמַעֲשֵׂה אֵפֹד תַּעֲשֶׂנּוּ זָהָב תְּכֵלֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן וְתוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי וְשֵׁשׁ מָשְׁזָר תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתוֹ:
16. It shall be square [and] doubled; its length one span and its width one span. טז. רָבוּעַ יִהְיֶה כָּפוּל זֶרֶת אָרְכּוֹ וְזֶרֶת רָחְבּוֹ:
17. And you shall fill into it stone fillings, four rows of stones. One row: odem, pitdah, and bareketh; thus shall the one row be. יז. וּמִלֵּאתָ בוֹ מִלֻּאַת אֶבֶן אַרְבָּעָה טוּרִים אָבֶן טוּר אֹדֶם פִּטְדָה וּבָרֶקֶת הַטּוּר הָאֶחָד:
18. The second row: nofech, sappir, and yahalom. יח. וְהַטּוּר הַשֵּׁנִי נֹפֶךְ סַפִּיר וְיָהֲלֹם:
19. The third row: leshem, shevo, and achlamah. יט. וְהַטּוּר הַשְּׁלִישִׁי לֶשֶׁם שְׁבוֹ וְאַחְלָמָה:
20. And the fourth row: tarshish, shoham, and yashpheh; they shall be set in gold in their fillings. כ. וְהַטּוּר הָרְבִיעִי תַּרְשִׁישׁ וְשֹׁהַם וְיָשְׁפֵה מְשֻׁבָּצִים זָהָב יִהְיוּ בְּמִלּוּאֹתָם:
21. And the stones shall be for the names of the sons of Israel twelve, corresponding to their names; [similar to] the engravings of a seal, every one according to his name shall they be, for the twelve tribes. כא. וְהָאֲבָנִים תִּהְיֶיןָ עַל שְׁמֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה עַל שְׁמֹתָם פִּתּוּחֵי חוֹתָם אִישׁ עַל שְׁמוֹ תִּהְיֶיןָ לִשְׁנֵי עָשָׂר שָׁבֶט:


Once again, these are just found in the desert? No, they were given by the Egyptians to the children of Israel when Israel left as compensation for the 210 years of slavery. And you can imagine, among 2 million plus people, quite a few gem stones existed.

But why do it this way? Could God not ask everyone to inscribe a name on the gold plate? Why the colors/stones? Because in each son/tribe there existed their own brilliance and ability. Individually the tribes were uniquely built to sustain themselves but together they formed a stronger union than any nation that existed. When Israel is dispersed and unable to relate to each other as brothers, they are weaker and more susceptible to mishaps. However when everyone is together and acts as one, on one page then there is nothing which can stop them.

This was the message which Hashem tried to give to Israel and a reason why Moshe is not mentioned in this parsha. Because he knew the day would come when there would not be harmony among the tribes.

I never believed color war was useful at camp. It was always 2 sides and rarely were there ever mixed flags or color schemes, it was always us vs. them. Often times when the office has a plan or is divided into sub groups the focus, the company, is lost on the individual groups who become enamored with themselves as the one, or the leader. 

We are all part of a greater good, if we believe it and work to it, then good things will come to all of us.

Happy Purim everyone.
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Parsha Tetzaveh in the book of Shemot Exodus 27:20 - 30:10
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

Friday, February 15, 2013

Build a Strong Foundation

Attention to detail, that's what Steve Jobs was known for in addition to his other management practices.
Where else can you find such attention to detail to provide inspiration for him, but this weeks parsha.

Methodically planned out, every piece defined, the number of rings, the layers of gold or wood and so much more.   When you are working on a project you need to include everything to the last bolt. It is not easy to be so meticulous. There is always something changed or unknown in the more complex situations.

When you have a guide to follow it does make it easier for everyone. And when you are done building your project, then what? How often does one look back on the diagrams or blue prints and think how awesome they are or the beauty of the design? No, it is the external appearance which most of us follow and remember.

The Torah goes on to tell us not just what the outside should look like, but the inside as well. The bones or structure of everything, is just as important as the appearance. Without a strong base there will not be any final product.

A house of cards can not stand up forever.

There have been more than enough companies that have bluffed their way to riches only to see everything crumble around them when it was found it everything was built on lies. 

Don't be them.

Build your company strong and proper and it may too be talked about 3,000 years later.
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Parsha Terumah in the book of Shemot, 25:1-27:19 It is said that the Torah or Bible
could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

Friday, February 8, 2013

Don't Lie to Customers

 A basic belief when hiring employees is that they are honest and above board about everything they do. Unfortunately too many times the good managers are fooled by the deceptive employee. I would venture that bad managers probably are okay with a few close to the edge employees, but for the rest of us it can be a painful experience.
 Perhaps out of fear for lawsuits or monetary damage or customer loyalty, the manager chooses not to fire the employee once they find out they are not such a great person. Ethics are just one issue, but lying is another. Many times in the course of projects fingers get pointed and eventually someone will say "it wasn't me" or "I never touched it" or my favorite from support "didn't change a thing" only to find out in the end, indeed they did do something but were trying to avoid the punishment so to speak for their incorrect efforts.

But if you are their manager what do you do? Do you call them on this? You should. Not in front of the client of course but afterwards you need to deal with this at the first sign of it happening. If you do not, you may not have the benefit to change it later. Once you let it slide you have set the precedent and that is not a good precedent to set.

In this parsha, we read the following line from 23:1 :

1. You shall not accept a false report; do not place your hand with a wicked person to be a false witness.   א. לֹא תִשָּׂא שֵׁמַע שָׁוְא אַל תָּשֶׁת יָדְךָ עִם רָשָׁע לִהְיֹת עֵד חָמָס:

Sounds simple enough but the lines get blurred in business often. If the customer knows your team lied, you face up to it and move the person from the project. To do anything less would invite distrust on you and your company or brand. Clients respect you more when you deal with situations internally. They may have their own ideas about what happened, but as long as they believe you stopped it, they will continue to trust in you.
 

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Parsha Mishpatim in the book of Shemot, 21:1-24:18 It is said that the Torah or Bible
could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

Friday, February 1, 2013

Fear of God, Do CEO's get it?

Do you have some distinct laws in your office that violation of them are grounds for dismissal? Does anyone keep to them and truly follow them? Do they get broken regularly?

Getting fired is not that bad, look at the executives who get away with all types of things and get fired. Boohoo, that multimillion buyout, because the Board agreed to the farce upfront, just makes it laughable.

Evidently the 10 Commandments are not universally followed and some hint of why is found in this parsha. In 20:15-16 right after hearing the 10 Commandments, the children of Israel say:

15. And all the people saw the voices and the torches, the sound of the shofar, and the smoking mountain, and the people saw and trembled; so they stood from afar.   טו. וְכָל הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת הַקּוֹלֹת וְאֶת הַלַּפִּידִם וְאֵת קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר וְאֶת הָהָר עָשֵׁן וַיַּרְא הָעָם וַיָּנֻעוּ וַיַּעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק:
16. They said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear, but let God not speak with us lest we die."   טז. וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֶל משֶׁה דַּבֶּר אַתָּה עִמָּנוּ וְנִשְׁמָעָה וְאַל יְדַבֵּר עִמָּנוּ אֱלֹהִים פֶּן נָמוּת:

How convenient that if God were to tell us something, we would die, but if a man told us something we will hear, not we will do, but we will hear.

So corporate greed? Discussed early on in civilization. Already trying to skirt the rules, check. And thus the "Fear of God" line comes from this point. Do CEOs believe in god or fear God? What do they fear?

Why make this point? Because if you walk around with no limits to your life or guidelines, as some call these 10, then how can you lead others? Unless you want to lead others down a path that may lead to their demise. Hopefully that is not how you view management. And more importantly it is not how management views you or shapes the company culture in this way. On the flip side, do not hold a whole company accountable because of one person that has failed everyone.

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Parsha Yitro in the book of Shemot, 18:1-20:23 It is said that the Torah or Bible
could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom