Leadership Lessons from the Ice
Leadership Lessons from the Ice

While hockey may not garner the same attention as the other sports, I believe that when it comes to leadership it has the most to offer, at least symbolically. The following is a partial list of leadership qualities that I have gleaned from observing how the game is played.

1.       Balance and skill – Unlike games that are played on sure, foot-friendly surfaces, hockey is played on an unforgiving sheet of ice. A wrong move or a loss of balance can easily result in a hard, embarrassing fall or crash into the boards. Moreover, in order to succeed in the NHL, players must be able to skate well (backwards as well as forwards) at fast speeds while also handling a small puck with a long stick. No other sport consistently demands that level of skill and coordination from all of its players. Leaders, too, need to exercise great care and skill in their oft-perilous positions. The hazards can be real, and a misstep can easily result in a hard fall. They must maintain their balance, build speed and hit their goals as they avoid the oncoming rush. And they often must do so with equipment (or personnel) that may not be best served to push the objective reliably in the right direction.

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Put Retention in the Plan
Put Retention in the Plan

We’ve all had this experience, probably tens of times if not more.

We spend weeks teaching our students important information: new vocabulary words; the primary battles of the Civil War; the differences between animal cells and plant cells, etc.  The class takes a test and performs well. Two days later, we ask a related question that requires our students to remember and / or integrate learning from the recent past. Instead of watching multiple hands excitedly shoot up we observe silence and a collective state of confusion.

How did that happen? They knew it all so well just the other day!

I believe that much of the answer lies with our emphasis and our planning.

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Unleashing the Introverted Leader
Unleashing the Introverted Leader

The reality is that introversion has little to do with our levels of social comfort or verbosity. Rather, it reflects on our energy source. Extroverts are people who gain their energy from others. They walk into a room and feel energized, feeding off of the collective energy as they navigate through the crowd. They seek other’s company and feel somehow incomplete if they are left in isolation for too long.

Introverts, in contrast, gain their energy from quiet, private time. They love to think and reflect privately, with the door closed, and enter into public settings out of necessity rather than preference. While many introverts can be described as quiet, introverts are more than capable of speaking and engaging as circumstances dictate. It’s more about their preferences and inclinations rather than their disposition or capacity.

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Life Beneath the Surface
Life Beneath the Surface

Tu Bishvat (15th day of Shvat) is the Jewish new year for trees. It is often marked with joyous tunes, tree planting ceremonies (in Israel) and the consumption of fruit. Interestingly, Tu Bishvat is not a festival, as neither the Torah nor the Talmud make any mention of celebrating or observing this day. No commandments – a central component of any Jewish holiday – are recorded involving it. Nor are any special prayers in the liturgy. So if Tu Bishvat isn’t a festival, why do we celebrate it and what is its function? Looking exclusively at the Torah it would seem that the significance of Tu Bishvat is entirely limited to the realm of agriculture. “When you come to the Land and you plant any food tree, you shall surely block its fruit [from use]; it shall be blocked from you [from use] for three years, not to be eaten. In the fourth year, all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to God. In the fifth year, you may eat its fruit; [do this, in order] to increase its produce for you. I am God, your God” (Deuteronomy 19:23-25).

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