Parashat Vayetze contains one of the
bible's most romantic verses.
"And Jacob worked seven years
for Rachel; and they seemed to him but a few days, because of his love for
her" (Genesis 29:20)
It's a beautiful idea. But it seems
to run counter to everyday experience. In general, when you are looking forward
to something, time seems to pass more slowly than usual. Indeed, the more you
are looking forward to it, the slower time seems to pass. Who among us
has not sat waiting for the end of the school day, looked at the clock, and
wondered when the minute hand ground to a halt?
So how did Jacob's love for Rachel
make his seven years of labor pass more quickly? Why didn't it have the
opposite effect, of making them feel interminable?
Perhaps the following observation
helps explain: Waiting for something over which you have no control or agency
is not the same as waiting for something towards which you are actively
working. When you're at the mercy of someone else's schedule or
impersonal objective forces, time slows down. But when you are actively working
towards a goal, each moment that passes is one in which you're doing something
specific to bring that goal closer. This can sometimes make it feel as if the
time is passing more quickly.
Unlike the student waiting for the
freedom bell to ring, Jacob's destiny is in his own hands. Each day worked is
another day closer to marrying Rachel. Though the distance is great and the
steps small, Jacob contributes each day, through his own labor, to bringing his
goal closer.
In leadership and education,
patience is an underrated virtue. People - boards, parents, employees, clients
- want results, and they want them now (if not yesterday)! But real change,
profound learning and sustainable progress are all things that take time.
Leaders, especially educational
leaders, are rarely in control of the pace with which they progress towards
their goals. This is because the kinds of goals they set themselves are ones
that depend at least as much on other people, and complex environmental
factors, as they depend on their own actions.
One of the things that distinguishes
successful leaders from others, however, is their determination to do whatever
they can, whenever they can, to bring their goals closer. Rather than waiting
for things to happen, they use all the resources at their disposal to help make
them happen. Put more succinctly, successful leaders practice,
"active patience."
I have the good fortune (and sound
judgement!) to work in an organization that embodies this kind of active
patience. Unlike many philanthropic organizations, the Mandel Foundation
doesn't seek quick fixes or magic bullets. It also doesn't believe in making
short term investments. Instead, it consistently takes the slower, more certain
path, of long-term investment in outstanding people. And it looks for impact
not on timescales of weeks or months, but of decades and generations.
My wish to all our staff, on this
Rosh Hodesh Kislev, is that each small step we take towards our goals of a
thriving education system and a more decent society feel to us, as Jacob's
labors felt to him, like mere moments. May our commitment and active
contribution, day by day, to achieving these goals give us the strength
and patience to see our efforts transform vision into reality.