We work so hard to be the best we can be. To make our organizations the best they can be. When does our obligation reach its limits? Ours is a field where there is always something more that can be done more, or better. A system can be improved. A problem can be solved. A…
The Inside Job
I believe that to succeed in our sector we need to bring our whole selves to the job. In this section of the Giving Way blog I share short reflections on timeless wisdom I have encountered over the years. These morsels, many of which are drawn from Jewish tradition and other faith and philosophical traditions, help me move toward becoming the kind of professional – and human being – I want to be. I hope you find meaning in them as well. I welcome any insights you would like to share back with me as well.
Warmly,
Todd J. Sukol
A (very old) New Way of Asking “Why?”
In the wake of profoundly unsettling events these past few weeks, I am reminded of a profound lesson to be found in a deceptively simple question humanity cannot seem to stop asking: “Why?” A charmingly genuine, quirky, insightful podcaster/broadcaster/commentator retold the so-called Parable of the Chinese Farmer sent to him by a listener to his…
Between Inspiration and Perspiration
Thomas Edison, whose remarkable mind turned discoveries into groundbreaking technologies, famously said that “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration.” Indeed, many of the world’s spiritual traditions warn that, as the New Testament puts it in the book of James, “..faith without works is dead.” From my own Jewish tradition, it is…
Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way
I stumbled upon a precious lesson in a gritty industrial town in Northern New Jersey. It happened many years ago, in a plastic bag factory, to be precise. I was visiting the owner, a donor to the organization for which I was executive director at the time. After handing me a check for our humanitarian…