Yitro: How to Lead My sister, Daviel Shy, is a filmmaker currently working on a large and ambitious project. When I asked her if and how she delegated the work, she answered, “Delegation sounds like I, as the Director, have the outcome in mind, the correct vision of how to get to the outcome, and just choose a robot-person to carry out what I would do, if I had more time.” “Yup,” I replied, “just replace “robot-person” with “intern” and you have most workplaces. “ Instead, my sister explains that she tries to do something much more radical and mindful. She tries to create the container for the project. She sets the tone and articulates the vision, provides the script and hires the cast and crew. Then, she told me, she watches and listens. Each person brings to the set her own unique history, talents, gifts and ideas that only emerge as the film progresses. When each person is allowed to flower in his own way, my sister is there to guide and shift the entire project where it needs to go with this particular cohort of individuals and this particular weather pattern of circumstances on this particular day. She never abdicates her role or takes her hands off the steering wheel – she simply loosens her grip and trusts what emerges along the way. “That’s what makes it fun,” she explained to me, “that’s what makes the film grow up, away from you, and come alive on its own.” I believe this is the exact lesson Moshe learns from his father-in-law in the parsha Yitro. As the leader of the newly-freed Israelites, Moshe is engaged in the slightly ridiculous daily practice of acting as the judge (explicating God’s laws) for the people when they have trouble or disagreements with one another. This lasts all day, every day. Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law, takes one look at this practice and tells Moshe, “The thing you are doing is not good (lo tov).” He continues:
18. You will surely wear yourself out both you and these people who are with you for the
נָב ֹל ּתִ ּב ֹל ּגַם אַּתָ ה ּגַם ָהעָם ַהּזֶה ֲאׁשֶר ִעּמְָך.יח :ּכִי ָכבֵד ִמּמְָך הַּדָ בָר ֹלא תּוכַל עֲׂשהּו ְלבַּדֶ ָך
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