Three Prime Ministers and a Canceled Flight: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Everyday Experiences
There’s a popular saying on social media these days: “Everything is content.” But I believe the same can be said about education: Everything is a lesson, if only we take the time to look closely enough to uncover it.
Last month, three very different experiences revealed to me three distinct, but equally valuable lessons worth remembering, carrying forward with us and working to actualize in our own lives. On their own, each of these stories makes for a simple, compelling anecdote. But when taken together and analyzed as a whole, they offer critical overall insight into the kinds of actions and thought processes that make for strong leadership.
1. Live out your values (a lesson from Prime Minister Menachem Begin)
I recently attended a special screening of the new documentary Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin, which shared insight into the life of Israel’s sixth Prime Minister. I knew of Begin, yet did not really know about him until viewing the film.
Begin, who fled the Nazis with his family, believed in working toward peace while also insisting on Israel’s right to defend itself. In 1978, he was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for signing a peace treaty with Egypt. Yet in 1981, he established the Begin Doctrine, which set the terms of Israel’s preventative strike policy, stating that the country can and will take preemptive action against any enemy that calls for its destruction.
Begin, who was deeply dedicated to the State of Israel, lived humbly and modestly, even giving away his Nobel Prize money to a foundation for disadvantaged students. And he was laid to rest with the same values — not alongside other prime ministers but next to Irgun comrades who died in the struggle to create the Jewish national home to which he had devoted his life.
The lesson: Menachem Begin knew that being a leader would require the painful paradox of advancing peace and believing in peace while also standing and protecting his ground. As a result, we and future generations have him to thank for a thriving Israel, the legacy of his lifetime.
2. Kindness is critical (a lesson from a canceled flight home)
I meant to take a one-day business trip to Detroit, where I planned to attend a full day of meetings and then fly back home to New York that night. Best-laid plans…
On top of sweltering, 100-degree weather, air travel that day became a headline-worthy disaster. More than 1,500 flights were canceled, many of them — including mine — into and out of LaGuardia.
As the outlook on the night started to seem bleak, I contemplated either sleeping at the airport or finding a hotel room for a few hours so I could make it home in time for Shabbat the next day. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a man staring at me. He soon approached, asking, “Are you married to Rachel?” With deep pride I fought my exhaustion and responded ” Yes!” But I was stunned; it turned out that he remembered my face from a wedding 13 years ago!
He lives in Ranana, he explained, but travels monthly for work and often spends Shabbat with his parents in Detroit. Before simply leaving the airport and heading home to his family, he took the time to make sure I, a near stranger from his past, was OK. With the utmost sincere kindness, he showered me with offers of help: Are you stranded? Do you need a place for Shabbat? Do you want a ride? Could I take you to get a kosher dinner?
His mother, who was waiting outside, ended up driving me 40 minutes out of their way to drop me off at my wife’s cousin’s home, where I slept for a few hours before catching my return flight — and, yes, making it home in time for Shabbat.
The lesson: Kindness is essential to leadership success. Kind leaders act in the best interests of those around them — not just their own. “What can I do to help?” is such a simple question, but in a time of need, it offers profound support and brings great comfort to those in need who need it.
3. People and partnerships over personal gain (a lesson from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett)
A few weeks back, we watched a moment of Israeli history unfold in real-time when Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has served just over a year in office, agreed that Yair Lapid will assume the role of PM. “He is a mensch,” Bennett said of his successor. “We had disagreements, but we understood we had more in common.”
Now, Bennett is to become Israel’s shortest-running PM, with new elections now approaching; the fifth since 2019. This decision couldn’t have been easy for him on either a personal or professional level, yet Bennett managed to rise above and remain both humble and poised under pressure. Talk about menschlichkeit.
The lesson: It’s not often that we witness two leaders in a transfer of power who so openly compliment and display their mutual respect and admiration for one another. It is a true sign of a leader (and a mensch) to offer a genuine show of solidarity and respect with one’s perceived adversaries, especially in times of crisis. After years of political turmoil in Israel, Bennett prioritized his country over himself, making a difficult personal decision for the good of the people and the State of Israel.
As I reflect on these three lessons, their commonalities are clear: Good leaders strive to do what is right, what is kind, and what may also be difficult. Good leaders do not simply act in their own self-interests but in the best interests of those whom they lead, those whom they serve and represent — ensuring that they are well-respected enough to continue to be leaders.
And critically, lessons in how to become a good leader don’t simply come from seminars or conferences or books or podcasts. Some of the most important insight comes from the real-life experiences and behaviors that other good leaders model for us, if only we are paying close enough attention and if only we can humble ourselves enough to internalize what they teach us. A leader is not a job function, anyone can be a leader when called upon to step up the challenge at hand.
Each of us leads lives that are busy and full, packed with experience after experience — every day, every week, every month. In a whirlwind world, it can be all too easy to move from one experience to the next without pausing to reflect on the lessons embedded in each moment. Yet when we slow down and step back, we can see: Lessons are everywhere, both big and small, and when we take the time to extrapolate and learn from them, we identify the common threads that connect them together.
Together, they weave a tapestry of wisdom and values that carries us throughout our lives, turning us into the people — and the leaders — we want to be.
Tell me: What unexpected leadership lessons has life taught you lately?
