rabbijaffe

A classic blunder I see many people make when they step into various leadership roles is to try and please everyone all the time.

This might come as a shock to some folk: People are very different from one another.

I can attend a lecture and think it was fantastic, while the guy sitting next to me could think it was trash.

Does this mean the lecturer was bad?

Not necessarily.

It could be he was speaking about Jewish History, a subject I’m very interested in, and the guy sitting next to me absolutely abhors the study of history. It could be the speaker was excited and passionate, which I enjoy, while the fellow sitting next to me prefers things to be much calmer.

People like different things. This isn’t bad. It’s simply a fact.

So, where do people go wrong?

An example I saw of this numerous times was Hillel, the Jewish group on many college campuses.

Hillel likes to think of itself as an organization for each and every Jew on campus. For those who are unaware, that includes an extremely wide array of religious perspectives, political perspectives, and just about everything under the sun.

And Hillel often seeks programming that pleases all groups simultaneously.

So, you cannot have lectures of an extremely religious nature, lest those who are less religious feel alienated.

And you can’t have Gay and Lesbian Buddhist Meditation and Shrimp Night, lest you offend the more religious amongst among the crowd.

So you’re left with only programs that are designed to appeeal to everyone.

An example I remember well: A substantive program called Jews and Pizza. That’s right, Jews got together and they… You guessed it! They ate pizza.

All potential of intellectual and religious stimulation is sucked from the programming in favor or substanceless social nonsense, which is poorly attended, unappreciated, and completely out shadowed by the many more exotic social outlets universities offer.

There is nothing wrong with idealism. Ideally…

But it’s not practical, and it doesn’t work.

In any given situation you should figure out the central population you most wish to please. Then you should expertly do everything in your power to please them, even if it means the potential alienation or irritance of others.

Some of the “others” might still be content, but your focal point will be extremely happy, and that’s the most important thing. 

Try and please someone, you are likely to succeed.

Try and please everyone, you are bound for failure. 

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