Future-proofing leadership: What’s coming down the line?
On Tuesday evening, 17th September, our Lead division were joined by 60 guests at JW3 for our second Leadership Pipeline event. The Leadership Pipeline aims to create a series of connecting moments bringing together talented, motivated potential lay leaders with representatives from our communal organisations who are thinking about succession.
This event focused on Future-proofing leadership: What’s coming down the line? The centre-piece was an in-conversation between Tamara Finkelstein, the UK’s most senior civil servant serving as permanent secretary at DEFRA and Vice-Chair at Norwood; and Vicky Fox, the CEO of the UK Supreme Court and Co-Chair of New North London Synagogue.
They discussed the skills and experience volunteering in lay leadership developed, with Vicky stating “the interaction between volunteering in the community and in your professional life are blended and seamless.” They both agreed this experience benefited them in their professional careers and supported their overall leadership abilities. Tamara encouraged the audience to “have a professional development plan” and to “be clear on what your skills are”. They emphasised the personal reward of lay leadership for them, “there is huge value in volunteering.”
After some Q&As from the audience, groups had 30 minutes to discuss their area of interest facilitated by communal leaders. This included education, health/social care, Israel, culture, community organisation, community representation, social justice and Jewish faith/movements. Among those steering the conversations were Luciana Berger (former Shadow Health Minister and current Chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance and JLC Vice-President ), Sue Nyman (trustee of PaJeS, LSJS and Council of Christians and Jews), Jo Grose (CEO of the United Synagogue) and Claudia Mendoza (CEO of the JLC).
The final segment of the evening was informal networking over drinks and dessert in the restaurant. Thank you to all who joined us and look out for our next edition of the Leadership Pipeline!
Quotes from participants:
“Thanks for the event which was excellent and thought-provoking.”
“Thanks you for hosting such an informative, interesting and valuable event- I really enjoyed attending.”
“The panel was very inspiring! Great to hear two powerful women speaking vulnerably about their challenges and insights, gives me some ideas about how to develop myself as well.”
“The event inspired me to connect with the other people I shared a table with and explore more.”
“I spoke to a number of people about volunteering opportunities that they hadn’t been aware of and will be speaking with them in the coming week. Hopefully, they will be joining our JVN Connect group and doing some volunteering. Ideally, this will lead them into building their knowledge and connecting into community charities.”
