Synergy:
Part 11 of How To Master Mentoring

“Synergy” is the subject of podcast episode #60 by “The Rabbi Who Got Rich on Sunday.” This is the eleventh episode in the “How to Master Mentoring” mini-series. 

In the How to Master Mentoring mini-series, each episode starts with a story of how a mentor taught me a valuable lesson and continues with one of the individuals I mentored in life and another in my side hustle business. 

Synergy is when you have multiple superstars or driving forces behind one individual or even different departments within a business and you figure out how to get all of those factors rowing in the same direction.  They say that the sum is greater than the parts and when you get the parts working together to create a TEAM where Together Everyone Achieves More, you have real synergy. 

As mentors, it is our job to create synergy within an individual so they don’t work against themselves, as well as create synergy among those within a team or a business.

These are the three examples I use today!

I’m Rabbi Dave, and most weeks, we explore the challenges and triumphs of achieving business success while living a #dreamlife. I hope you enjoy “Synergy”

How to master mentoring Story #31: Synergy

After running my college start-up program ASAP for 3 years Rabbi Rafael Butler, the EVP of the OU made me a very interesting offer. His board wanted my program to become a part of the OU, as I had originally intended.  He offered me the opportunity to not only do that but to also direct a new initiative for the Schottenstein family in Columbus Ohio. I then met with Rabbi Pinchas Stolper who told me that when you are offered an unlimited budget for a project you really believe in, run, and don’t walk to accept the challenge.  

Rabbi Butler went on an exploratory trip with me to Columbus to meet the players.  I met with Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein, Ari and Anne Deshe, and Johnny and Susie Diamond from the Schottenstein family.  Suzie was to become the first member of the local dream team of mentors to guide me in this project.  I met with all the community Rabbi’s across all of the denominations and two of them, Rabbi Alan Ciner and Rabbi David Stavsky were the next mentors on my team.  Finally, I met with Naomi Kayne who would be my chairperson and the mentoring team was complete.  I also consulted a personal mentor of mine Rabbi Herman Neuberger who I consulted privately on his expertise in navigating community politics. After the trip was over Rabbi Butler who is THE master mentor in putting together a dream team for ultimate synergy told me that he had never seen someone play the chess game I had just played better than me.  I answered honestly that I didn’t even know that I was in a chess game, I was just being myself!  Thank the almighty that I had this dream team to guide me!

Naomi recruited board members from every Jewish institution in Columbus and we accomplished the amazing task of creating synergy within all of the youth groups of the Jewish community – Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and nondenominational.  I don’t think this has ever been accomplished before, anywhere! We were based out of the Leo Yassenoff JCC where I also received amazing mentorship from Joel Dinkin, Carol Folkerth, and Debbie Schwartz. 

Now that we had community buy-in we needed to use that synergy to accomplish our first huge step.  The community had a database of about 800 Jewish teens and were certain that it could be no larger.  By analyzing census data and birth trends I estimated that they were missing 400 teens and the powers that be were sure I was wrong – game on!

First I determined that there was one item every teen wanted in the mid 1990s – a music CD with their favorite song.  I created a stump Rabbi Dave contest.  Anyone who could give me the contact info of a Jewish teen in Greater Columbus, not in my database would earn a free CD of their choice for each name.  I then used the database of 800 teens we did know to try and stump me.  At first, the new data came pouring in and the CDs went pouring out.  Within a month I had all 400 missing names and their info and when teens tried to stump my database they would lose every time!

I made this data available to all the youth groups in Columbus that used my services to run events for them and they all saw unprecedented numbers of active participation.  With my help, the Reform and both Orthodox youth groups won the chapter of the year for their region!

We were featured in the main Columbus newspaper several times and as the main article in the national JCC magazine for our innovative and successful programming

I have many great stories to share about my experiences in Columbus Ohio such as the Rock Off with student leader Benji Kayne, Rambo Rabbi Dave breaking through a circle of skinheads surrounding our group during a trip to Poland, The Columbus Crew soccer team playing against local community members in soccer, basketball, and volleyball without using their hands and many more.  I’m going to list one piece of mentorship advice from each of the above mentors:

Rabbi Butler – There is always a creative way around the problem, keep looking

Rabbi Stolper – You are a miracle worker to keep all these different leaders happy

Rabbi Ciner – Always teach the good stuff

Rabbi Stavsky – Authentic Torah is always in style – Cola and Shmooze 1996

Suzie Diamond – Never get comfortable – always be on your toes

Naomi Kayne – Diversify your board and follow the success

Rabbi Neuberger – If the opposition is trying to bring you down you are succeeding, keep up the great work!

The synergy of this great team and all the facets of the Jewish community working in the same direction was an unbelievable lesson in the power of synergy.

How to master Mentoring Story #32: Definition of Synergy

After starting the NCSY Alumni Department at the OU and the OU Israel Free Spirit Birthright Department both of which dealt in a large part with college students it soon became apparent that we were sometimes at a crossroads with the OU college program JLIC.  We were often competing for the same resources and sometimes going in opposite directions.  My mentee turned mentor Rabbi Steven Burg decided it was time to get all programs dealing with college and young professionals in one department to be called Next Gen and he made me the director and the head of JLIC Rabbi Ilan Haber the deputy director.  Ilan was not too happy to be reporting to me at first.  When we performed his first job review with me and he saw how deeply and carefully I dived into his needs and responsibilities he quickly reported to Steve that he had never had a supervisor help him so much to succeed and thanked him.

Together we decided to get all of our employees rowing in the same direction and began an ambitious plan to break down the silos between all of our projects and unify behind common goals we could all be excited about.

The synergy between Ilan and me was incredible.  All of our programs began to expand more rapidly than anyone had ever envisioned and he and I became the closest of friends.  To this day we are each other’s biggest fans and we are a great example of the benefits of changing anarchy to synergy.

How to master Mentoring Story #33: Synergy in business

I quickly learned in my career that working to save the world in the nonprofit industry was spiritually rewarding but I would not support my growing family alone. I needed a side business to at first make ends meet and later allow us the financial freedom to live a dream life!  I had dabbled in some entrepreneurial experiments but until I met Eric A, I did not have the synergy of an equal partner.  At first, he was my mentor.  Then I became his mentor.  Then we became business partners.  We were a dream team once we became partners because that is when the synergy kicked in.  We refused to let each other down and if one of us fell short of our goals one day, you’d better believe we made up for the shortfall the next! We set records for success in our business together which still produces a six-figure repeat income for each of us almost 24 years later.

Some of the best lessons that we learned from each other and now pass on to our mentees:

• Success leaves clues
• Let them talk until they give you their hot-button
• Are you coachable
• Dial for dollars
• Taproot to success
• Create their success story right away so it can be duplicated

How to Master Mentoring Recap and Weekly Podcast Challenge

I hope you enjoyed the eleventh episode in the miniseries “The Rabbi Who Got Rich on Sunday Shares Mentorship Mastery.” This week’s challenge is to think about people in your life that you are at a crossroads, that if you’d row in the same direction you could accomplish your dreams together.  Then put a plan together that excites you both to succeed together.  Please share your plans with me!

If you’re looking for a mentor and ready to take your personal growth seriously to see how it can transform your business, I’d love to help you. Visit my website and use the Work With Dave link to set up a free consultation. Let’s unlock your full potential together.

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