While many of us believe in the past, and most of us live in the present, to really believe in the future takes a special kind of personality -- and the best start-up leaders usually have a deep belief in the future. Even more difficult sometime is in a reset situation, when everyone has really given up, but a small group of "believers" succeed to change reality.
Teddy Kollek past away yesterday at the age of 95, and for those of living in modern Jerusalem today, we owe him a great deal of thanks. In 1965 Teddy believed in the future of Jerusalem as a modern, progressive, livable city, and took it upon himself as Mayor to execute upon that vision. Teddy served as Mayor from 1965 - 1993, but every day with Teddy was as if Jerusalem the start-up had just been founded -- he was always full of excitement, dedication, and passion.
Like most of us who have run against the grain, Teddy didn't always perfectly match the execution against the business plan (e.g. East Jerusalem to this day remains discriminated against and not integrated into the city, 40 years after "unification") but he remained true to the cause, day in and day out, until the day he died.
The Jerusalem Post put it quite well today, in saying:
Kollek converted Jerusalem from a sleepy backwater to Israel's vibrant capital. But his greatness resided not only in contending with obviously grand tasks. His success to no small measure sprang from his earthy no-nonsense emphasis on the minutest of details and the most unglamorous of daily chores - "household work," as he dubbed them. Nothing was too lowly or mundane for Kollek to trouble himself with.
If all of the CEOs I work with would integrate the leadership and management style of Teddy my life would be a lot easier!
I am proud to serve on the Board of Governors of the Jerusalem Foundation, which Teddy created, and every day I (and my family and friends, as well as all Jerusalemites) benefit from the actualization of some of Teddy's prophetic vision for the possibilities of Jerusalem the New.
While we mourn the loss of one the great leaders of the 20th century, let us also rejoice in the life he lived. May we only merit to see more like him in our lifetime.
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