Chance Encounter After 9/11 Spurred Famed CEO’s Exploration of Judaism

NEW YORK, NY — Beyond Rodin’s The Thinker and Jacques Lipchitz’ enormous sculpture gracing the entrance of Columbia University’s Jerome Greene Hall, students in the prestigious School of International and Public Affairs are sitting silently across from each other, fixing gazes into the eyes sitting opposite.

Some burst out laughing, others fiddle uncomfortably, while others shift their glance to the features on the faces of other students. The exercise, presided over by noted professor Thomas D. Zweifel, provides a unique lesson on leadership and interpersonal relationships by focusing on how to pay attention to others.

Leadership in International and Public Affairs, a weekly course in Room 901 for two hours in the afternoon, is not like any other class. Many of the students hold foreign citizenships and, while enlisted at Columbia, are connected to any of a number of international institutions in New York, including the United Nations. Zweifel, a 46-year-old French-born, Swiss-bred expert in global management, tells his class that leadership means far more than simply giving orders. Self-realization is paramount.

“We need be to be aware of who we are,” Zweifel tells the students, who come from such countries as Georgia, Germany and Japan. “That is what makes us winners or losers.”

Speaking the language of Chassidic luminaries, Zweifel – co-author of the just-released The Rabbi and the CEO: The Ten Commandments for 21st Century Leaders – continually refers to the refining of one’s self, the ability to change one’s acquired nature and the egoistic tendencies possessed by all human beings. The approach has a resonance with students, who during class openly discuss their personal ambitions, their life goals and weaknesses.

Article continued (Chabad.org)