Fortune 500 Company or Summer Camp?

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What do Starbucks Coffee and Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute have in common?  Many might say that our madrichim (counselors) and chanichim (campers) love both, Starbucks and camp.  Believe it or not, the connection is much deeper than this.  The core values of Starbucks and several other companies are in line with many of the values that we try to instill in our campers, staff and families.

 

Starbucks Values: 

  • Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome.
  • Acting with courage, challenging the status quo and finding new ways to grow our company and each other.
  • Being present, connecting with transparency, dignity and respect.
  • Delivering our very best in all we do, holding ourselves accountable for results.
  • We are performance driven, through the lens of humanity. 

On the first day, when chanichim arrived at OSRUI, Gesher campers were greeted by enthusiastic madrichim and began meeting other campers in the eidah (unit).  Campers who rode on the bus ran through a welcome tunnel of campers who were singing and cheering.  Once everyone arrived, Gesher campers met by tzrif (cabin) to make a brit (covenant) with the goal of creating a warm and inclusive environment.  On the first night, after clothes were unpacked and beds were made, Gesher was introduced to the theme of the unit – leadership.

 

Gesher campers created this definition of leadership that emphasizes the value of being welcoming:

“Leadership is what you make of it, but a good leader listens to others and tries to make the world a better place.  Leadership is knowing how to adapt to other people’s ideals to help the world. “

 

Zappos Values

  • Deliver WOW Through Service
  • Embrace and Drive Change
  • Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
  • Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
  • Pursue Growth and Learning
  • Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
  • Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
  • Do More With Less
  • Be Passionate and Determined
  • Be Humble

 

Camp is an opportunity for kids and staff to be silly.  This week, Gesher took a field trip to Comedy Sports in Milwaukee.  Comedy Sports is an improv group and they facilitated a leadership-based workshop.  Using improv games, chanichim had to be creative, spontaneous and of course, a little weird.   In our conversations about leadership, we have emphasized the importance of creativityand open-mindedness.  Campers have suggested that a leader needs to be able to listen to people and needs to be willing to try new ideas and be creative.  Without these qualities, a leader won’t be able to create a change in the status quo.

Gesher campers created this definition of leadership that emphasizes the importance of being adventurous:

“Leadership is being brave in a group of people and the ability to listen to their ideas without fear or ignorance.”  

 

Warby Parker Values:

  • Treat customers the way we’d like to be treated.
  • Create an environment where employees can think big, have fun, and do good.
  • Get out there.
  • Green is good.

The goal of tochnit boker (morning activity), is for the campers can think big, have fun and do good.  One day, we held an auctionwhere campers worked in groups to “buy” leadership qualities that they felt were most valuable.  There were several bidding wars over qualities such as integrity, creativity and risk taking.  Once campers considered personal leadership traits, they explored different definitions of leadership and then created their own definition.  Now they are thinking big and doing good as they learn about social justice issues (LGBTQ equality, climate change and economic justice).  Each camper has ideas of ways to raise awareness and become activists for these issues.

Gesher campers created this definition of leadership that emphasizes the values of thinking big, having fun and doing good:

“Guiding people in the right direction while influencing them in a positive way. ”  

Facebook Values:

  • Be bold
  • Focus on impact
  • Move fast
  • Be open
  • Build social value

 

OSRUI is special for many reasons.  One thing that makes camp unique is that we have tefillot (services) twice each day.  Tefillot arebrief moments at camp that give us all an opportunity to take a break from the high energy activities that take place throughout the day.  In Gesher, campers take turns leading the evening service.  This session, we have called upon them to be open in front of the eidah. Each group is asked to reflect on a prompt and share thoughts about leadership.  They have considered role models, communication, stumbling blocks and their own potential for leadership.

 

Gesher campers wrote this definition that emphasizes the value of being open:

“Leadership is mobilizing a community to want to make that community better and thus embrace the inner leaders of the individual members of the community.” 

 

Often times we look to business models of well know companies to understand success in leadership.  Spending the past 10 days with Gesher at OSRUI has definitely proved to us that our camp and our campers embody many of the values and the cultures that these large companies base their missions on.

 

Written by Gesher Gimmel faculty members Rabbi Jody Cook, Director of Education at Sinai Temple in Champaign, IL, and Rabbi Carlie Daniels, Assistant Rabbi/Director of Lifelong Learning at Sukkat Shalom in Wilmette, IL.