Arts & Culture

The book trailer for "Jewish Wisdom for Business Success" takes the viewer across the United States where random people (all non-Jews) explain why they think Jews are disproportionally successful in business. Here is the video:

The video did well, however, when my buddy Heshy Fried blogged about it on his widely popular blog FrumSatire.net, it was also picked up by Rabbi Yonah at Jewlicious.com, who charged that I was using an age old stereotype against Jews to sell my book.

This is an unfair charge. A stereotype would be to say that all Jews are rich or even that most Jews are good at business. However, saying, as I do, that in comparison to other groups Jews are disproportionally successful in business is not adding to a stereotype. It is a fact backed by statistics.

I must, however, thank Rabbi Yonah for posting the video on Jewlicious. His post was picked up by others and, all in all, it helped get the word out about the book. Plus, a bit of controversy doesn’t hurt the book either.

Jewish Business Wisdom As promised here’s some Jewish business wisdom for our current difficult financial times:

Fear: Do not let fear motivate your financial decisions. Fear causes us to make irrational decisions. There are in general four fear-based reactions: 1. Give up; 2. Return to what was comfortable; 3. Fight; 4. Rely on others to deal with the problem. Whilst any of these responses might be correct at any given moment, if they are motivated by fear they may well be wrong. Fear magnifies problems and makes us think they are unsolvable. So, in the current financial climate, realize that your fear may be magnifying the problem. Then face your fear and make a rational decision based on facts rather than on your fear. There’s more about fear in chapter 1 of the book. Involvement: You need to balance between hands-on and hands-off approaches to your business and finances. You must review and assess your financial situation often. It is good to have a professional manager—who has the time to do all of the necessary research—to run your investments, but make sure that you still remain involved and have oversight. The same goes for your household expenses: keep an eye on them—have oversight but don’t be overly controlling. The same should apply to the way you manage your business. You must be able to delegate, but you must have oversight as well. More detailed insights and guidance for correct managerial balance in chapter 4 of the book.

Rabbi Levi Brackman, co-author of Jewish Wisdom for Buisness Success, is guest-blogging on Jewcy, and he’ll be here all week.  Stay tuned. 

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