Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei 5786
It’s hard to label a company with a market cap of around $300 billion dollars as “struggling,” but in the early 2010’s, relative to other expanding and ascending tech companies, that’s exactly how Microsoft could easily have been described. And then things changed. Steve Ballmer stepped down and Satya Nadella stepped in. Under his leadership, Microsoft has increased its market cap nearly ten-fold, to roughly $3 trillion.
How did that transformation occur? Nadella made a number of shrewd business decisions, betting big on expanding Microsoft’s market share in some areas, while wholly abandoning others. But apart from correctly predicting certain trends in the market as a whole, many point to an internal shift as well, one that overhauled the company culture at Microsoft. Early on, Nadella famously said that Microsoft needed to pivot from a culture of “know-it-all” to “learn-it-all.”
It was a model of leadership already exhibited by the greatest leader the world has ever known.
Moshe informs the people that the construction of the Mishkan is in good hands, the chief artisan having been hand-picked by Hashem Himself, along with the assurance that he had been Divinely endowed with “wisdom, insight, knowledge, and aptitude in every craft.” (Shemos 35:31) Betzalel would get the job done.
The Gemara in Brachos 55a relates the episode of Moshe’s first encounter with that wisdom, insight, and knowledge. Moshe meets with Betzalel to review the full register of items that will need to be constructed, mentioning the various furnishings to be contained within the Mishkan, followed by the Mishkan itself. Betzalel considers Moshe’s instructions and wonders if, perhaps, they were given in the incorrect order. It seems only proper, argues Betzalel, that one would first construct the edifice, and then the furnishings that are to be placed inside, without fear of leaving those furnishings homeless, without a space in which they could be protected. Might it be that Hashem had actually issued the instructions in reverse order from the manner in which Moshe now presented them?
Moshe is stunned and delighted. Betzalel was absolutely correct. Hashem had indeed informed him to have Betzalel build the Mishkan first, furnishings second. It was Moshe who had flipped the order. Moshe even wonders if Betzalel’s very name reflected his astonishing insight into the Divine will, stating, “שמא בצל א–ל היית וידעת—Perhaps you were in the shadow of G-d (Betzel E-l) and thus knew!”
I’ve previously given my take on what left Moshe Rabbeinu so utterly impressed with Betzalel’s reaction. After all, he seemed to be suggesting little more than the obvious. But there’s another element that deserves equal examination. Not Betzalel’s comments, but Moshe’s reaction to them.
Had Moshe truly been oblivious to Betzalel’s insight before he made it? Moshe himself surely understood implicitly that you build before you furnish. Yet when Betzalel makes this observation, Moshe lavishes praise on Betzalel rather than dismissing his comments with a simple, “Obviously. Of course that’s what I meant.” Nor does he insist that Betzalel was wrong—even if he was actually right—for speaking up in the first place, for not knowing his role as subordinate to Moshe’s authority.
Either such position would naturally suppress future commentary from the likes of Betzalel. “Why share an idea when I’ll be rewarded with a tongue lashing or be dismissed for merely stating the obvious?” They are positions that would have created a “know-it-all culture”, rather than a “learn-it-all culture”.
The construction of a “learn-it-all culture” is the product of vulnerable leadership, a term popularized by Brené Brown in her TED talks and writing. Vulnerable leadership is a stance taken by a leader that he does not have all the answers, has made mistakes, and seeks the insight and wisdom from others to help work towards an improved organization. It is not the sacrificing of authority or the undermining of a basic leadership structure, but the clear message sent from the very top that, “Even if I have the final word, I don’t have all the answers, and I welcome your thoughts and ideas.” It is the modality of leadership that has been the hallmark of Microsoft’s current CEO, and has been credited by many as a primary catalyst for the incredible leap the company has taken.
But it has been around for far longer. This is exactly what Moshe Rabbeinu is practicing in his interaction with Betzalel, giving him the opportunity to ask questions and express new ideas, evincing a belief not of already knowing-it-all but wanting to learn-it-all.
And it is no surprise. Consider Moshe Rabbeinu’s very own origin story. Having received news of the edict that all newborn baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile, Amram separates from Yocheved for fear of producing a child who will go straight to the slaughter. It is Amram’s young daughter, Miriam, who speaks up and insists that her father’s decision is even more detrimental than that of Pharaoh’s, costing the Jewish People not only future sons, but future daughters as well. Amram considers the words of his daughter—a mere child—and acquiesces. The result was the birth of Moshe Rabbeinu, miraculously spared from the fate of Pharaoh’s monstrous decree, and the Jewish People received their future savior.
Amram ran his family with vulnerable leadership. Moshe ran his nation with the same.
While a select few assume positions of great prominence, to the friends, family members, and neighbors who look to us for guidance and support, we are all leaders on some level. How do we proceed in that role? It is a mistake to believe that a thirst for knowledge and an openness to hearing other opinions demonstrates weakness in a leader. Quite the opposite. In an environment in which the leader will not overshadow the subordinate, will not pirate the idea as his own, and will not silence any suggestion he did not personally initiate, all those around him are granted tacit permission to ponder, propound, and propose. More perspectives, more creativity, more success.
Moshe’s response to Betzalel is encouraging, empowering, and undoubtedly prompted him to share other invaluable ideas in the future. For great leaders, the willingness to be vulnerable is not a weakness, but one of their greatest strengths.