The book of Ecclesiastes famously says, “Of the making of books there is no end.” The same, unfortunately, can be said of consultants. My mission is to provide you with the consulting services you need, not the ones I want you to have. There is nothing “cookie-cutter” about my background or my approach. I work closely with my clients to tailor my scope of work to respond to what is most important to them. This is why individuals and organizations trust me and continue to call upon me when I can be of assistance.
Over a career that has spanned more than three decades, Dr. Hal Lewis has been both an extremely successful nonprofit executive, and a highly regarded professor of leadership. Hal taught or lectured at the University of Cincinnati, University of Illinois Chicago, Brandeis University, Spertus College (Chicago), and Hebrew University (Jerusalem). He has served in positions ranging from the Development Vice President of the American Cancer Society (Ft. Lauderdale) to the President and CEO of the Jewish Federation (Columbus, OH). Most recently he completed more than a decade as the President and CEO of Chicago’s Spertus College/Spertus Institute. Because he combines the perspective of both a scholar and a practitioner, Dr. Lewis’ work is informed by research and best practice, along with a pragmatic understanding of the challenges facing contemporary nonprofit leaders.
As a nonprofit leader himself, Dr. Lewis has been credited with:
- Several significant organizational turnarounds, including:
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- – a 90+ year old institute of higher learning that was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and;
- – a century-old faith-based institution that was losing members and market-share, and depleting its endowments
- Rebranding a staid 20th century educational institution to meet the needs of 21st century learners, funders, and community stakeholders
- Raising more than $50M in annual, endowment, and deferred gifts over a 10-year period
- Revamping staffing models and restructuring Boards of Trustees
- Several significant change-leadership initiatives that resulted in the revitalization of organizations previously understood to be moribund
- Driving a succession planning process resulting in a seamless CEO transition
Among his major academic areas of interest are:
- Faith-based Approaches to Effective Leadership
- The Role and Place of Humility in Leadership
- Gender in Leadership Education
- Leadership Pipelines, Succession Planning, and Transitioning
- Empowering the Nonprofit Professional
- Attracting and Retaining First-Rate Professionals
- Partnering for Impact: Effective Volunteer-Professional Relations
As a Leadership Consultant, Dr. Lewis offers expertise in the following areas:
- Executive Coaching and Mentorship
- CEO Onboarding
- Talent Management
- Leadership Development Education
- Crisis Management and Organizational Turnaround
- Change Leadership
- Professional Development
As a nonprofit leader himself, Dr. Lewis has been credited with:
- Several significant organizational turnarounds, including: (i) a 90+ year old institute of higher learning that was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and (ii) a century-old faith-based institution that was losing members and market- share, and depleting its endowments
- Rebranding a staid twentieth-century educational institution to meet the needs of twenty-first century learners, funders, and community stakeholders
- Raising more than $50M in annual, endowment, and deferred gifts over a 10-year period
- Revamping staffing models and restructuring Boards of Trustees
- Several significant change-leadership initiatives that resulted in the revitalization of organizations previously understood to be moribund
- Driving a succession planning process resulting in a seamless CEO transition
Among his major academic areas of interest are:
- Faith Based Approaches to Effective Leadership
- The Role and Place of Humility in Leadership
- Gender in Leadership Education
- Leadership Pipelines, Succession Planning, and Transitioning
- Empowering the Nonprofit Professional
- Attracting and Retaining First-Rate Professionals
- Partnering for Impact: Effective Volunteer-Professional Relations
As a Leadership Consultant, Dr. Lewis offers expertise in the following areas:
- Executive Coaching and Mentorship
- CEO Onboarding
- Talent Management
- Leadership Development Education
- Organizational Turnarounds
- Change Leadership
- Professional Development
Hal Lewis is also an accomplished author, whose articles and books can be found at hallewis.com.
Hal Lewis Author
Models and Meanings in the History of Jewish Leadership
August 14, 2006
Hal M. Lewis
This work offers a critical and incisive look into Jewish communal leadership from the biblical period to the present. It provides the reader—both scholar and practitioner—with a probing analysis of a previously unexplored area of study. Lewis provides a thoughtful assessment of Jewish leadership paradigms as they have emerged across a variety of historically and geographically diverse settings. He identifies and analyzes the dominant themes and trends associated with models of Jewish communal leadership, highlighting continuities and discontinuities in their development and evolution.
The work provides a unique context in which to understand and evaluate the current realities of leadership in today’s Jewish communities. Lewis offers a penetrating perspective on the impact which modernity’s radical changes have had upon communal leaders, from rabbis to philanthropists. Further, he proposes a model for twenty-first century communal leaders which seeks to provide a prescription for communal vitality by recapturing the authenticity of the past.
A seasoned communal leader himself, Lewis combines impeccable scholarship with an insider’s understanding. The result is an unusually insightful look into the intricacies of leadership in the Jewish community.
This impressive work has been identified and recognized as an important resource for the field of Jewish communal service by Shared Learning, a quarterly publication of the School of Jewish Communal Service, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles campus. In fact, Dr. Lewis’ book is the very first one to be selected by Shared Learning for their recommended list of resource materials on Jewish leadership.
Purchase from Amazon.com, or direct from Mellen Press.
From Sanctuary to Boardroom: A Jewish Approach to Leadership
January 14, 2004
Hal M. Lewis
Leadership is a central theme of Jewish history and a pressing concern for contemporary Jewish organizational life. From Sanctuary to Boardroom: A Jewish Approach to Leadership examines key Jewish texts on leadership and applies these concepts to today’s issues associated with leading and managing organizations. Discussing subjects such as authority, charisma, uses and abuses of power, and shared power, the book offers an understanding of the key classical models of Jewish leadership, helps explicate these models in clear and communicative style, and translates these models into issues and questions which are the core of contemporary concern of existing and future Jewish leaders.
