The Future Belongs to the Mensches
The word mensch keeps finding me.
I recently read Suleika Jaouad describe Jennifer Garner as a mensch. I did not know what it meant, but I knew it was a compliment of the highest order.
I looked it up. Then I saw the word again. When a word keeps showing up, I pay attention.
Mensch is a Yiddish word for a person of integrity and honor.
A good human.
Someone who does what they say they will do.
Someone who treats people with dignity.
Someone who cleans up their messes.
Someone who chooses courage over ego.
And as I have been sitting with it, I realized: for thirty-two years, I have known a mensch. I just did not have the word.
Thirty-Two Years of Watching It Done Right
I met Catherine Brown in 1994 at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Austin. The brilliant Ryan Brown, PhD was getting his doctorate. We were all young. Idealistic. Becoming. We could never have imagined we were starting a lifelong friendship.
Even then, Catherine was honing her expertise in gathering good humans who do important work.
Catherine has a phrase she uses when someone's character could easily be questioned:
"I am choosing the most generous interpretation of the story."
Let that sink in.
Choosing. Not defaulting. Not avoiding discernment. Not ignoring reality. Choosing generosity first.
She operates from a foundational belief that people are good humans, unless given concrete reasons to believe otherwise. That posture shapes everything.
Because how the world occurs to us determines how we lead within it.
If I assume incompetence, I respond one way.
If I assume malice, I respond another.
If I assume goodness, I respond differently still.
Last week, sitting in a room she curated, The Good Humans Growth Network, I saw that philosophy embodied. Leaders willing to own their mistakes. Leaders asking for feedback. Leaders more committed to growth than to looking good.
A whole community she has built with creative leaders doing great work and championing each other.
Mensches.
The Soul Line and the Goal Line
It struck me that a mensch lives at the intersection of two lines we talk about often at Sacred & Strategic.
The Soul Line is the sacred: our values, our character, our inner alignment. The Goal Line is the strategic: our execution, our commitments, our performance.
Many leaders master the goal line. But a mensch refuses to sacrifice the soul line in the process. And they choose the most generous interpretation when it would be easier, and often more socially rewarded, to judge.
In a culture obsessed with influence, maybe the highest aspiration is not to be impressive.
Maybe it is to be a mensch.
A Moment for Your Own Reflection
The leaders who last, and the communities they build, are the ones where integrity and execution live together. Where the soul line and the goal line are both honored. Sit with these questions this week:
Where in your leadership are you mastering the goal line but quietly compromising the soul line?
Is there a situation right now where you could choose the most generous interpretation, and what would change if you did?
What would it look like to be the mensch in the room?
The sacred and the strategic. Integrity and execution. Soul Line and Goal Line.
The future belongs to the mensches.
If you are ready to lead from both lines, we would love to walk that road with you.
