7/22/22, 11:56 AM Leadership With Heart | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/leadership-with-heart/ 1/5
THE BLOGS
Andy Blumenthal
Leadership With Heart
Leadership With Heart
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7/22/22, 11:56 AM Leadership With Heart | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/leadership-with-heart/ 2/5
Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal
So about a week ago, I had this amazing dream. In the dream, I saw one of my
old bosses who had been very instrumental in my career and life.
I vividly recalled how this person had not only been a great boss and mentor,
but had believed in me and given me many opportunities to grow and excel over
my career. But what was critical in the dream was a feeling of immense
gratitude and that I somehow needed to “make things right” (while I could),
conveying this message to them.
In the dream, in what felt perhaps like a divine message to me, was that I
needed to reach out to this person and tell them what a big influence they had
had on me and to sincerely recognize them for it and thank them from my heart.
When I awoke, I couldn’t stop thinking about this dream. At first, I tried to
dismiss it as “just a dream,” but I kept getting the feeling that I actually needed
to act on this one.

7/22/22, 11:56 AM Leadership With Heart | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/leadership-with-heart/ 3/5
And so I did. I reached out to this person and asked if they would mind if I gave
them a call over the next couple of days. I felt glad when I got the response in
the affirmative and with his enthusiasm to hear from me.
When I called, it immediately felt good to reconnect after mostly decades, but
what was amazing was that it was like time had never even passed. I was right
back there in New York, working for him and (for the most part) loving my job.
The time factor was just an illusion.
After asking how he was and hearing what he had been up to in life, I told him
the reason for my call: to explain the message in my dream that I got to contact
him. It was clear that I somehow needed to express my recognition of what he
did for me in terms of opportunities, mentoring, and believing in me, and most
importantly, to say a heartfelt thank you!
I realized that my old boss believed in me when I still had plenty of doubts
about myself, and he gave me the access, trust, training, experience, and
encouragement so that I could feel safe, learn, grow, and even excel in
important areas of my career development. Most importantly, this person was
fundamentally a mensch of a human being and his staff responded to that and
truly liked working for him, as did I.
This boss, mentor, and friend, over the years, had become an important
influence in my life, both professionally and as a Jew. Ultimately, I realized that
he was a major role model that later influenced my vision for myself of:
“Leadership with Heart“—you’ll see this as my byline for my Times of Israel
blog, and which I also use daily under my signature line in my professional
emails. To me, it represents my goal of becoming a leader and doing it with a
“lev tahor” (pure heart), represented as much as possible to others through
good thoughts, words, and deeds.

7/22/22, 11:56 AM Leadership With Heart | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/leadership-with-heart/ 4/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Blumenthal is a dynamic, award-winning leader who writes frequently about Jewish life,
culture, and security. All opinions are his own.
In terms of impact, I was pleasantly surprised recently when at least three
different people came up to me after I did or said something, and they
responded with something like, “Oh, I get it. That’s what ‘Leadership with
Heart’ means in your tagline.” I can’t tell you how happy that made me to hear
that. I wasn’t just saying it, but acting it, and others noticed it positively.
When I had the dream about my boss and contacted them, I don’t think that I
even fully realized that they were perhaps one of the important and influential
people for me that were in large measure an inspiration to me for this. But as I
am writing this article, it is all making sense in my life and my dreams. Thank
you Hashem, for the direction in my life, for the good people and opportunities
to learn from them, and for helping me every day to try to be a little bit better
than perhaps the day before. It’s a meaningful and worthwhile journey.
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