The Best Leaders Prevent Problems
In this week’s parsha, Ki Seitzei, the Torah gives us a surprisingly practical instruction: if you build a house with a flat roof, you must build a fence around it. The purpose is obvious. If people are going to use the roof, there is a risk that someone could fall. The Torah does not tell us to wait until someone gets hurt and then work out what went wrong. It tells us to identify the danger in advance and do something about it before the accident ever happens.
There is a powerful lesson here about leadership, responsibility and life. We often judge leaders by how well they respond to crises. We admire the person who remains calm when everything goes wrong, who solves the problem, rallies the team and somehow gets everyone through it. But perhaps the best leaders are the ones whose crises never happen. They notice risks early. They ask uncomfortable questions before there is a problem. They put policies, systems, safeguards and relationships in place long before they are desperately needed.
The same principle applies well beyond leadership. One of the most important questions we can regularly ask ourselves is: What steps do I need to take today to create the future I want tomorrow? There is a well-known saying: The best time to plant a tree was many years ago. The second-best time is today. Whatever the precise wording, the message is important. Many of the things we will value most in the future cannot simply be produced when we suddenly need them. They have to be built gradually.
If I want financial security later in life, I cannot begin thinking about retirement the day I retire. I need to save and invest years earlier. Even relatively small amounts become meaningful when they are repeated consistently. Investing around $28 a day is more than $10,000 over a year, even before allowing for any investment growth. Over decades, the combination of consistency and compounding can become enormously significant. But the same principle applies to things far more valuable than money.
If I want to be healthy and strong when I am older, the work starts now. Strength, mobility, fitness and healthy habits are built over years. If I want a strong marriage decades from now, I cannot neglect the relationship for twenty years and assume it will somehow remain strong. Trust, communication and friendship are accumulated through thousands of small interactions. If I want my children to grow into confident and capable adults, that process does not begin when they leave school. It begins when they are young, in the encouragement we give them, the responsibilities we allow them to carry, the way we respond when they make mistakes and the confidence we show in their ability to handle life.
The same is true with friendships, learning and leadership. If I want meaningful relationships later in life, I have to invest in people now. If I want wisdom, knowledge or expertise, I have to keep learning. If I want a strong organisation in ten years, I have to develop its people, culture, systems and financial sustainability today. We sometimes hear about an “overnight success”, only to discover that the person had been quietly working for ten or twenty years before anybody noticed. Most meaningful outcomes are not sudden. They accumulate.
The Torah’s fence around the roof represents more than physical safety. It represents the responsibility to think ahead. We know that life brings predictable challenges. Children grow up. Parents grow older. Bodies change. Careers evolve. Organisations expand. Expenses increase. Relationships need attention. Eventually, all of us grow older. Much of this is not a surprise. The question is whether we prepare for it.
There will always be unexpected events that no amount of planning could have prevented. Leadership does not mean controlling everything that happens. But many crises give us warning signs long before they become crises. A relationship gradually deteriorates. An employee becomes disengaged. Expenses consistently exceed income. Our health slowly declines. A child begins struggling. An organisation becomes too dependent on one person. Often the warning signs were there. The fence simply was not built.
Good leadership means occasionally stepping away from whatever feels urgent today and looking further ahead. Where could someone fall? What could become a problem? What will I wish I had started five years from now? What investment of time, energy, money or attention today could make life significantly better in the future?
And perhaps most importantly: What do I want to have in forty years that I need to start building now? The answer may be financial security, health, strong children and grandchildren, a meaningful marriage, enduring friendships, knowledge, or a strong community or organisation that continues long after we are gone.
Whatever it is, the lesson of the maakeh is simple. Do not wait for the fall before building the fence. We already know that the future is coming. The question is whether we are preparing for it.
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About the author: Elimelech Levy is a Rabbi, educator, and coach based in Sydney, Australia. He is the director of Chabad Youth NSW, where he develops programs that support Jewish identity, confidence, and community connection for young people and families.
Alongside his communal work, Elimelech holds an MBA from Macquarie University and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. His coaching focuses on helping individuals gain clarity, set meaningful goals, and take consistent action.
He is also the founder of the Knei Lecha Chover initiative, a global peer coaching network for rabbis, and is involved in property development projects that reflect his broader interest in building sustainable communities.
More at elilevy.com.au
