Behind every company is a person. Behind every asset is a story of effort, expectations and sometimes worry. When I meet a business or property owner, I first want to understand the person across the table: what matters to them, what they are building, what weighs on them, and the responsibilities they carry toward their family and others.

Financial data, organizational structure and technology are essential to my work. The way I use them reflects a broader outlook. Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers, is one of its deepest sources: a language of learning, respect, integrity and responsibility that connects personal conduct with business decisions.

A cultural and moral code, passed on through learning and action

I see Pirkei Avot as a cultural and moral code of the Jewish people: a tradition of questions, principles and conduct transmitted through education, study, personal example and practice. This is not a genetic or biological claim. It implies neither innate superiority nor that every Jewish person behaves alike. These values must be learned and chosen afresh, and they are available to anyone.

For me, tradition becomes meaningful when it meets reality: telling an uncomfortable truth, honoring a commitment, listening to criticism or deciding who will bear the cost of change. Those are the moments that test my moral compass.

“Who is wise? One who learns from every person” — listen before advising

This teaching in Avot 4:1 reminds me that professional experience also calls for humility. An owner understands a reality I am still learning. Someone on the front line may identify an obstacle absent from the reports; a customer or supplier may explain a gap management has grown used to.

I therefore begin with listening and questions. I seek to understand the facts alongside the concerns, interests and relationships. Seeing the owner as a person makes room for an honest conversation about issues that can be difficult to raise in a formal meeting: overload, the loneliness of decision-making, tension between partners or the wish to pass responsibility to the next generation.

“Let your fellow’s money be as dear to you as your own” — care for resources entrusted to you

This principle in Avot 2:12 guides me to treat another person’s money with the seriousness I would give my own. Any recommendation about investment, a new system, restructuring or a property decision should be tested against benefits, costs, cash flow and risk. Excellence requires checking assumptions, identifying missing information and making uncertainty explicit.

Reliability means being precise about what I know and what I can promise. Integrity means raising findings that challenge the preferred direction, distinguishing facts from estimates and saying when a simpler, less expensive option may be sufficient. The trust placed in me requires independent judgment and discretion.

“Let your fellow’s honor be as dear to you as your own” — respect through disagreement

Avot 2:10 speaks directly to organizational life. We can demand performance, identify failure and set boundaries while preserving a person’s dignity. I aim to speak clearly and directly, allow a response and keep a professional problem from becoming a personal attack.

In a family business or partnership, a commercial decision can affect relationships that will continue for years. Caring for others means considering employees, partners, customers and suppliers as well. Respect helps us ask for accountability in a way people can work with.

“Turn it over and turn it over” — examine the issue together

Ben Bag Bag’s words in Avot 5:22 refer to the study of Torah. I also draw inspiration from them for my work: revisit the question, examine it from different angles and resist becoming attached to the first solution.

Together with the owner, I ask what the underlying difficulty is, which evidence supports our diagnosis and which evidence challenges it. We consider alternatives: changing a process, clarifying authority, supporting someone in their role, investing in technology, taking commercial action or waiting. For each option, we examine what it requires, who will lead it and what happens if our assumptions prove wrong.

For example, a request for a management system may reveal unclear responsibilities. We would first define who decides and who executes, then select the appropriate tool. Thorough analysis must lead to a practical plan: decisions, owners, deadlines and measures we can review.

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am only for myself, what am I?”

Hillel’s teaching in Avot 1:14 brings together two duties I believe in: acting on our own behalf and remembering that we do not act alone. An owner must protect the business, earn a profit, take initiative and make decisions. Every business decision also distributes value, cost and risk among different parties.

A customer discount, extended credit, revised supplier terms or restructuring may benefit one party while burdening another. I want that distribution made explicit: who benefits, who pays, who carries the risk, and whether the terms are clear and fair. We cannot always satisfy everyone. We can explain the choice, hear objections and consider how to reduce avoidable harm.

Turning values into action

A fair, sustainable solution must be economically workable, clear to those implementing it and durable after the initial enthusiasm fades. I connect the owner’s interests with the ability of the organization and the people around it to sustain the decision. We set commitments that can be honored, review results and adjust when needed.

These values guide my life as well: listening before judging, respecting another person’s time and property, taking responsibility for mistakes and continuing to learn. I offer them as a standard against which I must examine myself, with no claim to perfection.

This is how I seek to work with business and property owners: see the person first, explore the issue together, examine alternatives and turn understanding into a practical, fair and lasting solution. For me, excellence, reliability, integrity, responsibility and care for others take shape in the small and large decisions of every day.