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A few weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking to the Jewish community at Columbia Business School. It was a meaningful experience, and I divided my talk into two parts.

The first half focused on campus and the importance of standing strong in our Jewish identity — keeping to our values and never backing down. Especially in today's environment, holding firm to who we are is not just a personal choice; it's a communal responsibility.

The second half addressed a much more complicated topic: dealing with antisemitism in the workplace. Here, I shared a more centrist and careful perspective. In real life, not every situation allows for easy confrontation and we have to be calculated at times. Many of us have families to support, careers to build, and personal circumstances that demand a cautious accounting before taking a bold stand. While it’s admirable to want to be a hero, life sometimes limits how we can act, and it's important to be mindful of where each of us is holding in our lives and careers.

A few days after the event, I received an email from a student who had arrived late and only heard the second half of my talk. He expressed strong disappointment, telling me it was wrong not to urge students — especially at a place like Columbia — to stand up for themselves more forcefully and that now is not a time to be careful.

Initially, I clarified to him that he had missed the first half of the speech, where I had spoken exactly about the importance of standing up proudly and unapologetically as Jews. That seemed to settle things. But later, I kept thinking about his comments.

Earlier in my career and life, I often rejected criticism if it didn’t fully align with what I knew or believed. But Judaism teaches something deeper: we are taught to consider all sides of an argument — even if the other side doesn’t have all the facts. Listening to everything respectfully, without immediately dismissing others, is part of our tradition of intellectual honesty and humility.

So even in this case, I took the student’s comments in stride. I grew from them. It reminded me that growth can — and should — come from every situation, even when we believe we were initially right.

Every encounter is an opportunity to listen, reflect, and refine ourselves. And sometimes, the most important growth happens not when we agree with others, but when we allow their perspective to deepen our own. Also, I'm grabbing coffee with the student, and we will see what we can take out of this. Maybe something special? :)