Parshat Bereshit: The Hard Work of Beginning (and Failing)

1. Beginnings Are Hard

God begins with nothing and starts pulling order out of chaos: light/dark, land/sea, work/rest. Creation reminds us that beginnings aren’t smooth; they require basic guidelines just to get started. Leadership lesson: when launching something new, start by sketching the guardrails. Without boundaries, beginnings unravel. A blank sheet is great but as long as there is some direction.

2. Freedom and Failure

God gives Adam and Eve freedom with just one boundary. They break it. Was that God’s “failed plan”? Or was the point that real freedom includes the risk of failure? The Torah seems to say: both. Adam and Eve fail but failure was baked into the design of freedom itself. Leaders, too, can’t design out failure. The job isn’t preventing every fall. It’s making sure people can learn and keep moving forward.

3. The Ripple of Failure

Cain kills Abel out of jealousy. Humanity slips into corruption. The early chapters show failure escalating but also that God keeps engaging. Even after failure, the story doesn’t end. Leadership isn’t about ensuring perfect success, but about responding to failure without giving up on the mission.

Leadership Takeaway

Great beginnings aren’t about perfection. They’re about resilience. Leaders set simple, clear structures to give new beginnings shape, but they also expect and absorb failure. Because leadership without failure is fantasy.

Weekly Leadership Challenge

• Set one guardrail: If you’re starting something (big or small), name one clear boundary that will help it last.
• Reframe one failure: Think of a stumble you’ve had recently, what lesson or strength could it leave behind?
• Allow space for failure: If you’re supporting someone else’s growth, let them try, fall, and learn without stepping in too fast.

Bereshit teaches: beginnings are fragile, failure is inevitable, and leadership is what you do next.