I have done over 75 events, all unique, and I would like to share a few highlights and moments that filled me with excitement, pride and joy as I presented Business Mensch in various settings:

I spoke at Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts, my hometown, where I began my career as an entrepreneur, selling rustic wooden salad bowls on the sidewalk out front in 1972. In attendance was a woman who was my grandfather’s secretary in 1949, the baker who formulated the original recipes for Noah’s Bagels, my high school girlfriend, and several members of my family!

I enjoyed side trips to famous American landmarks like Betsy Ross’ house in Philadelphia and Fort McHenry in Baltimore (where the Star-Spangled Banner was written “at the twilight’s last gleaming”). I was moved by the spirit of community in Westchester County during a UJA-Federation of NY “Connect-to Care” event that brought out 200 New Yorkers seeking a little help from their friends in finding a way out of this grueling recession.

I was also moved to see seeds of entrepreneurship gestating in Detroit when I spoke at the E-2 Entrepreneur Conference at Wayne State University. I co-presented with a Muslim banker at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley on the topic of business ethics as presented in Jewish and Islamic texts. The audience, quintessentially Berkeley, included observant Jews, and observant Muslims, as well as the professional students for which Berkeley is famous.

I loved my presentation to the 7^th and 8^th grade at the Gideon Hausner Day School in Los Gatos, CA and especially that precocious kid who knew the three most important things about retail (location, location, and location, of course). I have been warmly greeted by business groups including a dozen Rotary clubs, and have been impressed that the spirit of volunteerism is so important to so many individuals.

I met people who have known me or known family/friends of mine from disparate parts of my life, as well as new friends and associates…my neighborhood playmate at age 3, a long lost high school chum, Jewish community leaders, Google engineers, tons of reporters and talk show hosts, internet bloggers, and many, many former Noah’s Bagels employees.

I met famous Rabbis, published authors, and incredibly dedicated community volunteers. At Beit T’Shuvah in Los Angeles, I met recovering substance abusers that were sparkling with life and optimism just because they were alive and had a plan.

Next stop…. Jerusalem. I will be presenting there in October. Come by if you’re “home” for the Holy Days!

Noah’s on the cover of the May issue of this online magazine for today’s indie artist. The publisher, Robbe Hardnette, came to Noah’s talk in Portland, interviewed him, and decided to feature Noah’s take on the indie scene from a business perspective. You can read the article and listen to the interview by visiting www.thestreetbeatint.com How hip is that!

Shalom TV is Free Video on Demand available in more than 38 million homes throughout the United States and now in Canada, including 1.25 million Jewish homes.   It is based in Fort Lee, NJ, is non-profit and mainstream, and is watched by the Jewish and non-Jewish community on virtually all the important cable systems.

Click here to learn how to watch Noah’s talk on your cable system. The program can be found in the category of Judaism and Culture. For more information, visit www.shalomtv.com

For a list of all the winners, click here.

Kindle Version Just Released

Click here to download Business Mensch to your Kindle, or to your PC using the free Kindle app.

Noah and Rabbi Yonah at Jewlicious 6.0

Alright so it was Long Beach, but it’s all L.A. to me…I was invited to present my book, Business Mensch, at the Jewlicious 6.0 Festival in Long Beach.  Probably very few Jews over 30 have heard of this event, but for the upwards of 1000 college and post-college Jewish kids of all denominations and orientations who attended this festival,  this was hip, happenin’ and over the top Jewish. The Festival  included a raucous Friday night Carlebach minyan with the skimpiest mehitzah (divider between men and women) I have ever seen at a traditional service, but with a more than traditional quantity of joy and exhilaration…not to mention dancing! There was also a musical “camp style” reform service replete with instruments. After the services 500+  attended a fabulous catered kosher dinner, which was not only tasty, but served with style and professionalism (not to mention nice wine), and mostly prepared and served by volunteers, in conjunction with professional staff.  The enthusiasm was electric.  After dinner there were myriads of classes, dramatic presentations, gatherings, etc., including a conversation with Yuri Foreman, the welterweight champion of the world, who will be defending his title in June at Yankee Stadium and happens to be studying to be a Rabbi!

Shabbat day there was more of the same, and after Shabbat there was a comedy club skit, a late night Mexican food extravaganza that was tremendous, and as a capper there was a major concert with Kosha Dillz, Diwon, Electro Morocco, Rinat Gutman,  Moshav and a surprise appearance by Matisyahu, who was attending the festival with his family.

The continuous and rebounding theme of the event was Judaism is cool, let’s all learn more about it, celebrate it, and have fun with it, we are allowed to “own it” and as such can enter and engage it where we are and go with it where WE want to go.

Local leaders included Festival Founder, Rabbi Yonah Bookstein, and leaders from the Happy Minyan, J-Connect, local Hillel directors, L.A. Jewish Journal staff, and many many more. Local So Cal “regulars” greeted visitors from virtually every state and region of the country.

A long time ago there was a book written called Jews: the Ever Dying People, which chronicled the near total demise of our people, and the road back after each one of these “near misses.”  In today’s world many of us in the organized Jewish community are worried sick about intermarriage, assimilation, and the resultant loss of our tribal identity.  If Jewlicious could be bottled and force fed to every young Jew in America, we would make a rebound higher than Kobe Bryant could jump.

It’s a known fact that many major trends in the U.S. in the last 50 years have been gestated on the West Coast, and Jewishly, L.A. leads the way.  Kol Ha Kavod to Jewlicious and the Greater L.A. community that brought this experience directly and indirectly to many thousands of young Jews all across the U.S. and to many, many more in the future, as news of this event spreads and gives birth to similar initiatives targeting young Jews, and hitting them “where they live.”

An accelerator defect has caused deaths and near deaths since 2002, and resulted in over 2000 complaints, and yet it was not until last Friday that the Chairman and grandson of the founder,  Akio Toyoda, finally publicly stated that he was “deeply sorry” for the problem and resulting recalls. Other senior management formally apologized and expressed confidence that the solution to the problem is imminent. But as of today there is still no conclusive evidence that a solution has been found. Remember, this is eight years since the problem was first identified. How can an industry leader permit this lax attitude, especially since Toyota’s reputation was built on quality? For that matter how could General Motors allow Toyota to out-do them in their own back yard in the first place?

My answer?  Act as if you have competition breathing down your back despite how well the business is doing, and make sure to stay true to core values. ”Watch your back” should be emblazoned on every company’s walls, because sooner or later in a free market economy, a competitor will be there to challenge a successful enterprise, and only a “hungry” company will be able to hold their own.

Fast forward to this afternoon. I was invited to give a talk at Google’s main campus in Mountain View, California. Campus is an apt term for the facility. Lap pools, beach volleyball, high-end food courts, and 24-hour access only begin to describe the experience. All they needed was a raucous fraternity house to really feel like a college campus!

The employees who worked there were even more exciting than the physical plant. They were universally “up,” stimulated, and excited about their work and their workplace. I was told that engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time on something independent, new and exciting. Working collaboratively, not being satisfied with “good” but working for “great,” constantly staying ahead of the game (think Google phones), and thus maintaining superiority.

So when does Google turn into Toyota?

When they take their eye off the ball, rest on their laurels, and not want to publicly admit when they screw up, and take full charge of the situation.

Just like people, there are lifecycles to businesses. With the wide-eyed youthful energy and excitement that the 20-somethings bring to the 10 year-old Google enterprise, presumably there are many years to go before approaching the complacency of a middle age “success” story.

The book suggests a number of explanations for this success, but I would like to offer my top ten, which have direct applicability to today’s entrepreneurs in the United States:

1. Persist in the Face of Adversity. Going on your own is tough, and the one step backwards can often seem more like a treadmill in reverse than a prelude to the two steps forward. Keep your eye on the prize and take it one day at a time.

2. Networking is a Necessity. Gone are the days of the know-it-all, one-man band style of entrepreneurship. Yes, you must lead, but yes, you must arm yourself with all the tools you can, and access as many connections as possible along the way. Wherever possible, get a little help from your “friends.”

3. Think Cross Culturally. In our increasingly global economy, learning how others think is essential. Celebrating diversity is good to do and good for business.

4. Need to be Nimble. As small entities, start-ups can and must stay nimble. As technology increases at an increasing rate keep your eyes open and beware of being the “eight track” before you even hit the marketplace.

5. Create “Mashups”. Increasingly modern industry is assimilating cross-disciplinary perspectives. The breakthroughs of tomorrow will come from technologies designed for one product being married to technologies designed for something totally different to create a third new and exciting product.

6. Celebrate Failure. Ask any successful entrepreneur. No question there are more learnings from failure than success. The key is to distance oneself psychologically so that a business failure does not become a cause for personal failure,

7. Support Industrial Policy which Spawns New Initiatives. We’re all in this together. New industries need public assistance in the incubation stage. The key is to calibrate the entry, the exit and the specifics, but history shows us that public/private initiatives can pay off big for everyone.

8. Creativity is King. Thinking outside the box is going to be increasingly important as we face the almost insurmountable challenges confronting us today—shortages of clean water, global climate change, world hunger. The list is endless, and business opportunities abound while social good is being achieved.

9. Boost Bottom-Up Management. Command and control didn’t work too well for General Motors in 2009’s economy. Israeli army units and tech startups share something in common, the perspective that the success of the enterprise trumps individual glory, and thus good ideas are listened to no matter where they come from.

10. Have a Little Chutzpah. As I write in my book Business Mensch, to break through and stand out in today’s start-up “jungle” one must know which rules should be broken when and for what ultimate purpose. Very few “home-run” business ideas succeeded without ruffling a few feathers.

What is the lesson here? Excessive reliance on performance based pay breeds a culture of self-centeredness and a heightened temptation toward dishonesty. Individual Incentives are important, but teamwork and morale are more important to business success.

That is a lesson we should have learned from the Japanese auto industry and from common sense… years ago.

As we move towards the new decade, let’s hope teamwork will slowly replace me, me, me.

It is like speed dating on steroids. Authors run around saying, “I’d just love to come to your city,” and the event planners try to assess the reception these authors and their books would receive at their “home” during Jewish Book Month (November). Strategically arranged to precede Chanukah, Jewish Book Fairs draw a large and enthusiastic crowd. The smaller venues bring in many lesser known authors, while the larger ones have the means to bring in “celebrities” such as Alan Dershowitz, Amos Oz, Shmuely Boteach, and Joseph Telushkin.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to nine cities, and last week alone went to four of them. San Diego was the first port of call. Our San Diego JCC hosts couldn’t have been nicer, and that legendary So. Cal. “friendly” was in full force. The palm trees were swaying and although I followed Larry King, there was a large crowd in the library for my talk. Afterwards, the stunning atrium was filled with books of presenting authors, and a large assortment of other Jewish books as well.

The following day it was off to Denver, where we were picked up and dropped off in SUV’s, the standard fare for snow country. That evening, we were treated to dinner at the home of a philanthropic couple who were involved with Jewish Day Schools in Denver. Our marvelous hosts had connections in two competing schools and had invited folks active in both for an evening of informative information sharing focusing on my input as founding president of the Jewish Community High School in San Francisco. I was blown away by the willingness of everyone to brainstorm, cooperate, and share, all in the name of mutual cooperation and individual improvement. Questions of governance in an era of scarcity, and staying true to core principles while accommodating fiscal responsibility were openly and honestly explored

After my breakfast talk—complete with bagels—at the Denver JCC, and a short workout, it was off to Cherry Hill, NJ for another 7:30 am breakfast talk the following day. NJ was colder, crisper, and faster. East coasters need to think, act, and do, for the weather can change at any moment, and you’ve got to stay ahead of it. Philly twangs were ever present in this suburb of the city of brotherly love.

My talk at the Cherry Hill JCC was billed not only as part of their Jewish Book Week, but also as part of their monthly business roundtable. Questions were asked about entrepreneurship in a time of recession, and how to make “lemonade from lemons.” Before leaving for Boston, we were graciously shown around some important sites of historic Philadelphia by our charming JCC volunteer hosts. A memorable spot was Betsy Ross’ house, which explained how she was not only the maker of the first flag, but also a single mother and successful entrepreneur. Not bad for a woman in 1775!

Last stop (for now), New England, my birthplace. It’s comforting to be where everyone sounds like you! I was greeted warmly in the seaside suburb of Marblehead, home to the JCC of the North Shore. There were folks in the audience who knew my father’s family business, which had ceased to exist 15 years ago. There was a brisk business at the signing table which resulted in my selling out of books, a first for me.

Despite the recession, it seems people are thirsty for inspiration. Jewish Book Month was heavily populated in all four cities I visited. People were pouring over the books, buzzing about the latest speaker, and excited to be able to purchase a signed copy of a featured speaker’s latest work.

The NJBC does amazing work, although invisible to many outside of their orbit. The communities that are part of it are truly indebted to them. Keeping Jewish book culture alive is a daunting task in the age of the internet, Tivo and Kindle. The communities I visited, and the volunteers I connected with could not have been more gracious. I was given celebrity status, and it was clear to me that the people of the Jewish Book Fair intended to perpetuate our preeminence in the book business for at least another 5770 years to come, despite what the electrical engineers throw at us!

The event I went to was not a major donor event. There were no limousines parked outside. It was a “meet and greet” event for people out of work, about to be out of work, in transition, or underemployed. I was there to provide inspiration and some useful business tips. I hope I was able to provide both, but I believe I was given a lot more than they were. I was given a glimpse into how communities, in this case the New York Jewish Community, is handling the current economic crisis, by connecting with people, and trying to help each other out.

During the opening remarks the speakers talked about the Connect to Care Program. The audience heard how the Federation was making employment counselors, insurance consultants, financial planners, and psychological services available at no charge. They were told how 33 people had already been put back to work by this new program, and how this was the first in a series of get-togethers to help folks network with each other. The energy in the room was high, fueled by a fabulous little buffet, complete with a wine tasting — all donated by concerned and civic minded vendors.

As I looked out at the scene I was taken back 100 years to the gritty world of the Lower East Side, a mere 30 minute drive from where we were that night. At the turn of the 20th century, with hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants pouring into New York, what did the community do? Help the newcomers find jobs by what else: “Networking.” When Moshe got off the boat from Minsk, who was going to find him a job, he was a tailor in the old country? The Jewish Community. When Baruch just came from Vilna not speaking much English, but he had a head for numbers, who helped him out? The Jewish Community. And it was the same with the Italians, the Irish, etc., as their communities helped them find employment.

What the immigrants did for their own in 1909, they were doing again in 2009. Helping each other, and helping themselves at the same time. Is this the beginning of the new old days, or the end to the new breed of greed? Let’s hope it’s both!