This Week

Rising From The Communal Trenches

Metro Detroit's Jewish
Assisted Living Community

a to
Pe°Ple toger r, and they haro
feel a part of both the procesS and
the decisions, and I think Joel
brings both those qualities. Joel
has a proven track record that goes
back decades, at every level:"

David Hamelin, former US.
ambassador to Norway

Tina Bassett and her ,

er, Morris Abrams

"My dad is feeling great since coming to Elan Village!
The "heimishe" atmosphere allows him to be independent,
while at the same time feel safe and secure. He's made new
friends and the staff are caring and kind."

"He's very optirnisd.c about peo-
ples desire to succeed. He puts
them in a position where they
can, and will, succeed. He's
extremely cairn, very demanding
under pressure, but very patient
and calm at the same time. Its a
good skill set to have. I've never
heard him raise his voice, no rnat-
ter how tense the situation."

-- Larry Greene, president,-
Complex Tooling and
no., Boulder,

Tina Bassett, family member

Elan Village's monthly rate includes:

• 24 hour Personal Care Assistance

• Three Kosher Meals Daily

• Housekeeping and Personal Laundry
Services

• Social, Cultural and Educational
Programs Daily

• On-Site Licensed Nurse and Medical
Services

• Medication Management

Dementia & Respite care also available

Call today to schedule a tour

JANET ANTIN (248) 386-0303

26051 Lahser Road • Southfield, Michigan 48034

Elan Village provides

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Care that Changes with You

1/28

2000

10

,Preferred Provider of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit

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level, so from a governance perspec-
tive, they make their own decisions.
And they have different needs," he
said. "Therefore, it's not that they're
trying to be difficult; they face differ-
ent realities. Federations in the
Northeast have a different world to
operate in than federations in
Southern California. What we have to
do is find ways to bring us all together
in a very difficult environment."
Solender called the UJC merger
one of the most complicated mergers
that's ever been attempted in either
the non-profit or the corporate world.
The fact that we're making such
progress at this point is a tribute to
the real leadership that Joel is giving
and to his vision," he said.
"What I'm trying to lay out here is
how different this organization is
than where we were before," Solender
said. "The biggest problem we have is
communicating that to the general
public and even our leadership."
Tauber said he's put companies
together before, but he wasn't pre-
pared for the "intensity or the vehe-
mence over relatively simple organiza-
tional matters.
"We were flying loose," he said.
"We had no governing structure [in
place] before the General Assembly
[the annual meeting of federations
from across North America], so it was
hard to understand."
Most of the officers arid the gover-
nance committees had yet to be
assigned before the GA was held last
November in Atlanta.
"Putting 1,000 people onto these
[UJC] committees, you're going to
make mistakes, or someone else will
see something differently," Tauber
said. Whatever could be corrected
was corrected. "But there were some
things so vehemently attacked, it
became hurtful."
Aronson said Tauber's inner drive
and focus have kept him unruffled.
"There were some pretty tough times
where a lot of people were very critical,"
Aronson said. "Joel took a lot of heat
and he always hung in there. He's very
adept in working behind the scenes.
He's very patient and very calm — and
nothing ruffles him. The minute you
allow yourself to become ruffled, then
you lose, because you become the issue.
He never let that happen."

"

FRUSTRATING TIMES

Leadership and disappointment go
hand-in-hand, and Tauber has had his
share. What bothers him most is when
people are all talk — and no action.
"In this business," Fisher said, "you