Media | Mark Pearlman

Avoiding the Jewish Fiscal Cliff

A collaborative approach for improving the effectiveness of Jewish philanthropy (by Mark Pearlman) Note: This paper is an outgrowth of my ongoing community involvement, including a previous study (“Creating a Jewish GDP,” The New York Jewish Week, April 2008) and my recent participation in the 2012 JPPI conference, which included sessions on the ways and means of the community. An excerpt of the paper has been published in the Jewish Journal here and the New York Jewish Week here. The other main Capitol Hill sport these days (after...

Conference sessions suggest new fundraising model

JERUSALEM (JTA) October 30, 2012 – Delegates to the Jewish People Policy Institute conference proposed a new model for Jewish communal fundraising and stressed the importance of cooperation between Israel and Diaspora Jewish communities. At a conference session on how the global Jewish community spends its funds, former CBS executive and Fox News founder Mark Pearlman suggested that the community shift in part from focusing on umbrella Federation funding, and instead emphasize funding based on causes — though he noted the...

Publisher brings Jewish wisdom to a Web site or e-book near you

By the JEWISH JOURNAL Rethink Partners Publishing has introduced Sinai Live Books, an imprint of the company that acts as a modern mecca for Jewish literature. Based online and working with an established group of Jewish authors and leaders, Sinai Live assembles and publishes writings that offer insight into Jewish wisdom for the everyday.The works can be delivered, downloaded, or even watched with video e-books—brief filmed commentaries that offer concise but profound discussions with authors like Rabbi Benjamin Blech or Rabbetzin...

Sharing Bite-Size Chunks Of Wisdom

By THE JEWISH WEEK Looking for a Mother’s Day gift that is thoughtful, timely — and free? A publishing company called Sinai Live is offering a small book entitled “More Precious Than Pearls,” a collection of 10 essays reflecting on Eishet Chayil (A Woman of Valor), the chapter from the Book of Proverbs traditionally sung to the woman of the house before the Friday night Shabbat meal. Read the Full...

Rethink Partners Publishing Launches Sinai Live Books

Top Jewish teachers share their wisdom through concise, engaging print books and video e-books New York, NY (PRWEB), April 30, 2012 Rethink Partners Publishing has launched a new imprint called Sinai Live Books (http://www.sinailive.com), which offers concentrated, transformative Jewish wisdom in a variety of formats, including print books and video e-books. “These books convey practical wisdom that can help readers change their perspective on everyday life,” says Mark Pearlman, founder of Rethink Partners. “A book doesn’t have to be...

Actualizing Organizational Potential: A Maslow-based approach to strategic and business planning

By MARK PEARLMAN and JAKE LAUB The goal of this paper is to offer a new strategy framework for assessing, transforming and monitoring an organization such that it is able to create a path to its potential. The ability to actualize potential rests on certain preconditions. In “A Theory of Human Motivation” (1943) psychologist A. H. Maslow articulated a five-tiered hierarchy of human needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization. The manifestation of a need typically rests on the prior satisfaction of a lower level...

Pop Investing: Less, but Better

By MARK PEARLMAN Every year financial institutions develop thousands of new investment products, yet intuitive, functional design is rarely the central concern in how these products are structured. Dieter Ram would be disappointed. The German industrial designer is famous for his elegantly simple approach to consumer products at Braun, many of which are now on display at a newly opened exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. But while Ram’s Functionalist school of design is still emulated for its clean, modern aesthetic (just...

Pop Investing: Irene, Investing and Predicting the Worst

As the media goes soul-searching for what lead to such great heights of expectation before Hurricane Irene, investors would do well to remember that the same forces apply to the financial markets. In both nature and investing, certain predictions take on a life of their own, only later to rendezvous with reality. Read the full column by Mark Pearlman here.

Pop Investing: The Optimism Puzzle

This week TIME magazine’s cover story highlighted a topic of particular interest to investors and their advisors: the optimism bias. In short, humans tend to be more optimistic than realistic, which leads us to make certain cognitive errors. When confronted with the fact that 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce, we nevertheless tend to think our own marriage is likely to succeed. When applied to investing, habitually overestimating our chances of success is yet another aspect of human psychology hindering our ability to impartially assess...

Rethinking Long-Only Equity

The vast majority of investors have shown that buy-and-hold is simply not a viable strategy. Investors seek positive returns, but also reduced volatility. Is this combination a pipe dream? I believe it is possible, but to do so we must say goodbye (to a great extent) to a staple of investing – long-only equity. Read the full column on Forbes.com here.