Nepotism

I was listening (during my daily commute) to a tape by management guru Peter Drucker, and something struck me about his discussion of "family" businesses. Drucker posits that many family businesses, even large, successful ones, eventually go under because they continue to practice nepotism (hiring one's relatives regardless of ability) and cronyism (hiring one's friends regardless of ability). Drucker's basic rule of thumb is this: Never hire a relative or friend unless their abilities match or exceed those of other applicants. (Of course, we all know that many companies have explicit rules against nepotism, and this principle is also grounded in the law for most government agencies).

I bring this up because someone once told me that Moishe Rosen used to say on occasion, "I love nepotism." Without knowing the abilities of his relatives who work for the firm, I'm wondering if this was another example of corruption in JFJ? I certainly don't want any discussion that this might engender to turn into personal bashing of Rosen's relatives but I *am* interested in whether or not others perceived nepotism at the firm.

On one level, nepotism is tied to the money issue. If you hire your relatives and pay them well, you have more money in your own family. You can put your kids through college on the firm's bankroll, you can send them to Israel free of charge, you can buy them a house, and you don't have to worry about their financial well-being (since they will always have a job no matter what their competency level). Nepotism also ensures family loyalty, since exposure of family secrets would mean losing one's job. I'm not saying that all or any of these things happened in JFJ. But I would not be surprised if they did, because nepotism is tied up with money, and money is tied up with power, and we all know that Jews for Jesus was (and possibly still is) on a major power trip.