Our Family Branded Funeral

This suggestion comes from a more personal place, but still applies to organization thinking. Phrases like “You Do You!” and “Organizational Culture” and “Maintaining Brand Identity” are really important to take seriously. About 10 days ago, I sat at my mother’s hospital bedside as she fell into a cancer-induced coma, and I started thinking about her burial and shiva. I realized that our family has it’s own brand and “organizational” culture and I wanted to honor her and our family identity by imbuing a traditional Jewish funeral and shiva with our own flare. From sprinkling seed paper confetti flowers onto my mom’s coffin before guests shoveled dirt to fill in her grave, to an outdoor shiva at a park pavilion complete with delivered frozen custard from our family favorite location, we stayed true to our own values and approach to life.  Organizations should deeply consider how they can take traditional Jewish moments and inject their own culture and identity into them.