First one learns. For the learning to stick, be fulfilling and become meaningful, one must apply what they have learned to what they do. They must allow their learning to evolve to personal belief—it becomes their mana‘o, the deep and certain belief that drives one’s instinctual actions. This is what Managing with Aloha represents for me, and this is what I hope to share with you.
— Managing with Aloha, page 12
You know me pretty well by now, well enough to know I adore books and all the pleasurable learning they have to offer us. In the Ho‘ohana Newsletter I sent out via email yesterday, I announced that George Leonard’s Mastery would be our book pick for September, and I’ll be writing about it in the next week or so. In a word, it is exceptional. Books can affect me quite dramatically; when you know what I’m reading you can very successfully guess at what I’m thinking. In my mind’s eye, I can see Bren, Dwayne, and Kevin smiling knowingly as I write this; they have all written or spoken to me about their own exuberance for Mastery.
Yet where do books come from? Someone’s mana‘o; their deeply held beliefs and convictions transmitted to the written page. In fact, to have George Leonard speak to us of Mastery would be even better than reading his book. Having Tom Ehrenfeld bring his Startup Garden to life last month was extraordinary. It is my hope that those who have read Managing with Aloha feel the same way when they spend some time with me.
Books are magnificent, however we learn from people. And the far majority of those we learn from are not authors.
I feel very privileged to know some wonderfully learned people. They are intelligent, perceptive, and extremely resourceful, and they learn because they are both curious and exceedingly humble. They have a hunger for knowledge, and they seek it continually, instinctively understanding how it nourishes them and makes them better. They teach me on a daily basis, and I marvel at the abundance created in my life because I have come to know them. They come from all walks of life, are of all ages, and they live all over the world. They are the people in our Ho‘ohana Community.
People, and the effect they have on us, are our catalysts for learning.
We’re in for a very special treat this month. For the first time you will read postings from Guest Authors on Talking Story. They will be writing about their mana‘o with our Ho‘ohana this month, Lifelong Learning. I can’t wait.
– Albert Einstein