Lōkahi

Lead, Follow or Get out of the way

October 20, 2011 by Rosa Say

You have heard this phrase before, I’m sure. You may even have said it yourself, or at least thought it… I admit that I’ve said it, and thought it several times when a younger, more inexperienced manager (politics tends to push me into that thinking still… sigh).

I do try to catch myself now, and bite my lip if necessary! At work I go for even better: I will rephrase LFOGOOTW to give people a more welcoming “we” choice, to deliberately eliminate the GOOTW sarcasm. When I sense my team has reached a degree of clarity with an issue, I ask, “would you like to lead this one, or work within your followership?” genuinely feeling that both choices have merit, just different energies, and that each person can make each choice relative to the variables at hand.

Replace innuendo with Culture-building

I’m not the only one who feels that way; it’s in our culture. Our team has talked about followership enough to know that Following is NOT a Passive Activity. Following can often go the What/How way of the managing verb (as compared to the Why/When leading verb), a great thing.

As for “…or get out of the way,” that’s not one of our options. We can’t afford bench-warming (and nobody likes it).

The trick to timing the question of lead or follow, is one of sensing people are ready for action, and feeling we’ve talked about it quite enough — at least in that stage of the project. The “lead or follow?” question turns people loose when both choices have been established as good choices in a workplace culture. Neither has that cynical dig in it (“if not, get out of the way.”) which is very un-inclusive (i.e. un-Kākou).

join the QuEuE by Maldita la hora on Flickr

However is that enough?

In Managing with Aloha cultures, we do go for the “and” instead of the “either/or.” LFOGOOTW is a good case in point with advocating the “and” embrace, for as Dan points out in the comments, “lead, follow, or get out of the way oversimplifies things a bit.”

I remember a wonderful comment from Stephanie when we had talked about the LFOGOOTW phrase within the value-mapping we’d been doing at MWA Coaching, with the value set of Alaka‘i, Kākou, and Lōkahi:

The more I read, the more apparent it becomes that for as long as I can remember, I have been looking for others to provide me with clear answers rather than developing them on my own. In fact, I am truly grateful to the gentleman who inspired [this conversation string on “Lead, Follow, or Get out of the way.”] since I often get stuck thinking about mantras as law.

So what does this have to do with leadership? For me, the lead or follow mentality seems limiting. Much like in partnerships, where only two people are involved, it’s about taking turns. In other words, it’s about being a team-player, just like you expressed [with the value of Lōkahi]. The best leaders understand this and know when to stand down.

In an environment where all members are respectful the leader rises to the occasion with ease. Nurturing an environment that enables every member to shine is not always easy, but that is certainly my goal.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with looking to others for help with answers; in fact, learning from their lessons is quite wise. And taking turns can help — don’t think it simplistic and dismiss it. We seldom work alone or in a vacuum, and collaborative and synergistic work is what great teams engage in and thrill to.

And I love what Steph had observed, that “In an environment where all members are respectful the leader rises to the occasion with ease.” The goal she had to nurture such an environment was outstanding — truly Kākou behavior with that Ho‘ohanohano demeanor of respect.

I think about it again today (thus this post) as I wonder what direction the nascent #Occupy movement will start to take.

“Rise to the occasion” with Lōkahi

How do we allow leaders to rise to the occasion with ease as Steph says, while we continue to shape our own more progressive and proactive behavior?

Let’s revisit the Lōkahi connection: Lōkahi is the value of collaboration, harmony and unity. The pairing of Kākou and Lōkahi are the MWA values of teamwork. They are the value-drivers of the followers that leaders dream of inspiring, and having on their team.

From Managing with Aloha, under a section heading called “the role of the individual” (hardcover page 107);

“Most of the Hawaiian values really speak to personal endeavors, and the concept that all starts from within you. We are responsible for our own attitudes, our own choices, our own happiness and our own success. While Lōkahi speaks to the behavior of people within a group, its core assumption is that the group’s effectiveness comes from the choices made by the individuals within it.”

“Lōkahi asks these questions: Are you a bystander or are you truly engaged? Does your reach include the entire team, and are you being cooperative? Do you seek to understand everyone’s opinion while sharing your own? Are you looking for mutually beneficial agreement or are you settling for negotiation or compromise? Do you understand the role of every person, and are you respectful of their participation and involvement? Are you fulfilling your own role and responsibility, so that you make the contribution that is expected of you? Are you supportive and positive?”

In other words, are you a team player? Will you be the best you can be on the team that your leader of choice champions? When called upon to do so, will you be able to take your turn leading too, building upon the involvement you have had all along?

Lasting movements (progress) requires clear, directional Change

In that conversation string I pulled Steph’s comment from, we’d reconvened to talk story about self-leadership in our value-mapping process. We spoke of how our leadership vocabulary could be sharpened, and thus strengthened as “Language of Intention” (MWA Key 5).

Then we asked each other, “What is self-leadership?” and tried to focus in on it in regard to effecting change. I recall it now (and looked up our conversation archive), because of all the dissatisfaction in current affairs — something’s got to give, and people say they want change: What will it be, and how will it happen?

Nothing changes until something shifts or moves. Self-leadership is what gets us to move.

Determination - Barrel Racing - Parada del Sol Rodeo by Alan English on Flickr

For the most part, I like change because it is vibrant and alive; it defies stagnation. I say ‘for the most part’ because there are times for calm and for stillness, but those are times for the reflection which leads to rejuvenation, and for fortifying our energies for the next leaps of movement.

That’s because nothing changes until someONE shifts or moves.

That someone is the self-led, the person who chooses self-leadership first, so they need never depend on the leadership of another to free them from any stagnation or inertia; they do so for themselves. That someone may emerge to be the leader, or one of them, but for the time being they have their own work to do.

The person who chooses self-leadership as their first experience, can then empathize with the needs of others they will eventually ask to join in, or to follow their lead. Often they need not ask; it just happens because leadership is so attractive and compelling. It’s magnetic and contageous.

The self-leadership of the value of Alaka‘i is about strong, self-impelling initiative.

It is the ability to self-energize so you always have reserves to call upon when you need them.

It is the ability to self-motivate, for motivation is an inside-job: If we’re completely honest, we will admit that no one can motivate us; we must do so for ourselves.

Self-leadership is a quest for learning more about what is possible. Therefore, there is an impatience and sense of urgency about self-leadership, for those who quest know that something bigger and better exists to be discovered or created.

The self-led have the burning desire to be the one who will do that discovering or creating.

Is that the person you are, or the person you hope to be?

I do believe that at some point in everyone’s life, they can answer, “Yes.” As Steph helped us see, it becomes our turn.

Alaka‘i may not be the most consistently called-upon value that we choose when it comes to our personal values, but I do believe it may be one that we universally share much more than others. We each have it: It’s more a question of when we choose to invoke this value, and about which of our passions, and about whether that passion is one we champion or choose another leader for.

talkingstory_header_09

Postscript: You will notice that the 1st few comments below are from August of 2009: This is a refreshing and reframing of this post when originally published then. I am doing what I encourage you to do in workplace culture-building: Repeat what you stand for to keep your language of intention alive and well. Refresh it and reframe it when necessary, and you keep it Kākou too – not everyone will have heard it the first time (or will have retained it). If it is important, put it back on stage: Alaka‘i ABCs: What do you stand for?

So I invite you to weigh in again: Let’s talk story.

If you are newly joining us, Alaka‘i was subject of the posting before this one too: Alaka‘i Leadership, Chiefs and Indians. Sections include:

Leadership delivers an affirmation of our values
What do we do, when leadership fails us?
Alaka‘i Leadership is a concept of abundance

How Alaka‘i Managers get work to Make Sense

April 15, 2010 by Rosa Say for Say “Alaka‘i”

How about an intention/energy audit today?

Preface-type notes before we go on:
If you’re a regular reader, or you’re working through my new ebook, you should be able to skate through this without taking a single link: This post is meant to be a review for you, for as learners know so well, Review and Repeat helps us retain our learning. The links will help those who are new readers: You should be able to just read through the narrative of this post too, but the links will give you the backstory if you’re interested in learning more.

double exposure 4 by Dan Strange on Flickr

The All-important Role of the Manager

Great managers are the stewards of thriving workplaces. The intention/energy audit is the best way I know of for managers to assess how they are doing with this:

From The Reconstructed Role of the Manager:

3. Mission: Managers get the work to make perfect sense.
—Connect the work to be done with the meaning why.
—Plan to succeed with a viable business model, so people always see realistic possibility.
—Encourage people to work on the enterprise with you, not just within it.

This Mission responsibility within the role of the manager is directly connected to your business model. [From Tuesday: Revamping your Business Model? Enjoy the Study.]

Let’s start by reviewing Energy, and why it matters

In our Take 5 Game-Changing for 2010, this was number 2:

M/L Practical: The 30/70 Mission of Managing with Aloha

The 30: Leading to create the critical resource: Energy
The 70: Managing to channel that resource into the core ‘product’ great managers produce: People who Ho‘ohana (people who thrive within their worthwhile work)

Hopefully, these managing versus leading definitions are now familiar to you, as is my insistence that managing and leading are verbs which ALL managers do; they need not have the title of ‘leader.’

[More about this strategy was contained in this posting: Reduce your Leadership to a Part-time Gig in 2010]

Alaka‘i connections…

Two days ago (“leadership Tuesday”), I asked you if your “30: Leading to create the critical resource: Energy” included upping your own leadership energies by revamping your business model with the study of other businesses, and not just your own: “Study Within and Study Outside.”

So being that this is Management Thursday on Say “Alaka‘i” let’s go to “The 70: Managing to channel that resource into the core ‘product’ great managers produce: People who Ho‘ohana.”

Ho‘ohana is also our current value theme, and we can make both connections.

How do your leading-as-verb actions in regard to your business model affect the Ho‘ohana of your people?

My goodness, it affects them in so many ways!

To review Intention, understand the power of Ho‘ohana!

People who Ho‘ohana attach deliberate intention and their personal values to the work they do. What your business model essentially does, is define that work for the organizational culture as a whole: If it could talk (and you CAN imagine it talking to you as a separate person), your business model would be saying one of two things to each person in the organization:

“yes! I want you doing the work of your Ho‘ohana with me!”
or,
“we need to reassess our partnership, because your Ho‘ohana intention and my ‘Imi ola mission/vision are not matching up.”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, on “Business Model”

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value — economic, social, or other forms of value. The process of business model design is part of business strategy. In theory and practice the term business model is used for a broad range of informal and formal descriptions to represent core aspects of a business, including purpose, offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, trading practices, and operational processes and policies.

In other words, your business model defines all the work within your systems and processes. Hopefully, it does so in full support of Ho‘ohana, so that all the individually-defined Ho‘ohana intentions of your people blend in the most harmonious, collaborative way, and you achieve Lōkahi, the Hawaiian value of unity — Lōkahi is the epitome of teamwork.

The business model format you use probably won’t go into the nitty-gritty detail of job descriptions (which I’m not a fan of anyway” most job position descriptions give you a ceiling, and not a floor — use Ho‘ohana Statements instead.) However your business model should define your basic “how we get mission-driven work done” statement.

For instance, revamping mine within Say Leadership Coaching will continually define the different ways we choose to deliver coaching, and how we choose not to, for there are a lot of possibilities! We pass our decisions onto our new customers too, so they know what they can expect from us. [At SLC: How we work together.]

But let’s bring this back to your people and business partners; the ones you Ho‘ohana with in your workplace, and go back to this a few sentences back:

“Your business model defines all the work within your systems and processes. Hopefully, it does so in full support of Ho‘ohana, so that all the individually-defined Ho‘ohana intentions of your people blend in the most harmonious, collaborative way, and you achieve Lōkahi, the Hawaiian value of unity — Lōkahi is the epitome of teamwork.”

THAT is “The 70” that the great Alaka‘i Managers work on every single day in getting work to “make sense.”

Managers are the critical link between the business model which defines the business itself, and the people who will make that business model real, by getting it to WORK as it is intended to.

And it’s pretty clear how it’s either all about channeling available energy “into the core ‘product’ great managers produce” or it’s not — there is no bigger drain on human energy than when a person feels they are working long and hard on something that is not of importance; it doesn’t connect to the mission and vision of the company in a clear, and clearly rewarding way.

Double exposure — double exposure by Dan Strange on Flickr

The “audit” part need not be complicated

In fact, the simpler the better, which is why I love this approach, one which invokes the Pareto principle and “law of the vital few” in that it answers the questions both employees and their managers are most interested in:

Does the business model of this company value my Ho‘ohana so this is a win-win for us?

If so, my intentions are matching up to where my company needs/wants my attentions to be if we’re both to be successful.

If not, either the business model is hit-and-miss, or I don’t belong here.

Are my available energies devoted to the work which is both important, and which makes sense at a very basic level?

If so, I feel good about this, even when the work is hard and takes some time. And when I feel good, I can continue to be my best, and give others my best.

If not, we’re both wasting our time, and something has got to change, for energy shouldn’t be wasted for either of us.

As Alaka‘i Managers you can put your signature on this audit, one you do with and for all your people: It’s most commonly referred to as “your management style.” You know what I call it: The verbs of managing and leading with Aloha.

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My mana‘o [The Backstory of this posting]
Each Thursday I write a management posting for Say “Alaka‘i” at Hawai‘i’s newspaper The Honolulu Advertiser. If this is the first you have caught sight of my Say “Alaka‘i” tagline, you can learn more on this Talking Story page: About Say “Alaka‘i”. There are some differences in this Talking Story version, most notably that all links will keep you here on this blog.

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Talking Story connections [Learning the 9 Keys of MWA]
If you have now Become an Alaka‘i Manager, you will notice several connections within this posting!

A Grown-up Christmas List for Alaka‘i Managers

December 24, 2009 by Rosa Say for Say “Alaka‘i”

My grown-up Christmas wish list for Christmas Day has just two items on it:
They are all we need.

Both are for us, for these are gifts we can easily share. In fact, they are better that way.

We. Care.

I like thinking of them as Christmas gifts under the tree, and as boxes we can eagerly unwrap, seeing and holding each one as an exquisite present, one gifted especially for us. Thus we value them greatly, knowing that our wanting has now been satisfied (at least in part) by our having them.

I like knowing that we will sit there for that moment of unwrapping and begin to imagine how we will use each one; that we will have a wide-awake dream right there, sitting with an open gift box in our hands. In our mind’s eye we will see what we will next do with our gift, and why. We will smile as we imagine being in our dream, feeling all the pleasure of it.

Honestly, I also like that we will feel bound by a Mahalo obligation to the giver too, and that we have to use our gift as he or she intended us to, and hoped we would, at least once. A ‘once’ which is significant, and impactful enough, that the having of that moment will get us to appreciate the gift more fully once again. We will want to use it again, and again, and again, and so we will. We will own it.

When that happens, we will no longer need a Christmas tree, or a festively wrapped box. Our gifts will be extraordinary on their own now, for we completely “get” them. We know that we, and our decisions to act, and to have, are the gifts which were really in those gift boxes.

In one box: We. Acting together to get better work done as Alaka‘i managers; those who live, work, manage and lead with Aloha, and who speak the “language of we.”

In the second box: Caring. Caring enough to take those actions, actions learned within our shared values. We never wait for someone else to do what we can do, and we do it for an “us” as our reason.

I hope that Hawaiian slang of ‘ainokea’ is a word I never, ever hear again. I hope it is a word we stop thinking about at all, forbidding it to creep into our consciousness in any way whatsoever.

We is the value of Kākou

The “We” gift is self-indulgent, and openly so, because it IS a shout-out and desire for more Alaka‘i managers, and they are those I choose on my team. However, I also say I am happy to share, because I am so sure of this couplet:

a) Life is not meant to be a solo proposition, and we can team up exceptionally for stellar results. We must choose to.
b) Alaka‘i managers matter in our world, for they create the cultures in which that teaming will happen. They are the stewards of work culture.

Many too many days within my management career were spent in solo, independent work, and sometimes I did prefer it that way. I got rather stubborn about only doing it alone, all by myself. But eventually I came to realize that my biggest and best achievements came when I had teammates at my side. Kākou (inclusiveness) and Lōkahi (collaborative harmony) are values I honor today, but I had to learn them, and I had to learn how to get comfortable with living them within my own skin (and Aloha spirit/gut-centeredness) as the person I am.

That is the wide-awake dream I see: We-bound, bundled up together yet all comfortable in our own skins, and in our own personal sense of Aloha, feeling a significant win of some kind that we share with our families, our friends, our teams, and our communities. Wins we count within our ‘Imi ola legacies (‘Imi ola is creating our best possible life).

More about that “win” in a moment, but first, more about our second gift.

Care is the value of Mālama

When you first read this, you may have thought of Kuleana, the value of responsibility:

In the second box: Caring. Caring enough to take those actions, actions learned within our shared values. We never wait for someone else to do what we can do, and we do it for an “us” as our reason.

Most certainly, Kuleana will be a factor, but later. I believe that Mālama must come first, to start the chain reaction of events which gives Kuleana a better foundation to then take its turn with. Mālama you see, is itself fortified with another value: Mahalo, living and working within thankfulness for all the elements which make life most precious to us (and not just any life, but an ‘Imi ola life):

Honestly, I also like that we will feel bound by a Mahalo obligation to the giver too, and that we have to use it as he or she intended us to, and hoped we would, at least once.

Caring must have an expression of some kind if it is to be effective in some way, and if it is to be rewarding for us. There is the caring which is purely emotional, however that is closer to empathy, and being able to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, feeling whatever they feel. While admirable, empathy is not big enough to be in our Christmas box: Mālama caring is bigger. Mālama caring is better.

For many people, Mālama caring is also easier. Empathy is much harder for many us; it is closer to an inherent talent we either have or don’t have. Caring is more universal, for everyone can care: It is a choice. A choice more easily made, when:

A ‘once’ which is significant, and impactful enough, that the having of that moment will get us to appreciate the gift more fully once again. We will want to use it again, and again, and again, and so we will.

Mālama caring is a stewardship which begs action. We cannot help ourselves but to act; we cannot stop at empathy and purely emotional thinking and feeling. We must connect it to a physical involvement of some kind, using more of our palena ‘ole capacities (Palena ‘ole is without limits. More about it here: Is it Time for Your Alaka‘i Abundance?)

Because Mālama is the driver, we don’t think about ourselves as independently: We pursue an “us” result.

Mālama Kākou: We are healthy

Will we be sharing these Christmas gifts tomorrow? Are you brave enough, bold enough, committed enough as an Alaka‘i manager to write, “We, within Kākou” and “Caring, within Mālama” on two slips of Christmas wrapping, tucked into your stocking to remember, and reopen Christmas Day as your gift? Then, when Christmas Day 2009 is but a memory, are you ready to lead, and ready to manage?

Leading is an energy-creating “verb x30” which Alaka‘i managers commit to: How are you leading today?
Managing is an energy-channeling “verb x70” which Alaka‘i managers commit to: How are you managing today?

More: Reduce your Leadership to a Part-time Gig in 2010

This is how I answer the “To what end?” and “Why bother?” questions for me, and I hope you will answer them for you, in your own words too. Mālama Kākou: We are healthy.

A year from today, I want to arrive at Christmas Eve in 2010 as more healthy and fit in many pleasingly shared ways. I want my team, my family and friends, and my community to be more healthy and fit too, in that:

We are financially stable, more secure, more self-sufficient because we have each acted to clean up our business models, both for the ‘business of life’ and our business of commerce and Ho‘ohana job creation. Why? Because We Care.
We are committed to each other, to the quality of our lives universally, and to a future where all of us are happier and much more optimistic than we are today. Why? Because We Care.

We never think or say ‘ainokea’ ever again, because there is no reason to. We thrill to the Aloha living of ‘Imi ola.

I believe that Kākou and Mālama are the values for 2010 which will get us there twelve months from now. It could happen even sooner. Tomorrow, because we care, let’s give these values, and let’s receive them well.

Mele Kalikimaka, e Hau‘oli Makahiki hou,
with my Aloha to all of you; to all of the “we” in “us”
Rosa

My mana‘o [The Backstory of this posting]
Each Thursday I write a management posting for Say “Alaka‘i” at Hawai‘i’s newspaper The Honolulu Advertiser. Here is the link to the original article there: A Grown-up Christmas List for Alaka‘i Managers.

The Challenge of Political Leadership

December 15, 2009 by Rosa Say for Say “Alaka‘i”

The recent announcement by Congressman Neil Abercrombie immediately piqued my interest because of the reason he gave for his decision:

“U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie said yesterday that a collapse of leadership in Hawai”›i has motivated him to resign from Congress and return in a matter of weeks to campaign full time for governor.”
—Derrick DePledge reporting for The Honolulu Advertiser

Say those Alaka”›i words of ‘leadership’ or ‘management’ and I get very, very interested.

I wonder how Congressman Abercrombie fully defines the leadership he is hoping to bring to us if he were elected governor? How will he begin to demonstrate it in these coming months before the election is even held?

More importantly, would his definition of leadership match up with yours?

Hawai”›i, it is high time we stood up for our right to have a collaborative partnership with our leaders. Do you really want our old m.o. to continue where we are wooed and patronized during times of electioneering, but then ignored every other day of the year, with elected officials claiming to work in our “best interest” as they pursue agendas of very personal individual legacy?

I say, don’t work in my best interest as you presumptuously portray it to be: If you want me to elect you as my leader, start to work both for me and with me.

What should Political Leadership be?

Traditionally, we have thought of our political leaders as those with future-forward ideas. They have stood on an idea platform of some kind which detailed the changes they wanted to pursue, or they staunchly defended the status quo with the view that change would be dangerous or too risky.

Clearly, that either/or view of change + new ideas has not been enough. In fact, our long history of ineffective leadership has proved it to be pretty irrelevant.

“Hawai”›i is tired of publicity stunts and political shenanigans. Voters want real leadership, real change, and it is clear that many of the politicians in the Democratic Party cannot offer anything but the same things we’ve seen for the last 50 years.”
—Jonah Ka”›auwai, state GOP chairman as quoted by Derrick DePledge

Let’s keep the partisan views out of this, for they only serve to detract us from the root cause of our problem. I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of the expensive, bureaucratic Hawai”›i government we have, ineffective in all quarters even when a single party dominates our legislature, and cannot work in the best interests of the citizenry as a whole versus a first allegiance to towing the party line.

I don’t want to be just a ‘voter’ to you any longer, disregarded when the campaigning is over: I want to be a valued constituent, honored by collaborative, appreciative inquiry.

Dear Reader, I ask you again: When any party or politician (or businessperson) bandies about the word ‘leadership’ what does that mean, and how will it actually affect you, if at all? Will it include you when you want to participate?

Here’s the real issue we are faced with Hawai”›i:

Even a truly great idea is worthless if the leader we select cannot manage his/her team well enough to get it executed. Further, when we are in a highly partisan and unionized situation, as we are, internal teamwork isn’t enough either, even if it is brilliant, for it ignores all the stakeholders of a constituency and our wider multi-island community. That leader (together with his/her team) must get the rest of the people in the State feeling they are a significant part of the process, and that their voice matters too. (And for the record, the name of our State is not Honolulu).

In this regard, politics is really no different than business. Savvy business leaders realize they have some good ideas but not all of them. They need to reach out to every level of their organizational culture – particularly where others are much, much closer to the customer and other stakeholders – so they can become aware of other fertile ideas taking root, and then corral support behind those which have the most promise.

In contrast, most of the Hawai”›i ideas and political platforms we have been hearing about over the years has to do with an individual’s personal agenda, which is as far from our community values of kākou (inclusiveness), lōkahi (collaborative unity), mālama (stewardship) and kuleana (responsibility) as we can get.

When several of our government leaders have claimed they were effective, their triumphs have sounded an awful lot like the hollow and narrow victories of a domineering bully to me.

Whatever happened to ‘public servants?’

2010 MUST be a year in which we ask two things of those we select as our leaders, whether they are in business or in politics:

In addition to the vision you speak of, how do you plan on getting it done? Speak of your commitment to both management (which we need more of) AND leadership.
How does that getting it done include me, those both in and out of your party, and everyone else within our citizenry so we finally can have an all-inclusive, well-functioning government?

In my view, the leaders we now need in Hawai”›i’s political arena are those who will be able to lead an exceptionally large and complex team of many moving parts. I use ‘leaders’ as plural intentionally, for our government cannot be about just one person. It also cannot continue to be about a partisan legislature which ignores a nonpartisan citizenry and is so incumbent laden that fresh generational perspectives are discounted if they are heard at all.

Our leaders in 2010 and beyond must be willing to share their leadership as they manage exceptionally well. Their management efforts must be directed to forging a government team like we have never seen before, one which embraces our entire citizenry, giving us voice and stage for ideas which are not now seeing the light of day. There is no lack of good ideas: The problem is that we have no point of entry for them within the existing collection of sacred cows we now refer to as ‘our’ Hawai”›i government if they are not perfectly aligned with an elected official’s personal agenda.

“We need to have leadership. There’s been a total collapse of leadership in the state.”
—Congressman Neil Abercrombie

Has there been a ‘collapse’ or is it more probable that a leadership for all our people has rarely existed in recent history?

To Congressman Abercrombie and every other elected official in Hawai”›i today and in our future, my response is this:

Tell me how you will be a leader of all our people, and not just an advocate of your own personal vision, for that is not half near good enough. Your vision is no longer as important to me, no matter how cool and sexy it may sound (honestly, it never was.)

I do not expect you to have all the answers: I expect you to find the best answers within us, and then ho”›ohana: make them happen.

There is a lot of talent in our state that is being ignored because our existing governmental system does not let them in. Is that what you will change in the ‘fresh leadership’ you may be speaking of? Be the leader and great manager of a dynamic team of effective public servants and I’ll get on board.

My mana‘o [The Backstory of this posting]
Each Tuesday I write a leadership posting for Say “Alaka‘i” at Hawai‘i’s newspaper The Honolulu Advertiser. Here is the link to the original article there: The Challenge of Political Leadership.