Managing with Aloha

Why I blog, circa 2011 (and about ‘real books’)

April 18, 2011 by Rosa Say

Fellow blogger Becky Robinson writes, “Clicking the publish button on a new post always requires me to muster both faith and courage.” She also shares, “Here’s another confession: apart from the fun of blogging, I am not clear about why I am doing it.”

I’m with Becky; writing a blog is fun. And I can relate to doing something because you sense it’s good for you, without being completely clear on how or why, and having trust in the process — even when it takes faith and courage.

However Becky got to me wonder if it’s time that I share more of my present day reasons with you as well, especially since I never hesitate to encourage others to blog too. Case in point: Write your story of leadership. I haven’t done a meta-blogging article like this for quite a while (a post about blogging), feeling I’ve adequately covered it in the past — there’s a bunch of them in the archives, from the earlier years of Talking Story. But I suppose that’s a little naive. Things change. The world changes, and with it the ecosystem on the internet changes, as does my purpose, and yours.

This isn’t what all the “how to blog” coaches out there are likely to agree with, for their common teaching is that a blog should be written for the reader, and not for the writer. But that’s them, this is me, I’m not looking to monetize my blog, and though I took a lot of their advice early on, this is my truth about blogging today — it’s the pono background you deserve as my generous readers, gifting me with your attention as you do.

My blog is for me, my books are for you

Though it hasn’t always been like this, and you may get a different feeling when you dig into the archives, my blogging now is for me, even in welcoming conversation with you as it does, so that my books can be for you. I went through a number of years blogging, here at Talking Story and elsewhere as guest and columnist, with Managing with Aloha all the book I felt I needed, because I worked with it so actively in my coaching business (and still do). But I’ve continued to learn more as the years go by, as we all do, and now that Managing with Aloha is seven years published for me personally, I feel it’s time for me to get back to book writing.

Book publishing has changed dramatically, and in the past year I’ve stuck with ebook publishing as my learning process about what that entails, however I plan to do both with the manuscript I’m working on now, releasing it in both ebook and printed book form. For me, as a publisher of managerial business writing, there is a good, better, best continuum that goes like this:
Blog posts ~ good. Ebooks ~ better. Books ~ best.

And not just for me as a publisher, but as a reader too. That’s why you’ve seen me get back to sharing more book reviews here with you lately, with as-they-happen updates shared on Goodreads. I’m working at improving the inputs I take in with reading, feeling that:

Blog posts (and most ‘online journalism’ today) ~ good reading, good sharing.
Ebooks ~ better reading, better exploring.
Print Books ~ best of all for true learning.

A ‘real book’ is more substantial. It’s something we want printed, because it represents this very tangible filing cabinet of learning which started out as the author’s learning, but became ours too. Both author and reader will invest substantially more energy in a book, and that investment pays off with far greater rewards.

Managing with Aloha represents over three decades of work experience for me, back to the first job I ever had. The book I am working on now, will cover some specific workplace experiences I have had between 1989 and today.

Work should be relevant and useful for you

Even the ‘work’ it takes for you to read, or write. Mine certainly is. It’s all part of Ho‘ohana (chapter 2 in Managing with Aloha: here’s the free book excerpt).

As my blog, Talking Story circa 2011 is a combination of current commentary on our world of work, what I read and learn about, and a drafting of the way I write to make sense of it all. Said another way, it’s a book germinating laboratory for me today. I blog to draft publicly because I enjoy inviting you into the early part of the process, so your feedback, our conversations, can be incorporated into my thoughts too; it’s a kind of rudimentary collaboration. But I know that my blogging will not give most blog-reading managers the complete “how-to” they might be looking for help with, and that’s why I want to write more books.

I feel there is a void out there for managers today, especially in an economic climate where good professional training has been cut from business budgets, and unfortunately, is still considered a luxury, as short-sighted and naive as that is. Books can help as an affordable option; they certainly help me learn! Substantial books as I’ve described them, books that are more relevant, practical and useful, aren’t easy to find for the Alaka‘i manager, and I want to help in the best way I’m able to.

Offering book reviews, of books I have read and can recommend, is one way. Writing books myself is another.

You know how I feel: In my view, there is no good leadership without great management, at least not in today’s prevalent organizational business models (though that can change in our future, a change I’d welcome). Management is a profound responsibility, and it’s not for everyone. It’s a calling when done in the with Aloha way, not a place-holder on an org chart designed for business efficiency over and above talent development. I’m honest and vocal about telling people who manage for reasons of career climbing to get out of management as their temporary occupation as soon as they can, because they’re probably creating too many casualties along the way, instead of developing other people like managers are supposed to.

**It all gets back to Kuleana, the personal responsibility we accept**

I feel pretty blessed in knowing where my stronger activities lie as a writer, with ‘managing with aloha’ now more than book, and the threading theme coursing through the various business topics I’ll write about. It’s the heart of everything. I know how writing connects to my thinking, and my accomplishments, with the values-based philosophy of MWA grounding me as my Nānā i ke kumu (spirit source, wellspring, and sense of place).

I never get writer’s block, and more than anything else, my literary life is a constant search for more time to simply sit and write, versus coaching and speaking for hire, and the rest of day-to-day living. I’m rarely looking for blog topics to share with you, in fact, what usually happens is that I hold myself back or add finds to my Tumblr, fearing that I’m flooding your sensibilities with way too much early thinking on my part. I often feel I need to be more selective about when I hit that publish button here on the blog. Along the way, there is stuff that drops out of the queue, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I stop thinking about it, and it may come back in a book when its time has arrived.

Talking Story is now 7 years old, amazing really, and I’ve gotten past the newbie blogger’s anxiousness to hit publish too quickly. I do sleep on posts, queue them up in better order, revising and editing several times along the way, however I eventually let it go as a blog post, knowing full well it’s a draft of thought in process. Hopefully, you accept my invitation, and step into the laboratory because it’s enough to get you thinking about a comment you can share at times too, allowing me to be Mea Ho‘okipa in hosting this conversation platform for you.

I resist publishing blog posts until they feel ‘good’ to me in that continuum I mentioned. I want my book manuscripts to move through better and onto best. I have a much higher expectation with them, and I’m sure you do too.

The more you read, the greater the context

Read back over the last few paragraphs in the previous section, and it’s fairly obvious — I this, I that. I, I, I, and my Ho‘ohana responsibility in a blog post written about me in this blogging purpose. However please know I am very sincere about writing my books for you.

I had some hesitation in writing this post at all, for I hope you’ll stick around, and stay with me through this part of the collaborative process too. But I know that my books are better written, and better for you when reading time is at a premium, as it is for us all. This expectation has actually been a change for me over the course of my blog years too; I love when you read Talking Story and participate here, but I no longer expect it as unreasonably as I once did.

I shared a draft of this post with someone who I know reads Talking Story faithfully, and she disagreed with me completely as to the absence of more how-to’s here. However, I suspect she disagreed with me because she has already read my ebooks, and actively uses MWA with her workplace team in the value mapping process. For that’s when your blog reading changes here: You have the context of more backstory, more learning curation you’ve already journeyed through. You’ve connected reading to personally experimenting, and to gaining your experience through chosen action. As one of my haumana (students), you can easily get more of the how-to that actually is here, how-to that other people will miss.

Reading choices, with more help in the choosing

So I’ll end this post with an honest pitch for the 1 book and 3 ebooks I have written so far. 3 need to be purchased, and 1 is free, but free is subjective, isn’t it… the how-to within it is extensive, and you have to do the work it proposes to get the most out of it.

My intention with ebooks going forward, is that they fall into the $4.99 or less price point, to package one concept at a time — just as Value Your Month to Value Your Life did for the MWA m.o. of value alignment, with value-mapping the how-to. I’m quite proud of Business Thinking with Aloha, and had released it as a more robust ebook to get the distribution started in expanding the collaborative laboratory possible in exploring it more fully, suspecting it could be ‘real book’ one day in the league of MWA. It’s somewhat of an ebook experiment unto itself for now, for the big advantage to ebooks as essays, are that they can be so easily revised and updated as their ideas are further developed.

So on to the suggested reading… Those were my intentions, and what follows is what I published them as for YOU. (see all the dust jackets on my book page. I keep the link up in the blog banner.)

Please start with MWA ~ Managing with Aloha. You can get it in hardcover, or on Kindle.

Then, if MWA resonates, and you share these beliefs, deciding to answer your calling for managing others well, download Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks from Smashwords. It’s the free one, and I wrote it for people who opt for self-coaching; hiring me for personal coaching and attending my workshops are not options for them. Thus reading annotation to learn and retain is a key part of that self-coaching process (as you are starting to see me do more visibly here on the blog with my own book reviews for others).

If you’re looking for a more immediate start with your MWA practice, buy Value Your Month to Value Your Life. The how-to within it is value-mapping within the workplace, and it will help you see more how-to relevance in the rest of the OIB business model as it is discussed both within MWA and here on the blog. If blog posts are all you have read from me so far, this is also your shortest ebook choice. I think it’s a very good companion to the 5-week program too, helping you create an atmosphere conducive to your Ho‘ohana. Choose from Smashwords or Kindle.

The Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks program is an in depth study. If you decide it’s a bit much for you, consider warming up with Business Thinking with Aloha, for I wrote that ebook visualizing college graduates and other early job seekers as my audience, as a ‘business of life Thought Kit’ they can consider framing their job experience with, as they learn on the job. The framing how-to within it is based on the 9 Key Concepts (linked below). Choose from Smashwords or Kindle.

BTWA features the 9 Key Learning Concepts of MWA.
Blog page: Learning Managing with Aloha: 9 Key Concepts

The next book

So that book I mentioned writing right now” I hope to have it out soon, very soon. My first draft of the full manuscript is complete, and I’m in edit process, hoping to make it shorter and not longer. I’ve been writing it since January, having started it the day after I published Value Your Month to Value Your Life, and in my Ha‘aha‘a humble yet Aloha biased view, it will be the ultimate how-to for managing people in an extremely generous way — even if the manager who reads it decides that the full workplace bench press of the Managing with Aloha OIB (‘Ohana in Business model) isn’t for them.

The book will also launch a new coaching program I hope to have in place this summer with Ruzuku.

Stay tuned, and know that as a Talking Story reader, you’ve already been an important part of it, a very important part. Thank you.

Say “Alaka‘i” is Returning to the Mothership

May 30, 2010 by Rosa Say for Say “Alaka‘i”

Aloha Ho‘ohana Community,

The time has come to say goodbye to Say “Alaka‘i” at its present home with The Honolulu Advertiser. A copy of what I posted there this morning follows so you are also in-the-know. One of our recent conversations here on Talking Story was Embrace your Systems Thinker and if you remain interested in that, or would like to see a bit more of how I came to my decision, writing to think as I do, you can take a look at these posts on my Tumblr:

Say “Alaka‘i” and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Yes or no?
Mothershipping” Drinking my own Koolaid
And one as Archive Aloha: Decision Making: How do you do it?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From Thank you, and Aloha ~ ‘Imi ola kākou at Say “Alaka‘i” (About Page)

Aloha dear readers,
The time has come to say goodbye to Say “Alaka‘i” at its present home with The Honolulu Advertiser.

Cyberspace is a big place, with change happening rapidly, and so for any who may not know, these blog pages will soon appear under a different masthead. I did receive an invitation to continue writing Say “Alaka‘i” for the new paper, however I’ve decided that it’s time I move on, and start a new chapter.

You who have read this blog, and who know the Managing with Aloha beliefs which guide me, are aware of what I mean by “Ho‘o it” —Make something happen. For some of us that means we’ll seek new energy, for another fire starts to burn brightly. For others it might mean the calm contentment we call ma‘alahi, which also can burn with simmering intensity, though it comes from a “Less is More” focus. Either way, change will usually present us with choices, and I for one, like jumping into the choosing. It affords me that opportunity to “Ho‘o it” —to practice what I preach deliberately, constantly bringing value-alignment to my life via decisions big and small.

I will often choose new and different once a chapter ends, and I find I’m pulled that way this time too.

‘Imi ola: To seek best life

I do believe that the daily newspaper can play an important role in any community: Jay Fidell has explained it well most recently in his article, “How to survive in a one newspaper town.” Therefore I sincerely wish the new Honolulu Star Advertiser much success, and truly hope to support them in other ways: As you probably are, I am very eager to see what will happen here in coming weeks, and have high expectations.

However when I take into account the information presently available to me, I do not feel the newspaper blogging model will be the best place for me to personally continue my own work, not with the “sense of workplace” which is optimally representative of the ‘Ohana in Business model I hold dear, and teach within the MWA vision at Say Leadership Coaching.

As you know, I stand for Managing with Aloha, a philosophy about how we live the values of our Hawaiian culture, aligning them with the work we choose today. To be true to my mission and Ho‘ohana (intentionally chosen work), I must shape my work with the values, systems and process of MWA value-alignment and nothing less. That includes the writing and publishing I do, so The Healthy Workplace Compass of ‘Imi ola became my decision process with the future of Say “Alaka‘i”. I did explore the possibility of continuing here, however I believe I can serve you much better on my own home on the web, where blogging is an Alaka‘i focus for Ho‘ohana voice, and not a sideline.

Please know my decision is not a prejudgement on the prospects of the emerging newspaper, (or the other bloggers here, who may have other goals), for I don’t have enough information to make such a presumptuous determination. Further, I do believe they can be very successful despite the well-publicized challenges of the newspaper industry —there’s HUGE opportunity for someone to start leading a vibrant, dynamic reinvention in journalism! Why not here? In fact, were they able to speak in collected voice, the values of our island communities would argue it should be here in our Hawai‘i.

This is a decision to return to my home base and focus my efforts there, continuing Say “Alaka‘i” at my own blog, Talking Story. That said, please don’t feel I am leaving you behind!

For more of Say “Alaka‘i” there’s Talking Story

My life is fully invested in the vision of Managing of Aloha, both personally and professionally. I will continue to write on the subject matter of Say “Alaka‘i” for I have done so within my wish to give back to our community in the way I feel I can best do so. I remain deeply committed to Alaka‘i Managers and the mission we have had here to bring the value of Alaka‘i (Hawai‘i-inspired leadership) to the workplace, and we ho‘omau (continue to press on). Most of the articles published here (now 170 of them!) have been archived at Talking Story for our future reference: They remain a resource for you.

I invite you to join me there, keeping a place for the new home of Say “Alaka‘i” in your feed reader: Talking Story is now well into its 6th year as the home of our extended Ho‘ohana Community. In honor of the publishing routine we have had here, Talking Story will blend in the same Tuesday/Thursday pattern we’ve been working with:

Each Tuesday I write on Alaka‘i Leadership, i.e. including self-leadership, and “Leading as a verb” creating human energy as our greatest resource.
Each Thursday I write on Alaka‘i Management, i.e. including self-management, and “Managing as a verb” channeling human energy in the most productive and fruitful way possible.

I’ll update Talking Story at least three times a week, sometimes more, with Mondays dedicated to Managing with Aloha. We stay on-point in weekday discussions with our learning of the Hawaiian values and advocacy in support of Alaka‘i Managers, and anything goes on the weekends— we explore as life happens, or I quiet down and refresh so you can too. Visit the Talking Story About Page for info on your free subscription options.

Thank you so much to all of you who have read my articles, doing your very best to practice the Ho‘ohana of Alaka‘i and Aloha in your own workplaces: It makes a difference! In particular, a very warm mahalo nui loa to those of you who commented for me here, keeping me going with your encouragement and affirmation.

I hope to see all of you at Talking Story!
With much aloha, a hui hou,

Rosa
—
Rosa Say | Workplace Culture Coach | Say Leadership Coaching
Author | Managing with Aloha | Business Thinking with Aloha

Read my current articles on www.TalkingStory.org
Central hub for all my web media is www.RosaSay.com

Imagine having a Thought Kit

May 3, 2010 by Rosa Say

Last week I encouraged you to Embrace your Systems Thinker. Well, when it comes to THINKING there is so much more nurturing of it we all can do!

“What did you learn today Ralph?
Did you learn what to believe or did you learn how to think?”
— The questions Nathra Nader posed to his then ten-year-old son, Ralph Nader
when he came home from school
From The Tradition of Education and Argument, The Seventeen Traditions

The thinking I’ve been doing lately is about kit creating. It’s thinking, and writing which has spun off into a brand new book!
(If the photo doesn’t pop up for you in your reader, please click in to see it!)

Publisher’s Synopsis:

Become a Business Thinker.

Re-imagine work, and gain better control of your life as you do so, even if you never decide to go into business for yourself. Adopting and adapting a business mindset opens up your options, helping you feel confident, connected and in-the-know. This book presents the business thinker’s possibility for a new working attitude with a values-based bonus: the coaching of the Managing with Aloha movement.

Purchasing Options:

Business Thinking with Aloha is now available on Smashwords, within their Premium Catalog: I hope you’ll take the time to check it out, for you can sample 40% of the book for free there, and then choose from eight different reading options, including Kindle.

A note for Kindle owners: Business Thinking with Aloha is also available in the Amazon Kindle Store, however the sample size may be shorter. You can find instructions at this link on purchasing Kindle downloads from Smashwords.

A note for Business Thinkers: Smashwords does have an affiliate program you can check out too! Become an affiliate.

Why Ship So Soon?

I know this seems to come rather quickly on the heels of Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks, yet very naturally so from my perspective. My reasons for publishing the two books align: Both offer Take 5 coaching programs. Both have strong connection to the evolution of Managing with Aloha in response to the challenges we face in today’s economic climate.

Business Thinking with Aloha (BTWA) is written for the person who has not read either Managing with Aloha or its new how-to guide for Alaka‘i Managers, and who may also be meeting me for the very first time.

As you know dear readers, I write quite a bit, and for a variety of different audiences. Out of everything I have written, this is the mini book I wrote with both of my children in mind (they’re young adults now, ages 26 and 23), and because I felt compelled to be part of the solution for our workforce challenges. I’ve asked them to read this, and share it with their friends and contemporaries, because I want them to have a healthy relationship with work; they’ll be tackling a lot of it! I want them to be inquisitive young adults who seek to shape their world in the best possible way, loving life as they do so, and fully cognizant of how powerful they are with creating their own destiny. Life needn’t just happen to them; they can navigate their choices skillfully and design it.

So can you. As I wrote BTWA I also thought of it as a way I could help the Alaka‘i Manager who would like to give their employees a gift as suggested reading, i.e. something in full alignment and support of what that manager is seeking to learn in their own self-development: I asked myself, “As a manager grows, what lighter, but parallel path can their staff start with?” and Become a Business Thinker became a possible answer.

If you are already into the reading and application of Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks, I suggest you finish that one first. You will then find that BTWA works great as a follow-up which takes you deeper into the 9 Key Concepts, and where Become had ended — and you’ll likely be the person who gains the most benefit from it. Consider BTWA number 4 to this posting: The 1-2-3 journey of Alaka‘i Managers.

Business Thinking with Aloha is a shorter book (it’s about a fourth the reading time of MWA). I think it offers fabulous utility, an ever-present goal of my work, and I hope you will agree. Go on, grab your sampling today and take a look!

Creating Jobs? Let’s start with the Job Maker

April 7, 2010 by Rosa Say

This past Monday I promised you a sneak peak at the free ebook I will soon be releasing, called Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks: Live, Work, and Manage to Lead with Aloha:

About Managing with Aloha:
Has it intrigued but overwhelmed you?

Two of my former coaching clients graciously read through a proofreading the last few days, suggesting final edits to me. Both are true Alaka‘i Managers who’ve survived the Managing with Aloha crucible magnificently, and they were a huge help, picking up on a couple of tweaks that have greatly improved our offering — Lōkahi collaboration in action! They both agree we’re ready for the Smashwords process to begin. Yay!!!

Isn’t it wonderful how Ho‘ohana intentions can come together? Back on March 15th, we leapt into our current theme, The Alaka‘i Manager as Job Maker, determined to tackle job creation in some way without any real plan, just strong, STRONG Ho‘ohana intentions. Remember this?

“We’ve got to go farther than “stimulating” jobs: We’ve got to create new ones, and better ones. We’ve got to reshape many others which now barely escape the chopping block with furlough day trimming. We know of jobs which may have all their days numbered soon, for they’re next in the downsizing queue if revenue streams don’t somehow start raining from heaven.

Jobs in 2010 must be Ho‘ohana jobs. Ho‘ohana jobs must be gainful employment.”

Mix in a Kindle publishing project, and voila! The ‘job’ we end up tackling is that of the Alaka‘i Manager him/herself!

But then again, it makes perfect sense:

“To Ho‘ohana is to work with intent, and with purpose. Managers do this for themselves, and they do this for those they manage: When managers pair employees with meaningful and worthwhile work that is satisfying for them, they will find these employees work with true intentions in sync with the goals of the business. Be one of those managers.”
—Managing with Aloha, page 30

Our intention moves us in certain directions; even here on Talking Story. Intention propels us toward action in a very empowering way, because it originates within our wants, needs, values and burning desires, and not just our learning curiosity. Our intention, whether we are aware of it or not, drives our self-motivation, and self-motivation is the only kind of motivation there is.

Enough of the preamble: I promised you an overview of the ebook, and here it is.

To Best Learn Managing with Aloha, Take 5

5 has evolved to be one of our favorite numbers in Managing with Aloha (the other, as you’ll learn toward the end of this ebook, is 9). It started with our discovering the power of 5 minutes in the Daily 5 Minutes ® which you will learn about in the book on page 145 — we’ll talk about the D5M later in this ebook as well.

What we discovered was that “taking 5” made a significant difference in workplace cultures, and it delivered a bounty of gifts. We’ve therefore attached our positive expectancy to the number 5 as well, and when given the chance, we’ll use it for all our list making; we’ll write a list of 5 in our strategic initiatives each year… we’ll give new managers 5 weeks to become an Alaka‘i Manager… you just learned 5 useful self-management approaches in the last section! You get the idea: 5 has become one of our replacements for our previous automatic pilot with brainstorming older, longer lists we never seemed to finish well before. 5 has been proven to work better.

So we will be Taking 5 in our learning approach within this ebook’s self-coaching as well. To best learn Managing with Aloha AND Become an Alaka‘i Manager, you will take these 5 progressions with me in the pages to follow:

Read the book once through, and annotate it
Draft your Ho‘ohana Statement and invite your team to do so too
Reconstruct and rejuvenate the Role of the Manager (yours)
Cultivate the “Language of We” through ‘talking story’ and the Daily 5 Minutes ®
Learn to use the 9 Key Concepts on Talking Story as your ‘Ike loa Construct

I’ll give you a brief overview of these first, as a means of defining our best possible outcome for each, and then we’ll proceed in more detail in the pages which follow.

Take 5: Your 5-Week Overview

Very briefly, this is how you’ll read and use Managing with Aloha using this ebook as an additional guide, and in the process, become an Alaka‘i Manager:

TAKE 1:
You will first read the book cover to cover, taking notes in a learning method and self-coaching framework I will describe to you. Everything begins with Aloha, and we’ll get comfortable with this value in an actionable way, allowing its goodness to inspire us! Know that you have everything it takes, for in short, Aloha is you living from the inside out, and “Living with Aloha” is dwelling in the self-awareness of your own ability and capacity.

TAKE 2:
MWA will employ workplace values, turning them into a business of business and business of life strategy which is mutually rewarding for you and your workplace. We’ll learn more about how this informs and equips Alaka‘i Managers as our second progression. You will write a first draft of your Ho‘ohana, and invite your immediate work team to do so as well.

TAKE 3:
Your Ho‘ohana is your intention with worthwhile work, including your purpose and passion for working. What is frustrating for so many of us, is that our Ho‘ohana intention doesn’t necessarily match up to the role we are given or assigned to in the workplace, and thus you have to do that ‘matching up’ for yourself. In this progression you’ll learn how the Role of the Manager unfolds for Alaka‘i Managers with the MWA calling, and you’ll get started.

TAKE 4:
We human beings are not meant to live alone. Like life itself, Alaka‘i management is not meant to be a solo proposition, and you will achieve your best success with MWA when you share your Aloha, and involve your team as soon as possible, receiving Aloha from others. You will actually have started with these efforts in Takes 1, 2 and 3: In Take 4 we add ‘talking story’ and the Daily 5 Minutes ® as our means of cultivating the “Language of We” in your work culture.

TAKE 5:
Much of what I have done since MWA was initially published in 2004 has been to Ho‘omau with it (cause the good we’ve created to be long lasting — chapter 4 in the book) so that Alaka‘i Managers everywhere can tap into an ongoing Ho‘ohana Community movement as they continue their practice. Our final step in this guide will cover my invitation to you to Ho‘omau with us too. The 9 Key Concepts are not presently specified in the MWA text, and you will get them here in this ebook as a framework for continuous learning.

As you can tell, this is not just any reading guide: It’s a free coaching program. I’m a workplace culture coach: This is what I do, and Managing with Aloha was written — and designed — to help me coach Alaka‘i Managers.

How long will all of this REALLY take?
That’s up to you, and how you’ve been able to “make room for MWA in both your head and your day” as I’ve asked you to. It differs for everyone, and this ebook will not specify precise 7-day weeks of time for you: It’s paced for self-coaching, and requires your self-discipline. It is entirely possible to have this be a 5-week program for you, with a week (or dedicated weekend) devoted to each progression of the Take 5. We do this in 6 weeks when managers hire me for one-on-one coaching through the program; the 6th week adds a 2nd writing of their Ho‘ohana as ‘Imi ola coaching, within the framework of the Healthy Workplace Compass (web page link).

What will be your commitment to your goal, and how strong is your Alaka‘i calling? What else might you need to say “no” to to make room for this learning? Therein lies your answer.