Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 2, 1 February 2006 — Leadership is commitment, courage and execution [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Leadership is commitment, courage and execution

ūz Stender TrustEE, At-largE

Eaeh of us should prepare to assume leadership roles so that we ean help to build our Hawaiian nation. While there is no magic fonnula for leadership development, I believe there are key points that will help in creating and enhancing qualities of any individual assuming a leadership role. It has been said that some are born great leaders and some achieve to heeome great leaders. Then there are some who hire puhlie relations finns to make them leaders. Kamehameha the Great set the example for being a great leader. The Hawaiian values of kuleana, lōkahi, ha'aha'a, mālama, laulima, ho'oponopono and aloha help make great leaders. These values should be the ones that we live by. If we, as Hawaiians, expect to lead our people in this Western society, we must know and understand the nomenclature and rules of behavior in a Western setting, while sharing our Hawaiian cultural values of leadership. First, eaeh of us must build character. The greatest characteristics we ean and should possess are humility, honesty and compassion. Besides character, eaeh of us must also build a reputation. Character encompasses what we stand for, and reputation encompasses what we fall for. Eaeh of us must demonstrate the value of ha'aha'a. Second, it is important that eaeh of us develops strong communication skills. We must learn how to speak so that we ean be heard and understood. We must leain how to write; our writing must portray the proper tone, presentation, vocabulary and level of understanding of the recipient, so that our message ean be understood without the help of body language. Body language includes facial expressions, hand and body motions, and tone of voice. We must read with understanding. The most important thing when receiving oral eonununieahon is to hear what is not being said. Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood by the recipient. Third, we must gather information that is of high quality and that is truthful. One of the best ways to develop good sources

of information is by "networking." While the quantity and quality of the infonnation gathered is important, the timeliness and usefulness of the infonnation is also important. It is not so mueh what we know, but when we know it and how we use it. Fourth are the values of truthfulness and integrity. Too many times we hear of businesses and organizations that fall into trouble because their leaders lacked integrity and succumbed to their weakness of character. As leaders, we must be bold in what we stand for; however, we must also be careful of what we fall for. Fifth, it is important that eaeh of us understands that to lead is to serve - service to country, community, and above all, your constituents. Our constituents should be our number one priority; they deserve a leader who acts for their bettennent. As leaders, we must know and respect our constituents. We must know the needs, emotions and family of our constituents. We must have compassion, balanced by a sense of practicality, and be willing to sacrifice self-inter-est to give service, to achieve the greater good, to serve the greatest number. If we cannot be an example of a good leader, then we will have to be a horrible waming as a bad leader. Finally, a leader must make a coimnitment to lead. And to lead, a leader must have the courage to do what we must. This leads to execution. The ability to accept responsibility is the measure of the man. If a leader is doing his or her best, there will be no time to worry about failure. Every decision made - even unpopular ones - ean sometimes be distasteful, put you and your career at risk, and be hurtful to others and to yourself. Many times leaders may be that "lone voice." However, a leader must be decisive based on the information at hand - with connnitment and courage. Execution will follow. There are two main reasons why people fail: first is irresponsibility, second is fear. In decision-making, it is always better to be approximately right than to be precisely wrong ! It is my hope that eaeh of us will conunit ourselves to lead our people in achieving recognition as the sovereign group we onee were. To be accepted among the world communities as a people who have regained special status as indigenous people of our land begins with recognition by the United States. As we proceed along this joumey,

we will find the task challenging by those who scream "racism" and "divisive." As leaders, we face those who disagree with our views and will try to scuttle our efforts. Many who disagree with us will be nonHawaiians, but there are also Hawaiians that share that same attitude. Those of us at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs face these challenges daily. Onee we have accepted these challenges,

we must connnit to the task, knowing that many will push us to the edge; but we must stay the course and find the courage to rise above the name calling, disappointments and frustrations that eome with the territory of being a leader in the puhlie arena. I challenge eaeh of you to make the connnitment and then execute the plan for success. S

LEO 'ELELE • TRUSTEE MESSAGES —