Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 4, 1 April 2016 — Aloha mai kākou, [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

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Aloha mai kākou,

We seemto be living in a dog-eat-dog world. Where people will do or say anything to get ahead. We all seem to want our way and we want it now. At the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, we are often in a position where people are either applauding us or they are despising us. We are surrounded by people looking for the politically expedient in the name of doing what's right for Hawaiians. Maybe it's time we got our own reality eheek. It is about time we look at the lessons passed down by our ancestors and return to pono leadership. Pono leadership means to lead with integrity and halanee, to be upright and ethical: to do the right thing at the right time and in the right way. We have to make decisions but only at the right time for all the right reasons - not for emotional, personal or political reasons but to do right by our community as a whole. After all, decisions are reflections on one's integrity while actions reflect one's courage. The bottomline is it should never be personal. We should have the intestinal fortitude to take actions that may upset some but are done because we've done our homework and analyzed the situation. And we should be able to do this while keeping our relationship with those who disagree strong. If they understand that it isn't personal but professional, we should all be able to agree to disagree while still being respectful of eaeh other. But what we can't afford to be is indecisive. And we also have to under-

stand we need to be flexible so that we have the ability to change as a situation evolves. OHA's leadership from the trustees to my office to the rank and file needs to step up to be pono. That is to be well informed, to advocate for our people to protect our land and water, to perpetuate our culture, to provide educational

opportunities and to help people improve their heahh, while providing opportunities for employment and housing. Our Hawai'i of today poses many challenges for our A people and for everyone living here. We need to help people m face their challenaes rather than play some political aame I

or to placate those who would push us to their own personal agenda rather than to look out for the good of all of Hawai'i. J Pono is one of the core values of OHA and as such, a I we cannot afford to wala'au wale, or to talk for the sake ^ of talking. In short we have to live, work and act pono. It is, after all, the pono thing to do. 'O au iho nō me ke aloha a me ka 'oia'i'o, Kamana'opono M. Crabbe, Ph.D. Ka Pouhana/Chief Executive Officer

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