Ho‘ohana is the value of worthwhile work. When you ho‘ohana, you are working with passion, with full intention and with definitive purpose. You work to bring productive energies to the life you lead, working with resolve, focus and determination. Remember that this is a personal value of intention: You don’t have to possess ‘a job’ ‘a position’ or ‘a career’ to apply it to. Ho‘ohana is an attitude of intention and full presence in whatever you do.
* Hana is the Hawaiian word for work. Ho‘o is a prefix that brings active causation and transition to the Hawaiian base words that follow it, turning them from nouns to verbs.
From Managing with Aloha (Chapter 2 preamble):
Ho‘ohana
The value of worthwhile work
To work with intent and with purpose
Work can and should be a time when you are working to bring meaning, fulfillment and fun to the life you lead, for we spend so much time doing it.
Ho‘ohana. Work with intent, work with purpose. Express your Aloha Spirit in your passion for worthwhile work.
Managers do this for themselves, and they do this for those they manage.
When managers pair employees with meaningful and worthwhile work which is satisfying for them, they will find these employees work with true intention, focused on their growth in sync with the goals of the business.
Be one of those managers.
Continue your learning!
For a brief, single-page listing of all 19 Hawaiian Values of ALOHA within the Managing with Aloha philosophy, see The 19 Values of Aloha.
For more about values and why we choose them, see Let’s Define Values.
This is the Site Index of articles which include HO‘OHANA, with comment boxes for questions, stories, and our continued learning from each other: When people speak, they give voice to values, and their personal expression of them. In Hawai‘i, we call this expression their mana‘o.
Buy the book!
Managing with Aloha is a book designed to be written in, and used as both learning resource and personal workbook. Managing with Aloha is our philosophy bible, and this site can be thought of as the sequel to the book, where you are now the featured star.