Hau‘oli Makahiki Hou 2007

My title translates to “Happy New Year 2007!”

Seasoned readers will be aware that I am about to start my final week of Ho‘omaha, yet I realized that I may not have explained it to those of you who are new subscribers, and I do apologize!

Since starting my own business in the summer of 2003, it has been my practice to shutter it for the four weeks over the year-end and year-beginning holiday season, giving everyone associated with SAY LEADERSHIP COACHING the opportunity to devote their full attentions to their families during this time, and to the value of Ka lā hiki ola, “the dawning of a new day.” We call this hiatus our Ho‘omaha, which means to rest, refresh, and rejuvenate.

I personally will answer my phone and respond to email over this time, but essentially my business is hibernating. For the first 3 weeks (the last two in December and the first one in January) it is all about family for me, and I usually attack cleaning my home with a vengeance, for I think of it as my command center, and I want it to be prepared for the New Year in the best possible way. In other words, I am preparing it for me and my Ho‘ohana, the work I will soon again do full throttle, “on purpose, and with passion and full intention.”

Epiphany, the Christian 12th Day of Christmas, will normally end these three weeks, and my final week of Ho‘omaha is kicked off after my children return to college; this year that was today. I will then turn my attentions to beginning my personal and professional work year; officially our first work day in 2007 for SAY LEADERSHIP COACHING is Monday, January 15th.

The writing I do online for you corresponds to that pattern too; during Ho‘omaha I stay offline as much as possible.

Up to now, there has been a tag-teaming on www.managingwithaloha.com and on Talking Story, my blog, explaining all of this, and in the writing of our monthly Ho‘ohanas (my MWA value-of-the-month essays) in general. I have largely assumed that those who subscribe to one site subscribe to the other, for up to now, most have. Thus at the beginning of Ho‘omaha, I posted my aloha to 2006 on Talking Story, assuming you’d see it there: Ho‘omaha 2006.

Well, my assumptions need to change. Blogging has exploded, and in my view this is magnificent news, for it is an explosion of self-expression, where scores of people are discovering that we ALL can be authors, allowing the learning and self-discovery writing delivers to find voice and camaraderie in global virtual communities. However this blogging explosion, wherein we have so much more to choose from, also means that readers will now be more discerning (and should be). Thus in this preparation I do for 2007, my instinct is to treat www.managingwithaloha.com more independently and true to it’s own Managing with Aloha movement, and not as I have been, in connection to Talking Story.

I am settling all of this in my own mind during this final week of Ho‘omaha, and you will see some changes gradually made here. If you are reading this via an RSS aggregator, click in directly to the blog and you’ll see some of what I’ve done so far, mostly in the navigation found in the left column.

2007 stretches before us with incredible promise. I love new beginnings and the thought of Ka lā hiki ola, the dawning of a new day.

Truth is, we can have the attitude and outlook of Ka lā hiki ola with every sunrise, or even with every new moment, choosing the way we approach it. However the seasonal freshness of January surely helps, doesn’t it? So Nalu it, and go with the flow. Have your own Ho‘omaha, even if it’s just for the luxury of this weekend’s remaining hours.

More soon,
Rosa

Comments

[Margaret Nichols]

Rosa,

I am so happy you are back refreshed from your time off and ready to help us learn how to manage with aloha. You do it with such grace and dignity. Every time I visit your web site I get re-inspired to consider management and leadership in particular as very sacred work. It is a calling - not a job. Thank you for your book and thank you for your devotion to helping others.
Margaret

[Rosa Say]

Aloha Margaret, mahalo for the warm welcome. The grace of your words are the reason I do what I do, and yes, the work of management and leadership is sacred indeed. It is our privilege and honor.
Ka lā hiki ola,
Rosa