Managing with Aloha

  • Home: Our Philosophy
  • About the Site
  • About the Book
  • A Manager’s Calling
  • The 19 Values of Aloha
  • 9 Key Concepts
  • New Here?
  • Hire Rosa at RosaSay.com
You are here: Home / Key 3. Value Alignment / Ka lā hiki ola and the ‘Can do’ attitude of Ho‘ohiki

Ka lā hiki ola and the ‘Can do’ attitude of Ho‘ohiki

August 30, 2012

The first time I went out on the ocean with the Alaka‘i Nalu, I was in seat five of their first and oldest canoe, the seat where the steersman in seat six could best keep an eye on me. The canoe was named Ka lā hiki ola, the dawning of a new day.

The kaona (hidden meaning) I now hold in that day’s memory, was that she represented my hope in all we would do together as an ‘OHANA, one bonded by our ALOHA and MĀLAMA for each other. When I climbed into that canoe, I was making a deliberate choice as to what I was going to give my attentions to. It sent a strong message to my Alaka‘i Nalu too, for up until that moment they’d expected, and received, a degree of managerial detachment from me, separating my world view from theirs. It would be the day that separation ceased to be, and thus, the day my managing results significantly improved.

That day figured prominently in my own search for PONO, and it would indeed be a turning point in my relationship with the Alaka‘i Nalu: They didn’t believe I could understand them completely until I had been out on the ocean with them.

They’d been right.
—adapted from the Ka lā hiki ola Epilogue in Managing with Aloha

As I’ve written of before, I’m not one who believes the effective manager must be able to do each task those they supervise and direct must do. Our goal as managers isn’t equal ability, it’s complete awareness so we can understand exactly what it is we need to manage. I will never be an expert paddler or great swimmer, yet the Alaka‘i Nalu were much wiser than I in realizing I needed some of their “Can do” confidence in the canoe for myself most of all. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d discover I had much to learn from my employees, nor the last!

Within KA LĀ HIKI OLA (literally; the dawning of a new day) is a little word that is immensely powerful: Hiki.

Hiki means ‘Can do.’

Hiki implies both possibility for lā, the day at hand, and ability, the ability to ho‘o, and make something happen.

Therefore, what KA LĀ HIKI OLA alludes to, is that you have the ability to do what it takes to make your life (ola) happen in the way it delivers best possibility to you.

Values are what we lay claim to: We own up to them because we believe in them deeply.

Thus, to lay claim to KA LĀ HIKI OLA as a value, is to say you deeply believe you can do whatever it takes to improve your life, your work, your future.


I am quite sure that the bird which labored to build this nest, 

never for a moment stopped to worry that it could not be done.

Put ho‘o, to make something happen, together with hiki, your confident knowledge in your own ‘Can do’ ability to get it done. Always ‘can,’ and never ‘won’t.’

Ho‘ohiki then, becomes the promise you make to yourself.

The promises we make to ourselves are powerful, for we don’t accept our own excuses. We ‘fess up’ to ourselves more readily than we do to anyone else.

Now think about that “dawning of a new day” we know KA LĀ HIKI OLA to literally mean:

“New” is always so tantalizing, isn’t it. Though some cynics who wax nostalgic will seek to temper our enthusiasm (ignore them!) we know that “new” means a fresh energy of some kind, carrying with it the hope and promise of some difference, and perhaps, an extraordinary difference.

New is innovative, new is bold.
In our attentions, new is rarely lowly or unimportant.
New is novel, new is contemporary; new is never tired or old-fashioned.
New is modern and new-fangled. New is up-to-the-minute. New is original.
No matter our age, no matter our circumstance, new can always be within us.

We can be tantalizing.
We can be fresh.
We can be innovative.
We can be bold.
We can be novel.
We can be contemporary.
We can be modern, up-to-the-minute and original.
We can, and we will, when that’s what we choose with HO‘OHANA intention.

Next time you open your journal, consider writing a Ho‘ohiki Statement of Intention for the KA LĀ HIKI OLA you lay claim to; the “dawning of the new day” you have the ability to create for yourself.

You can do it as a personal exercise, or you can do it together with your team. I have an example for my company, Say Leadership Coaching, that you can look at as an example: Ho‘ohiki: We Promise. It is something I have always publicly published as a public commitment to make good on my own word. You will notice that it is written as a collection of “we will” statements for me and those I consider to be my ‘Ohana in Business (Key 6).

If you wish to, use the comment boxes here to make your Ho‘ohiki a public commitment too, for you have the entire Ho‘ohana Community of Managing with Aloha practitioners and Alaka‘i Managers available to support you. If you have written statements like this before and can make suggestions for others, or share your own experience with them, please do.

We can also talk story here about the “New.” What will that be for you, or for your business or workplace? What kind of ability will you be drawing from to feather the nest you confidently create?

Mahalo, thank you for reading today, sharing your fresh energies here with me.

Read more about Ka lā hiki ola here: KA LĀ HIKI OLA

For more on Ho‘ohiki, see these in our archives:
    • On Ho‘ohiki: Keeping your promises
    • A Sense of Place Delivers True Wealth
    • Palena ‘ole Positivity is Hō‘imi— look for it
    • Tear Down Your Walls
These may help with your self-coaching in that ‘Can do’ attitude:
    • Trusting
    • Banish your Possibility Robbers
    • People Who Do Good Work
    • The ‘But’s Which Work to Favor

· Key 3. Value Alignment

Trackbacks

  1. A Gift of Focus says:
    December 22, 2012 at 10:44 am

    […] is in the room with you, everyone walks out with that gift of relevant camaraderie. It becomes Ka lā hiki ola; the dawning of a new […]

  2. Managing Basics: Study Their Work says:
    April 18, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    […] We managers must believe in the possibility of good work, and we must believe in people who struggle to believe in themselves: Ka lā hiki ola and the ‘Can do’ attitude of Ho‘ohiki. […]

Newly released! Managing with Aloha, Second Edition

MWA2-cover-front

Book Preview:

The Core 21 Beliefs of Managing with Aloha

Read the ChangeThis Manifesto: Managing with Aloha—Yes! You Can Too!

Buy on Amazon.com
Softcover— July 2016
ISBN 978-0-9760190-1-5
Read the Publisher’s Synopsis

Managing with Aloha, First Edition
remains available while supplies last
Hardcover— November 2004
ISBN 976-0-190-0-0

Talking Story with the Ho‘ohana Community

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter:

powered by TinyLetter

Preview past issues in the Letter Archive

Recent Articles

  • Do it—Experiment! December 18, 2020
  • Hō‘imi to Curate Your Life’s Experience September 24, 2020
  • Kaʻana i kāu aloha: Share your Aloha November 6, 2019
  • Managing Basics: The Good Receiver October 18, 2019
  • What do executives do, anyway? They do values. October 14, 2019

19 Values of Aloha: Index Pages

There are 19 Values of Aloha taught within the Managing with Aloha philosophy:

Ch.1 Aloha | Ch.2 Ho‘ohana | Ch.3 ‘Imi ola | Ch.4 Ho‘omau | Ch.5 Kūlia i ka nu‘u | Ch.6 Ho‘okipa | Ch.7 ‘Ohana | Ch.8 Lōkahi | Ch.9 Kākou | Ch.10 Kuleana | Ch.11 ‘Ike loa | Ch.12 Ha‘aha‘a | Ch.13 Ho‘ohanohano | Ch.14 Alaka‘i | Ch.15 Mālama | Ch.16 Mahalo | Ch.17 Nānā i ke kumu | Ch.18 Pono | Ch.19 Ka lā hiki ola | Full Listing

Resource Pages

New Here? Start with this introduction: Reading Pathways

Additional Resource Pages: 9 Key Concepts | 12 Aloha Virtues | A Manager’s Calling: 10 Beliefs | Conceptual Index (Lexicon Morphology) | Daily 5 Minutes | Hawaiian Glossary | Sunday Mālama | Archives

Article Categories

The 9 Key Concepts of the Managing with Aloha ‘Ohana in Business Model

Key 1. The Aloha Spirit | Key 2. Worthwhile Work | Key 3. Value Alignment | Key 4. The Role of the Manager Reconstructed | Key 5. Language of Intention | Key 6. The ‘Ohana in Business Model | Key 7. Strengths Management | Key 8. Sense of Place | Key 9. Palena ‘ole

Copyright © 2021 · Simply Pro Theme by Bloom Blog Shop.