‘Ohana x2 and the 10 Tenets of an ‘Ohana in Business

“I was a long time coming
I’ll be a long time gone
You’ve got your whole life to do something
and that’s not very long.”
—Songwriter Ani DiFranco, Willing to Fight

I betcha DiFranco wasn’t thinking about business models when she wrote those lyrics, however I was when I heard them.

That phrase, “a long time coming” kept popping into my head earlier this year, as I finally sat down at my writing desk to draft the 10 Tenets of an ‘Ohana in Business for the Managing with Aloha philosophy, subject of our value immersion for July and August.

*If you are new to Managing with Aloha, we embark on a Hawaiian value immersion every two months, working together via the Aloha Intentions of my weekly Ho‘ohana Community newsletter— Join us!

*Want to know more?
January 1, 2017 Kākou Kick off: The Values that Matter: Yours & Ours.

A Long Time Coming

As previewed in this past Thursday’s newsletter:
“Like the 9 Key Concepts, the 10 Tenets of an ‘Ohana in Business represent our evolution since Managing with Aloha was actively embraced by the Ho‘ohana Community and transitioned from the way I would personally manage, to a shared workplace philosophy.”

We have worked on each one of these 10 Tenets over the past 15 years to test and validate them, years which included the harsh, albeit necessary lessons of the Great Recession and our still wobbly recovery: “Our greater laboratory of work had to happen for me to publish these OIB Tenets comprehensively… Similar to producing my 2nd Edition of MWA last summer, it has been educationally and practically useful to apply each of these Tenets to different industries beyond our roots in Hawai‘i’s travel, tourism, and hospitality business.”

Visions, mission-driven objectives, and Ho‘ohana strategies may differ, however all companies pursuing business enterprise have two structural necessities in common: They need a sensible and viable business model, and an overarching ‘big picture’ business plan which is realistic and doable.

Thus, the economic, political, and generational cycles we’ve lived through in recent decades have been very instructive, for all experiments get tested with variables. As a culture-building business model, the ‘Ohana in Business of our Managing with Aloha philosophy also had to take finances and its resulting environs into account, just as all profitably sustainable businesses must do.

However, it’s time to compile our experiments to date, even though I know full well that the march of time may challenge and change them, a healthy process in all evolution. As Any DiFranco’s lyrics continue to coach us, “You’ve got your whole life to do something and that’s not very long.”

Thus, over the next two months time, we’ll cover all 10 OIB Tenets as our value immersion cycles to the value of ‘Ohana. We have prepared well: This should prove to be a logical and practical continuance of what we’ve done with Ho‘okipa By Design business modeling during May & June.

In Managing with Aloha, the pineapple is symbol of the Ho‘okipa hospitality it is universally recognized as, and for ‘Ohana in Business sustainability and succession.

‘Ohana x2

Let’s step back for a prelude. This time, we will not dive into several diverse application possibilities of ‘Ohana, as the exploratory value immersion which is our normal m.o., but on the specific inspiration ‘Ohana created within the MWA philosophy: The business model we call “an ‘Ohana in Business.”

‘Ohana is one of Hawai‘i’s universal values wherein ‘family’ turns into an extraordinarily meaningful verb of intention. As such, it is covered in Chapter 7 of Managing with Aloha as our “human circle of complete Aloha.”

In Managing with Aloha as an in-practice, healthy culture-building workplace philosophy and our business operating m.o. (whew, say that 3 times!) ‘Ohana refers to two specific concepts:
1— ‘Ohana as the value we call our “human circle of complete Aloha” and,
2— The ‘Ohana in Business as our business model and financial steerage.

We have worked on number 1 since the inception of Managing with Aloha, and we have referred to number 2 as “Key 6” of our 9 Key Concepts, talking about the OIB as it intersects or gets woven into our other values.

In July & August of 2017, we will assume number 1, our value alignment with ‘Ohana, and work more intently on number 2, the ‘Ohana in Business as our business model and focus of our financial attentions:

Key 6. THE ‘OHANA IN BUSINESS MODEL:

The best form for your life CAN be the best form for your ‘Ohana in Business® as well, where the objectives of each will support the other — they need not be mutually exclusive. A business can be more than self-sustainable and profitable: It can thrive in perpetuity though key people will come and go. In Managing with Aloha we learn a values-based business model and organizational structure simultaneous to learning productivity practices which drive ROI (return on investment) and ROA (return on your attentions). There is art and science in business, and we love it all: Business modeling is never boring in an MWA culture, and we value financial literacy in the complete education of sustainable modeling.

Site category for Key 6: The ‘Ohana in Business Model

Aloha Intentions: July & August 2017

As usual, you will find my Ke Ola Magazine essay to be a one-page feature for the magazine, with the 10 Tenets of an ‘Ohana in Business listed in necessarily brief form. I will expand on each one in the weeks to come, via this blog and our weekly newsletter.

Take advantage of the list brevity:

1. As you read them, use your journal to capture your questions and first impressions.
2. Ask yourself, what must I learn about my company and/or my workplace financial concerns?
3. Challenge yourself and your team! What tweaks do you feel are possible?

With no further ado…
Click over to RosaSay.com to begin:
The ‘Ohana in Business (a new tab will open for you).
“Support the 19 Values of Aloha
with a comprehensive business model.”

Learn to ask Why: Future blog posts will address why the MWA business model was so named “The ‘Ohana in Business,” and that our model has its own inherent set of 3 core values: ‘Ohana, Kākou, and Kuleana.

Mahalo. Thank you for continuing to manage with Aloha with me and our Ho‘ohana Community as you do.
We Ho‘ohana kākou (we work with intention, together),
Rosa

Subscribe for our weekly newsletter:
Talking Story with the Ho‘ohana Community.

Preview the updates in Managing with Aloha, Second Edition, released July, 2016
Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawai‘i’s Universal Values to the Art of Business

Our value immersion study for the months of July and August 2017:
The 10 Tenets of an ‘Ohana in Business