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You are here: Home / Key 9. Palena ‘ole / Could Pono Politics lead the way to Pono Business?

Could Pono Politics lead the way to Pono Business?

July 29, 2016

Pono: The Hawaiian value of balance and rightness. Many think of Pono as the value of ethics.

“It’s herstory!”

No matter your political persuasion, you must acknowledge that July 28th, 2016 was a very historic day for America:

Headlines for the history books:
How newspapers across the country are commemorating Hillary Clinton’s historic nomination

It was fun to read the reactions on Twitter as Hillary Clinton spoke, accepting her historic nomination to be POTUS;

“When any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone.” — @HillaryClinton

“Forget gender, forget appearance, forget delivery (if those are concerning). I want that resume, that fight, that resolve running the USA.” — @JustineBateman

“A woman is the center of the world’s attention at this moment and her sexuality and desirability as a sex object has nothing to do with it.” — @xeny

“The girl who always does all the goddamn work in the group project and doesn’t get credit HAS FOUND REVENGE!” — @faineg

“Watching the women around the room crying reminds me how important this moment is. I remember that feeling in 2008. I don’t take it lightly.” — @NYStrategist

Gotta admit, I was one of those tearing up as I watched!

glass ceil·ing

noun: glass ceiling; plural noun: glass ceilings

an unofficially acknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities.

I remember far too many conversations in my tenure as a businesswoman employed by others, when there was absolutely no doubt whatsoever there was a glass ceiling in the room. In each case, it felt like that glass ceiling would always be there, and I wondered why I bothered fighting it, yet I could not stop trying.

They were conversations — for lack of a better word at the moment, for they weren’t really conversations, and they certainly weren’t discussions — about unequal pay, unequal promotability, and the unequal expectation of reasonableness.

Sadly, I had those conversations with other women too, and not just with men. Some are easier to remember at the moment, simply because how appallingly recent they have been, as I’ve been given “the lay of the land for managers here” in workplaces I visit, being there to introduce executives to Managing with Aloha.

I remember having an argument with an executive about how a newly married woman would not get a promotion, because she was “the impending certainty of a disruptive maternity leave one day.”

I also remember how thankful I was that I myself ‘carried small’ and was able to hide my first 7 months of pregnancy when I had my son. Once my secret was out, my own team members stopped telling me about meetings which were scheduled, feeling my opinion would not matter, “you know, hormones and all Rosa. Just take advantage of it, and take it easy.”

In so much of business today, women feel they must simply make the best of it. Put up and shut up. Yet make no mistake, it is NOT taking it easy!

Is it possible, that starting with Hillary Clinton, politics — the politics we scorn, belittle, and complain about — will actually give business a long overdue, better example to follow?

Hillary R. Clinton, Democratic Nominee for President of the United States

In full disclosure, I will be voting for Hillary Clinton this election year. It’s not because she is a woman, it is because I believe she is the best PERSON for the job.

There is absolutely no doubt she is the best qualified in the field of nominees who will be on the ballot for POTUS, and I feel she will be the one to represent our best values. I believe she is the one who has our best interests in mind and in her intent, and I feel she can introduce our U.S. Congress to the art of a better conversation again.

As she said last night in her nomination acceptance speech: “Our economy isn’t working the way it should, because our democracy isn’t working the way it should.”

We have much to do. We. I also agree that “it takes a village” and that, as I have written before, we must participate. Her assertion, that we are stronger together, is a Kākou point of view.

“We share this basic belief: Do all the good you can and serve one another. That’s what this election is about.” —Senator Tim Kaine, U.S. senator from Virginia and Democratic candidate for vice president.

Gender Dynamics, here we come.

That said, I’m eager to see the ‘woman card’ in play. Look at what it does for us as mothers, and yes, as managers too.

As the song lyric goes, “I am woman, hear me roar!”

The #DemConvention in sketches by @PostOpinions & @AnnTelnaes #DemsinPhilly https://t.co/q7pzbD0IWq

— Twitter for News (@TwitterForNews) July 29, 2016

About MWA Conversation 101:

1 — Converse daily. Come up for conversational air.
2 — If you can talk about it instead of writing about it, do.
3 — Did you listen? What did you hear?
4 — Seek an agreement in each and every conversation you have.
5 — Enjoy it. Relish conversations and never dread them.
Read more: Conversational Catch-up ~ with Aloha.

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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

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