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 1. The Aloha Spirit / Accept your Small Wisdoms with Grace

Accept your Small Wisdoms with Grace

October 1, 2012

I had an interesting conversation with a young manager: She was quick to beat herself up for her youth and inexperience, feeling she hadn’t paid her dues yet, and could claim any lessons learned. Hers was not a case of extreme humility, but one of disbelief and cynicism: Surely more time and more work was needed no matter what she had already achieved.

Rubbish.

I can think of no more fatal mistake, than a manager who resists believing in herself.

Young managers will have a lot of Don’t!(s) and Not Yet(s) thrown in their path as unfortunate obstacles. One of the greatest character strengths anyone can have, is self-efficacy, where Do!(s) and Now!(s) flow from within them courageously because they believe in their own abilities and ever-growing capacity.

Lessons learned happen daily. When we get in the flow of our HO‘OHANA and energies and ‘IKE LOA intentions, they’ll happen hourly and from minute to minute. Learn to recognize them as the small wisdoms they are, and accept them with grace. Collect, and keep them close with gratitude. Use the value of MAHALO to see them in a more elemental way — keep them simple and uncluttered, for there is such a thing as being overdone. There is such a thing as having too much experience, as threat to your open-mindedness, natural curiosity, and sense of adventure.

I say “with grace” as courteous goodwill, whether you give it to others or to yourself.

I think of grace as a very attractive demeanor of unconditional acceptance, blending three of our ALOHA values: MAHALO, HA‘AHA‘A and HO‘OHANOHANO.

Grace is one of our Twelve Aloha Virtues:

“I once heard grace called ‘unmerited favor’ and I love that. I want to be gracious, always.”

Please: Stop and think about this right now. What did you learn yesterday, and how are you keeping that learning as the small wisdom you’ll add to? What did you learn in the hours or minutes before you stopped to read this? What are you learning right now?

Your age is irrelevant. Your ALOHA attitude and HO‘OHANOHANO demeanor can deliver everything you will need to succeed in your efforts with managing and with leading.

From Frank Chimero, a September 2013 update:
“I have a tendency to change my work every couple years. I’ve gone from packaging design, to user interfaces, to illustration, to writing. I’ve always shielded myself by saying, “I have no idea what I’m doing.” It makes for a funny meme, but you know what? I’ve tried this for years and it only trips me up and makes me feel worse. Fuck it.

How about this? I do know what I’m doing, because I’m writing for you guys, and I feel like I have a firm grasp of what’s going on and what you all think, and what you’d be interested in reading. And years before that, I was designing books, so even though I didn’t know how to ship a book when I sat down to write one a couple years ago, I knew how to make one, and figured out the rest. I have the ability to think in systems and can be incisive and empathetic by understanding how things fit together. I have a knack for saying things lots of other people are thinking. I can have the special courage of stupidity and privilege, because I don’t have to risk much to speak up. Etc.

This isn’t to brag, because if people are paying attention to what you do, you have your own special menu of skills like these… I am sick of hearing the people I respect the most undercutting themselves. You are awesome and big, and I will carry you on my shoulders for miles if that’s what it takes to get you to a place where you can see how great you are.”
— The Inferno of Independence

Here is some additional reading on self-efficacy:

  • A Manager’s Calling: The critical beliefs we start with in Managing with Aloha.
  • Ethos: Be true to your Values
  • Trusting Your Intuition and Beauty in the Work: “Things Occur to You.”
  • Ka lā hiki ola and the ‘Can do’ attitude of Ho‘ohiki
  • When the Student is Ready, the Teacher will Appear

· Key 1. The Aloha Spirit, Key 7. Strengths Management, Key 9. Palena ‘ole

Trackbacks

  1. This January, Slow Down says:
    January 8, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    […] be its champion, looking no further than that for now, you can wallow in the joyful exploration of all its connections. You can foster all the partnerships it can reveal for you, and you can be inspired by every single […]

  2. Doing the Drill Down: Less is More says:
    January 14, 2013 at 8:26 am

    […] On doing one thing at a time, and doing it well: Accept your Small Wisdoms with Grace […]

  3. The instinctive, natural selection of Wanting says:
    January 28, 2013 at 10:10 am

    […] advice that goes with “We don’t manage by the book, we manage by the person.” and with “Accept your Small Wisdoms with […]

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.