Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 1, 1 January 2001 — What kind of leadership should this new OHA board strive for? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

What kind of leadership should this new OHA board strive for?

IN THIS first of my messages for the year, I pause to pay tribute to all of the men and women who gave leadership to OHA during its first 20 years. For, surely, this new Board of Trustees stands on the shoulders of for-

mer trustees, administrative, programs and support staff, legal advisors, beneficiaries, and public and private eommunity groups. They have left a legacy for whieh all of us must be grateful. Now that we are at the dawn I of a new day, what ean OHA's 1 beneficiaries and the larger community expect from this board? What kind of leadership will we demonstrate? • Will we be ethical in the performance of our trust obhgations? • Will we be courageous, quick to challenge wrongdoing

and injustice? • Will we be fair and impartial, respectful of ourselves and others? • Will we be clear thinkers, dehberate and decisive in our actions? • Will we build

bridges and cultij vate new organiI zational relationships? • Will we be patient and eompassionate, hear what different people are saying [ - with their voices and with their : hearts? • Will we be | introspective, wise and humble enough to rel examine our positions and make changes when we

are wrong? In the words of the Chinese prophet Lao Tze, "A leader is best when people barely know he exists; not so good when people know and obey him. Of a good ieader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, 'We did this ourselves'." In the last issue of Ka Wai Ola, I stated that critical matters facing OHA include: • Review and adoption of the hiennium budget for presentation to the 21st Legislature; • Preparation of OHA's legal defense to court cases whieh challenge the vahdity and constitutionality of OHA, DHHL and other Native Hawaiian benefits and entitlements; • Clarification of OHA's mission in relation to its new voting constituency; • Adoption of a revised OHA Master Plan and work on a comprehensive Native Hawaiian Master Plan; and

• Reorganization of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs consistent with the Master Plan. As important as the foregoing may be, however, it is also urgent that the board ground itself in understanding the basic documents from whieh OHA's day-to-day operations must flow. They are the: • Admissions Act • Article XII of the State Constimtion • Chapter 10, Hawai'i Revised Statutes • OHA's Bylaws, Operations Guide, Financial Manual and Policies & Procedures. OHA's leaders, its chair, vice chair and committee assignments, will have been determined by the time of this printing. We will now be about our work, and I encourage you to give us the benefit of your mana'o. ■

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TRUSTEE MESSAGES

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