Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 5, 1 May 2016 — Finding the halanee between transparency and privacy [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Finding the halanee between transparency and privacy

As you may a 1 r e a d y know, I have been on a temporary medical leave of absence since the end of March. It is out of a sense of responsibility to be transparent about my medical issue that I previously disclosed my recovery from the effects of a stroke.

While I have been increasingly engaged with board matters, I am not yet ready to resume my fulltime responsibilities; however, I do look forward to fully re-engaging with the Board of Trustees very soon. In my absence, Vice Chairperson Dan Ahuna has assumedmy duties and responsibilities, including running board meetings; providing hnal say on out-of-state travel requests from trustees as well as the CEO; and signing official letters and other documents on behalf of OHA. Vice Chair Ahuna's elevatedrole is a function of our board rules. His willingness to step in is greatly appreciated. Also appreciated is his focus on ensuring that our board continues to function effectively and ethically. At the same time, he ought to be eommended for the way he recently handled false information about the situation with our board.

One key thing I have learned from my medieal situation is that the absence of disclosure breeds rumors and eoncerns. If you want to instill confidence, you must tell people what's going on, especially when you take a medical leave. For me, the difficulty was trying to navigate how mueh to disclose about my medical issue. Complicating this further is the issue

of personal privacy. There is no board rule requiring disclosure when a Chairperson falls ill - whether it is serious or routine. There also is no playbook on how to communicate news about such matters. B ut disclosure should be required when a Chairperson is unahle to perform his or her responsibilities for a significant period of time, or when it begins to bog down operations. In my case, it really was about transparency when I decided to disclose my medical issue. And I wanted it done with courage and class as a pre-emptive strike at eontrolling my message, before news of my medical issue leaked out, and was sensationalized beyond recognition. I really agonized over the right thing to say or do about my situation. But despite my hesitation, it heeame essential to confront the issue, whieh I wanted handled with sensitivity to my privacy. ■

LEO 'ELELE V www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org ' TRUSTEE MESSSAGES ' NATiVE HAWAIIAN » NEWS l FEATURES I EVENT S

Rūbert K. Lindsey, Jr.

Chair, TrustEE, Hawai'i