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Managing with Aloha: Bringing Hawaii's Universal Values to the Art of Business

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I just completed a search in books on management here at Amazon. There are 117,215 selections. How in the world then does an aspiring author elbow her way to center stage for all to see her work? In Rosa Say's case, she doesn't have to. Her book, MWA, brings Hawaii's universal values to the art of business. And it is in these very values, steeped in deep Hawaiian culture, as they are succinctly related to the profession of management, that effortlessly lift Rosa's work above the crowd.

Hawaiian values such as Aloha - unconditional love; Ho'ohana - working with intent and purpose; Ho'okipa - the hospitality of complete giving; `Ike loa - to seek knowledge and wisdom and Pono - rightness and balance, along with fourteen others are each given a separate chapter. Rosa weaves her experience in Hawaii's hospitality industry, from lunch counter waitress to upper echelon executive, in and out of each value. Her real world adventure is a talking story that travels through each chapter and gives the book traction.

Would you throw rotten cabbage and eggs on a brand new quilt that took you two years to craft? Would you enter your 1967 GTO that took five years to restore, in demolition derby? No you wouldn't - because there is a certain amount of reverence you hold for something you poured your heart and soul into. In MWA, Rosa Say gracefully uncovers the built-up calluses that form over the years and unveils a new-found respect and reverence for the art of business.

By its very nature, Managing with Aloha is a book that will always remain within arms length. Rosa has kneaded much thought and care into its production. Although each chapter fits together creating an overall story, each is a reference work in its own right. Margins have been designed for note taking, font is easy on the eyes, page texture is pleasing to the touch and there are blank pages for additional notes.

`Ike loa the deep and rich values of our most Western state, weave them into your profession and tap into a lost energy source.

An excellent managment book that takes traditional Hawai'ian cultural values, and places them into a management framework so that organizational mission and respect and development of individuals can occur simultaneously. Although the book is written from a Hospitality industry standpoint, the concepts can be applied to any industry anywhere. This book has been most helpful in bridging the cultural barrier of my traditional US Mainland experiences with the pan-Asian business culture environment. The book is a relatively short, easy read with many real life examples of how to apply the core concepts. I highly recommend this book.

Managing with Aloha is written to help managers become more successful. This in itself doesn't make the book unusual or outstanding; there are hundreds of books about managerial effectiveness.

What makes it stand out is that the reader is taught these lessons from the perspective of the Hawaiian culture - specifically 18 values. The author weaves her vast management experience into each chapter - one for each of the 18 values. As a reader you learn from Rosa's experiences, you learn about the values of the Hawaiian Islands and you begin to see how these values are more than Hawaiian - they are universal in their application.

The use of Hawaiian terms in the book may seem at first to be a bit challenging as a reader, but these native words and phrases quickly become a part of the reading experience.

Rosa Say is a proud Hawaiian, an experienced manager and a talented writer. Reading this book will allow you appreciate these three things - the things that separate this book from the vast number of books for managers.

I highly recommend this book, and Rosa's blog, Talking Story as well. (http://www.sayleadershipcoaching.com/talkingstory/)

I found it challenging to write about Rosa Say's book Managing With Aloha. The book-actually, the very idea of the book-touches me in so many places that I didn't know how to begin or where to end. There was no way for me to write about this book without writing about myself as well. So, if you are looking for objectivity, you won't find it here.

Questions about values have been near the heart of my own work for nearly thirty years, but I have never seen such a beautiful and comprehensive treatment of one person's lessons and joys within the dance that values and work must do if the work is to be done with integrity. I am also envious because my own traditional values were dimmed by the emigration of my ancestors to the US, by their desire to assimilate, and by my own indifference. This is not to say that I have no values, or that I do not know what they are, but that there is something deep and profound in Rosa's knowledge that I suspect I can never experience. While paging through this book I was visited by the same sense that often overtakes me while strolling the less populated streets of ancient European cities: Brugge or Bath perhaps, or Pisa. It is a sense of deep rootedness and profound import: a sense that the place (this book) is significant in ways that I cannot appreciate or even fully understand.

The book also resonates with recent work of my own. Not too long ago I interviewed twenty accomplished, recognized leaders to discover how leaders win the commitment of others at different levels: intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. I found that the ability to integrate values with the work of leadership is crucial to winning the highest levels of commitment. I call this ability Enacting Beliefs. A Jewish elder, a Catholic sports mogul, the Buddhist mayor of a town in Arizona, and others, all either spoke of enacting their beliefs or performed the dance of values and work so naturally that they thought it barely deserved comment. Rosa shines light on this ability with detail and clarity that I very much admire.

Then too, Rosa quite rightly insists on the nobility of management as a calling, which is an affirmation of my own insistence that all work can be thought of and done artfully if it is approached by the whole person as an endeavor of the spirit and not merely a job.

I recommended Managing With Aloha to a friend whose business is helping young Jewish leaders bring traditional Jewish values to their leadership roles. I told my friend, "You don't have to be Hawaiian to appreciate the lessons in this book about how to bring your values to your work." If you aspire to that kind of integrity, I recommend it to you also.

So I finally completed reading Managing With Aloha by Rosa Say of Say Leadership Coaching, and so it is time to reflect on what I have learned. I have a few key points to share, and an overall feeling from the book.

Nānā i ke kumu - Look to your source, and find your truth. This is the chapter I just finished, and the one that will stick in my head the longest. Looking to my source to find my truth, I find myself surrounded by those I care for deeply, and realize that I have many to be thankful for.

The other truth I have is lifelong learning, and the reflection time that comes with reading a new book or magazine and learning something I knew little or nothing about. It's why I have Rosa's book in my hands and have been reading for the past 2 months to get it completely.

Aloha - If you were like me, before I started reading Rosa's Talking Story blog and her book, I thought Aloha was simply a greeting. Aloha as in hello, and aloha as in goodbye. Now I realize Aloha is a value of unconditional love, and the outpouring and receiving of the spirit. Wow, now that's a word that says so much more than "Hey!" Again, getting back to my truth, I realize that I must do a better job of sharing my Aloha with my family, friends, direct reports, peers, and supervisors, and really everyone in my world. I need to slow down and let people know how much I appreciate them, and how much Aloha I have for them.

The last thing I learned is that one must strive for Pono, or rightness and balance. This is something that I am often guilty of not having as much as I would like to have. I am happily content in many things in my life, and that helps my balance, but I know there is more that needs to be in balance for me.

My overall feeling of Managing With Aloha is one of awe, for there are so many values in the book that one can learn from, and put into practice, as managers and leaders. Rosa's idea of the Daily Five Minutes is my favorite, and can be quite simply summed up as taking 5 minutes each day to spend in a comfortable place with a direct report and let them tell you what's going on in her/his life. The key is you have to really listen to hear what's being said, and make the effort to not be judgmental, rather just listen and pay attention.

I also learned that managing and leading are 2 very different things, and one does not need to be a good leader to be a good manager, or be a good manager to be a good leader. Never before was it so clearly laid out as in this wonderful book. I like to think I am an effective manager now, and with practice and continued review of the key concepts in this book, I can only get better.

Make It a Great Day...If you're a manager or leader, buy Managing With Aloha, for you or someone else who wants to become more effective as a manager or a leader. Now in it's second printing, this book is timeless and worth the investment many times over.

When you finish Managing with Aloha, a couple of things might go through your mind:
1) If you are an employee, you wish that you could have Rosa Say for your manager.
2) If you are a manager, you want to start putting her ideas into practice as soon as possible.

Management literature is finally acknowledging that taking care of your employees is the most effective way to take care of your customers. Today, it takes as much heart as it does mind to manage and lead well. Enter Rosa Say's book, which introduces and connects the soulful Hawaiian culture's values to the business world. For this reason, Managing with Aloha is a unique book.

Yet, Managing with Aloha doesn't settle for being unique...It strives to lift the profession of management to a higher, more purposeful level. When you cut to the core of what modern management is, it is essentially about people. But, any manager knows that it's more difficult than that. How do you align the business's goals, your employee's goals, and your own personal goals in a direction that advances each one. Difficult, but not impossible and Rosa offers a model that's built on her own professional experience in one of the most demanding of industries - the hospitality industry.

Managing with Aloha has 18 chapters, each one discussing a specific Hawaiian value. While the words for these values are exotic (Ho'ohana, 'Ike loa, and Mahalo to name a few), what they represent will sound very familiar. For instance, Ho'omau means to persevere and never give up; Lokahi is to collaborate and cooperate; Kuleana is to accept responsibility and be held accountable.

If you manage others, buy a copy for yourself. If you manage other managers, buy each a copy, as well. Our organizations can be places where greater human values coexist with business goals. That just might be the next competitive advantage.

When I read Rosa say's book, I felt that finally someone was here to give me real help not just philosophical advice. Having a management style based on values, not budgets was not just a huge paradigm shift but a successful one for my business. Her book is easy to implement and fun read. I recommend this book for anyone wanting to be the manager they can be!

When I received Rosa Say's book, Managing with Aloha! I didn't quite know what I was in store for. It sounded interesting... I was certainly drawn to the idea of learning more about Hawaii and about how the people there might do things differently than we do, here on the mainland. But, boy, was I surprised! This book is the best book on business management that I have ever read! Rosa keeps it personal, entertaining, and informative. The educational aspect of learning the detailed Hawaiian terms associated with life, not only business, is valuable in and of itself-- but applied to a management system, one learns how to deal with employee situations that may formerly have been too tense or confusing to understand; one also learns how to become the kind of manager that fosters creativity and continued improvement in the workplace-- that overflows into real life. Rosa has written a book that transcends the office-- it's a must read for anyone working for someone else, working for herself, or thinking of starting a new business. Get it today... you won't be sorry.

This is a unique business book. Sure, it deals with specific values and how those values apply to business. The catch is that MWA approaches the subject from a distinct cultural perspective. Because of this, your first instinct might be to dismiss the book as relevant only to a handful of people in the business world. Actually, nothing could be farther from the truch. MWA does a very good job of both describing a variety of traditional Hawaiian values and translating them into language that is accessible to mainstream businesspeople. Just like a good cross-cultural training session, MWA shows us that we've got more commonalities than differences, while simultaneously celebrating the differences we do have.

The remarkable thing about author Rosa Say is that her unique point of view overlooks both the Hawaiian and mainland ways of doing business. She grew up in Hawaii and is fully accustomed to the pace and temperament of doing business island-style and, at the same time, her background as an executive in large corporations has given her insight into what most of us on the mainland would call "traditional" business values. Because of this unique perspective, Rosa is perfectly positioned to reconcile the two, via Managing with Aloha. Though the book often seems written for Hawaiian readers due to to its focus on Hawaiian values and use of Hawaiian language, in the true spirit of Ho'okipa (hospitality of giving) Rosa goes to great lengths in order to be inclusive to her non-Hawaiian readers as well.

Managing with Aloha contains 18 chapters, not including several excellent corollary sections such as the Recommended Reading and the Introduction. Every chapter focuses upon a single value, and it's because of this focus that the book really shines. Each chapter takes essentially the same appropach to describing and interpreting its' value--at the beginning, we're presented with the Hawaiian name of that chapter's value and a brief definition. Following the definition is a colored textbox that expands the definition, often pulling in values from previous chapters to add additional context and provide some sense-making. The meat of each chapter begins following this expanded definition.

The first value addressed is Aloha. This isn't surprising, since most of us mainlanders associate Hawaii with the "aloha spirit" and, as it turns out, we don't know how right we are. The real value of Aloha is skillfully woven throughout the remainder of this remarkable book as the author gives us a peek behind the curtain of island hospitality.

In order to illustrate her points about specific values, Rosa taps into her considerable experience in resort management. Her anecdotes are entertaining and always germane to the discussion at hand. She notes early in the book that management as a profession was a conscious choice for her, and that choice is validated time and again as she notes how she or others have applied various values to the workplace. A good example of this can be found in chapter three, which is about 'Imi ola, or seeking life in its highest form. She draws upon her work with the Alaka'i Nalu, or "leaders of the waves." As a surfer, I was particularly interested in the Alaka'i Nalu stories, since I've got the utmost respect for Hawaiian watermen. Rosa sprinkles Alaka'i Nalu references throughout the book and it's clear that she also has tremendous respect for not only their skills in the water, but also their willingness to transform themselves from a group of enthusiasts into a high performance team that provides leadership and value for their organization.

Managing with Aloha has many stories similar to the Alaka'i Nalu. Though her stories often seem far from buttoned-down boardrooms, Rosa's experiences communicating authentic values and coaching teams to achieve ever greater successes isn't really so far from what many of us do every day.

I get to train new managers for my company and other than the Company Rules and Regs, new hire packs, and employee manual the only book I give to new managers is Managing with Aloha. If the manager embraces half the values talked about in Rosa Say's first book, Managing with Aloha Bringing Hawaiis Universal Values to the Art of Business they'll be a better, more effective, manager for it, and their employees will be happier, more productive employees, for it as well.

The Kindle Edition makes it easier for me to introduce Managing with Aloha to new managers. I almost never know in advance when I'll be heading out to train and I won't give away my copy so being able to provide them a digital copy they can read on their computers immediately without ship times will be a huge boon.

The Hawaiian values talked referenced in the book have their own chapters, and their Hawaiian name which, for all the times I've read the book I still cannot pronounce in a way that I would be willing to do aloud in front of someone who knew the real pronunciations. They're the meat of the book, just in the list of values. The way the Superfriends are made up of Superman, Batman, Aquaman... and by hearing those names you build an image in your mind of something greater than the sum of its parts. A team of super heroes... these values, when you hear their names (in translation of course) it becomes obvious that this book is going to be more than the sum of its parts as well. A few of them are (translated): Humility, Balance, Cooperation, Perseverance, Hospitality. Reading those words and how they relate to management is like having a flower open in my head.

The writing is easy to follow, the ideas well explained with real life examples from real life jobs in the front lines of Hawaii's hospitality industry (and really... can you think of a more cut-throat industry than that?) When it comes to competing for dollars this isn't just a touchy-feely new-agey thing here. These tools will enable any team using them to excel in what they're doing, building themselves up without tearing anyone else down. It is a culture change that makes the place using it more fun to work at than a place just trying to stomp the other guy. When the culture is about bringing ourselves up rather than tearing other people down it's easier to go to work in the morning and stay into the evening. I'm a retail manager and say without doubt that even in these "money is tight" times... the best will be the best by BEING the best and not by tearing down the competition. When your employees are working hard to make the customers happy the customer won't go anywhere else, and the customer who visits a place that is being managed along the lines talked about in this book, that customer won't want to go anywhere else.

The book isn't one that can be read once and put down without picking it up later either. It's a reference book, a resource that teaches specific tools that will help managers be better managers and better employees. I go back to it often.

(Kindle edition comment: The table of contents works in this book. If you click on Prologue in the Table of Contents you'll go there in the book. This isn't true of all the kindle books I've gotten and I really don't like it when they don't work. The Table of Contents is 'live' and that's great.)