There is a chiefly leadership potential within all of us
– ‘Olohe Tom Kaulukukui Jr.
In a leadership setting, my first encounter with ‘Olohe Thomas Kaulukukui Jr was in 2006 in a Ke Koa Alaka’i Workshop where a small group of us were introduced to the martial art of lua, the difference between kanaka and kane, what it means to be a modern day Hawaiian warrior, and we focused on leadership.
Today, I want to share with you a few lessons of leadership that I’ve learned from ‘Olohe Kaulukukui from the class, and his presentations and interviews.
Leadership is Influence
When ‘Olohe Kaulukukui was asked, “What is leadership?”
He replied, “Leadership is influence. If you have no influence, you have no leadership. If you have influence or potential for it, then you have the potential for leadership.” We can think of people in our lives who we considered leaders.
I’m not talking about a person who is in a leadership role because of their job position or social status. John Maxwell, in his book 5 Levels of Leadership, would consider this sort of leader as a Position Leader because people follow them because they have to.
The leaders I am talking about are the individuals who we have high respect for, those who have contributed to the community, and we follow them because of who they are and what they represent. In order to get to that sort of level, it’s important to take into account the second level of influence for leadership.
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Leadership Effects Your FAT
The FAT ‘Olohe Kaulukukui is talking about is your Feelings, Actions, and Thoughts.
The role of influence can have a large effect on another person. Some people take advantage of their power of influence to hurt others, make them do bad things and continue bad behaviors, and create negative thoughts.
Going back to the people who you see as respectful leaders, think about how they affect your feelings, actions, and thoughts. You’d probably realize they empower or inspired you and maybe they had you take action towards achieving a goal. Overall, they influenced themselves, you, and others to become stronger as individuals and a community.
Do The Right Thing, The Right Way, The Right Time
Simple. But ‘Olohe Kaulukukui adds, “Of course, determining what the right thing and the right way, and whether or not is the right time, depends on a lot of good judgment through experience. And experience, the best experiences, comes from bad judgments.”
This is why it’s so important to nana i ke kumu, look to the source and our kūpuna. They are the beholders of wisdom and truth. Their life experiences, the good and bad stories can teach us a lot about our own life. We learn best from our own failures and the failures of others. But many choose not to reflect on those failures and instead choose to continue to fail.
Chiefly leaders have success but experienced many failures. Those failures are what shaped them into who they are today. Those failures are what taught them how to do the right things, in the right way, at the right time.
Path to Leadership is Through Service
The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. – Pablo Picasso
The function of a leader is to not only lift themselves up but also their family, community, and possibly the world.
‘Oloho Kaulukui shared a story when he took a trip to Samoa and visited a school. There was only one door and the sign above the door said, “Enter to Learn.”
After his visit and as he departed the school, he noticed another sign above the door that said, “Leave to Serve.”
Those are two very powerful statements. Wherever you go, you can learn. But all that learning and knowledge doesn’t mean anything unless you use it to serve.
Great Leaders Teach Others to Lead
When I was the Head Strength at the University of Redlands, I had a few interns, one assistant, and found leaders within each group I coached. My goal was to teach them as much as I could on how to coach. Part of my life’s mission and interest is to learn and teach about strength in order to build a Kū body and live a Kū life.
‘Olohe Kaulukukui shared a lesson from his father:
If you are going to take anyone anything. Teach them two things. Teach them the core of the curriculum and the knowledge you want them to learn. But more importantly, teach them a way to teach it.
Train Your Inner Chief
You may be thinking that you can’t be a leader because you don’t like to be in front of the crowd. Leaders must know how to follow before they can lead. As a leader, you don’t have to be the most outspoken one or the one who is always in the spotlight. You can start within your family, among your friends, then work towards the community, and see where you go from there.
There is a Chief within all of us. You must take the time to start crafting your leadership skills wherever you are in life. Maybe there are a couple of principles above that you believe you can focus more on, or maybe you think you need to start with just one.
The most important thing for you to do is simple. You need to start.
Featured Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
