Cultural Leadership

At the ICOT13 - the Thinking Conference, recently held in Wellington, I was privileged to listen to Deanne Thomas and Wharehoka Wano talk about Cultural Leadership - Ko te kai o the rangatira he kōrero.

The focus of their workshop was for them to reflect on the leaders who had made a difference to them in their lives, whanau members, teachers, people in the community. They discussed  the many aspects of leadership and the most  important factor, of how your leadership relates to the care and wellbeing of people.

We are all rangatira, we gain strength from our roots, where we come from, the place we hold dear and we need to think of others and the important people in our lives.

Believe in your ideals, be staunch, listen to your instincts, be intuitive and be clear in your messages to others.

Be loyal to family and community.

Ko te kai a te rangatira, he kōrero -talk is the food of chiefs but is also about respect for others and consensus.

Ko te tohu o te rangitira, he manaaki - how do we nurture the children in our care, spiritually and in other ways and how do we sustain other people in our daily life?

He aha te mea nui?

He tangata.
He tangata.
He tangata.

What is the most important thing?  It is people, it is people, it is people.