Contributed by: Janice Ikeda

How do you practice leadership as an activity?

The interesting thing about leadership is that it looks a lot more like following in practice: watching from behind, listening with quiet intent, and sometimes not showing up so that others can speak freely or shine brilliantly.

I do my best to say yes a lot—and with great enthusiasm. Especially when I see that it takes a lot of courage for folks to ask, and to believe that they can learn, grow, and contribute. I pay attention and ask often about what Vibrant Hawaiʻi team members are interested in. Then, whenever opportunities land in my inbox, I forward it to them. Some of them they have never been invited to represent an organization at a conference, summit, coalition, or strategic workgroup—especially our youth. I send them to represent Vibrant Hawaiʻi whenever the topic of discussion is about youth—how to engage with and develop programs for youth. They always come back surprised and confused that they were the only youth in the room. They have been really stoked to have these opportunities. Recently, I’ve asked them to think about 3-5 other people they can invite the next time they receive an invitation. It’s important that we all make conscious efforts to build a bigger table.

Finally, I think the part of leadership that no one likes is accountability and saying “no.” My dad would tell me, “that’s why you get paid, because no one would do that for free.” There’s a reason why these conversations are “difficult.” I’m thankful that I have been able to develop this muscle over the past 23 years of being a mother of five children. I can bounce back quicker from those uncomfortable, awkward, and sometimes annoying conversations, and know that my actions always come from a place of aloha for the person, our organization, and our community.

What are important challenges Vibrant Hawaiʻi aims to address?

Many of the challenges we face, including the cost of housing, can be traced back to policy and resource allocation decisions based in conscious or unconscious biases and assumptions about the very people and communities we endeavor to serve. Vibrant Hawaiʻi brings people together across districts, generations, and sectors to engage in dialogue, identify collaborative solutions, and take action together. By doing so, we dismantle silos; identify biases and assumptions to reduce racism, ageism, and classism; and increase everyone’s sense of belonging to community and belief that they have the ability to make their community a better place.

There is no one right answer to achieve our vision of a vibrant Hawaiʻi—we need all hands turned down to contribute. We believe that everyone has skills and abilities, but needs circumstances and opportunities to express them. And so we serve as not only a convener, but also an incubator for emerging ideas and collaborations, providing resources and structure for folks to build capacity, confidence, and courage to take action together.

Over the past three years, our communities have produced incredible outcomes: nearly 1,000 community members certified in Mental Health First Aid; over 40 community-led resilience hubs across the island; residents leading computer literacy workshops resulting in participants’ abilities to gain upward mobility in their professional lives; youth being trained to lead workshops in Fentanyl Awareness and Hands-Only CPR; and partnerships with our County Civil Defense Agency, Police and Fire Departments, Office of Housing, and Office of Research and Development.

How do you engage others in Vibrant Hawaiʻi to practice leadership?

Everyone in Vibrant Hawaiʻi develops a practice of hikaloi, or self-evaluation. In fact, the first hikaloi is done by candidates applying for a position in the organization. We ask folks to complete a hikaloi that lists every duty and desired qualification on the job description and to consider where they fall in their development of that skills: haʻa (emerging), maʻa (developing), paʻa (consistent), or laʻa (modeling).

This allows each person to not only consider where they can focus their opportunities for professional growth, but allows for haʻahaʻa (humility) and recognition of where they need to ask for help and recognize the strengths and skills of others.

I hope in this way, we not only grow in our own capacity, but we remain ever aware that no one can do this alone—we need each other—and truly, we each hold one piece that is a part of something bigger.