By Ka‘ipo Ho — In 1996, I had the honor of accompanying the late Dr. George Kanahele, Hawaiian scholar and Outrigger’s consultant on Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a, to a conference on Aboriginal Tourism in Canada. There, I met Norman Sunchild, a Cree tribe elder, who personally inspired me with his practical, yet very powerful message, “Our values are sacred and the greatest of them is love. We cannot succeed without them.”

I often reflect back on Chief Sunchild’s timeless wisdom, and I am reminded of how our values are an integral — and sacred — part of who we are, where we come from, what we do, and how we do it. It was also in 1996 that Outrigger’s employees composed our first company values statement. That was two years after our initial launch of Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a, The Outrigger Way. This year is Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a’s 15th Anniversary, and our company values statement is a lucky thirteen years young.

As Dr. Kelley has often mentioned in his weekly column, “This isn’t the same company my parents started back in 1947.” In fact, we are a very different company since we launched Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a in 1994. Yet, through the multitude of changes, growth, and expansion of our organization, our values have withstood the test of time. So, what was it Chief Sunchild said about our values being sacred?

Another favorite quote of mine are the words of Polynesian Voyaging Society chairperson and Hokule‘a navigator Nainoa Thompson. In his address to Outrigger’s Alaka‘i, or Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a leaders, in 1995, he said, “We can have the skills, technology, the knowledge, and courage required for deep-sea voyaging, but we need a mechanism to steer good human values.” As Outrigger sets its course into the future, our company values continue to be an integral part of our success.

Beginning the week of April 13, Outrigger’s Alaka‘i in Waikiki will begin reintroducing our eight company values of Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a to all of our Waikiki employees through an Outrigger Value of the Week program. Our goal is to engage our Outrigger ‘ohana in discovering together how we can continue to make our values relevant for these new times, new challenges, and new opportunities. We have the right values guiding us. Our focus is on demonstrating our values in the right way.

Our Value of the Week program will begin with each of our Waikiki ‘ohana receiving a new Outrigger Mission and Values pocket card. Your Alaka‘i and managers will also provide you with more detail on the Value of the Week program. During the week of April 20, we’ll reintroduce our value of Kina‘ole, and every other week thereafter, another value will be reintroduced. As part of our program, the Saturday Briefing will also feature a series of articles from Outrigger’s executives, as they share their personal insight on what the Value of the Week means to them. Expanding our Value of the Week to our ‘ohana beyond O‘ahu will take place shortly.

Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a and our 6-Paddles Process has really been a journey in reinforcing our company values and only emphasizes that Outrigger is the leisure hospitality company of choice by providing our employees an opportunity to be their best, our guests with distinctive hospitality and value, and our owners with promised results.

Chief Norman Sunchild and Ka‘ipo Ho, 1996

Barry Wallace and Perry Sorenson at a 1996 Alaka‘i gathering