Ki runga, ki raro, ki roto, ki waho rire rire hau pai mārire
Above, below, within, without, May peace be present
Tēnā koutou katoa
Ngā mihi mahana
Ngā mihi nui aroha kia koutou te whānau ko Pūmanawa Kaiārahi o Aotearoa
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa
Ou te fa’atalofa atu i le pa’ia ma le mamalu o Samoa ua potopoto, ma ona tulaga fa’alupe
O le paia i aiga ma o latou tama, tama fo’i ma aiga
Le mamalu ia tumua ma pule, i tu’au ma alataua, aiga i le tai ma le va’a o fonoti
O le a ta’alolo upu fa’a le atunuu se’i tulou ona o lo’o filigia le afi afī
ae si’i le vi’iga ma le fa’afetai i lo tatou tamā i le lagi, auā lona alofa tunoa mo i tatou uma
Malo le tau ata’u, malo le soifua maua.
Greetings to you - our Leadership NZ whānau.
I want to say fa’afetai fa’afetai, fa’afetai tele lava!
Thank you all for the wonderful words and reflections you have shared in the farewells and celebrations of my time at Leadership NZ.
As the time came closer to my departure I spent time wondering - how do I speak into this space, this moment in time, what can I say, what do I share about the last 12 years of my life that I have been blessed to journey with Leadership New Zealand? The gifts, huge learning, the voyages with this magnificent whānau, my leadership family that is Pūmanawa Kaiārahi o Aotearoa?
Well - the word alofa, aroha, aro’a, ‘ofa…. kept appearing in my thoughts… Aroha atu, aroha mai.
In 2014 when I was fortunate to attend the Commonwealth CSC Global Leadership programme in the UK and Singapore, I recall talking with another participant, a chemical engineer from one of the world’s largest oil companies and one of the 25 in my study group, about leadership and saying to her that I believed that at its core, leadership was about love - aroha! She nearly choked on her coffee and said how ridiculous… and just like Tina Turner asked - what’s love got to do with it?? (lol) She said ‘leadership is about getting things done, being strategic, focussed, leading teams to achieve ambitious goals – to create significant improvement, change for our companies, and so on.’ I said yes, it’s about all of those things – but to do any of that, we work with other humans – to be in life is to be in relationship - and the essence, and impact of our leadership is about the quality of our relationships with other humans. It is leadership that requires heart not just head. She said I don’t have to “love” my team to be a good leader. To be fair, she is English and in the English language the word love is interpreted in a very simple way generally as deep feelings/emotions for someone else so I can see why she balked at this proposition. And from what she told me about the culture in her organisation I could see why she might find that doubly-difficult. (We had many other interesting conversations over the duration of the programme, but she, at the time, was a full-on, “I can do anything” action woman kind of leader. She and I became friends and have stayed in contact over the last 7 years – but a little more on her later).
In our Mana Moana cultures and languages, aroha, aro’a, alofa, ‘ofa is much more nuanced in meaning. As Dr. Karlo Mila so beautifully expressed to me once - aloha is the manifestation of altruism, activation of true empathy. It is mercy, a state of grace, an unconditional acceptance of another human being for who they are. It is effortless connection that recognises deep need in others. It is affection and goodwill. It is va – sacred space of shared humanity - filled with the reciprocal flow of relating…aroha atu, aroha mai.
Dr Manulani Meyer (Professor of Indigenous Epistemology), believes aloha is the primal source of our collective emergence, our collective wisdom – aloha is the intelligence with which we meet life. Our ancestral wisdom teaches us that the quality of our lives is deeply connected to where we stand in the genealogical family of things – our relationships with other humans, the cosmos, the earth, sea, sky and our spiritual essence our mauli, mauri – our life force. We cannot separate, or isolate our individual self from the universe and our impact on it and our place within it.
So, when I think about this incredible movement we are building – the vision to see every person in Aotearoa exercising leadership through head and heart – it is the heart-work that is most critical – to manifest, bring alofa to everything we do. Helping leaders across Aotearoa explore their spirit, their unique essence, to find their mauli / mauri is why our work is fundamental. Our leadership experiences are creative journeys to wholeness and abundance.
To learn how to lead (others/companies/communities) we must start with us, It starts with us leaning in - to love and embrace our essential, authentic selves – to bring vulnerability, compassion, courage, strength, adaptive resilience to our leadership. To learn how to lead across diversity, to lead with mana and grace. These are the C21st leadership literacies we need to navigate our turbulent, challenging world. To be able to work together – to harness alofa, our collective wisdom – we can reimagine, disrupt, dismantle systems that are divisive and destructive, we can create and design better futures for our communities, our nation, the region, the world. A world where the family of things is brought back into harmony and balance.
I can say these things with conviction and deep belief because I know them to be true - because this is what I have explored, witnessed, experienced and learnt, over these past 12 years with Leadership NZ.
It is knowledge and wisdom that I have been able to learn from so many amazing and inspiring people, especially some truly gifted teachers, healers, mentors and wise guides who lead our signature experiences – much alofa and gratitude to Louise and Karlo - and the kaumatua and wisdom elders like Jo Brosnahan & Sir Bob whose vision and foresight brought Leadership NZ’s kaupapa to life. To all the colleagues, partners, supporters, participants, friends – from right across our ecosystem – I am so grateful to have travelled on many journeys and learnt from all of you. I feel blessed that I have had the opportunity to share this wisdom with others, to contribute in a small to way to helping shape a different way of being in leadership in Aotearoa.
My conscious and intentional commitment to a “life in leadership” really started in 2008 with Leadership NZ – when I was given the gift of a scholarship on The NZ Leadership Programme – thank you Jo Brosnahan, Lesley Slade, and the trustees at that time for seeing something in me, some potential - that I didn’t believe or see in myself. Many of you at Leadership NZ know that 2008 was one of the most challenging and difficult years in my career, as a leader, but it was a watershed year that dramatically shifted the trajectory of my leadership – for the good. That year journeying on NZLP helped me get clarity on the kind of leader I wanted to be, reoriented where I wanted to focus my energies and time, and it was in this year I started forming a clear vision for myself and the legacy and impact I wanted to have. “To help grow a new generation of authentic and ethical leaders for C21st leadership”. This purpose has oriented my work over these many years. To be fair - the first couple of years were very much head-centered leadership as we worked to sort some things out and get LNZ back on more stable ground. But it very soon moved me to exploring being in leadership (not just doing leadership!) – a fundamental principle that underpins our leadership philosophy.
I’ve now technically “done” 13 leadership programmes at LNZ (lol) 10 NZ Leadership Programmes and 3 Mana Moana Experiences! As Louise said at my farewell – there will always be debate about which is the best programme year, but as far as she is concerned I get the best participant award! (Ha ha!). I’ll take that.
I want to acknowledge all the Leadership NZ Alumni – what a privilege to walk alongside you in this time as you’ve taken brave steps into leadership journeys with us on NZ Leadership Programme and the Mana Moana Experience. I have with-nessed the power of individual transformation, your impact and the collective powerful embodiment of aroha as you have catalyzed change through your leadership right across the country in all places and spaces! Over each year you opened yourselves up – brought authentic heart and sheer grit into our circles - to do the work you needed. You have been amazing in your support of me, our team, you have given back and contributed immensely to our work and the vision for transforming leadership. You are inspirational, encouraging and empowering and been hugely significant for me in my own growth – leadership is about learning for life …. And this has been so true for me.
If 2008 was catalytic from a professional perspective, then 2015 - 2020 have been profound for me on a personal level – and marks another significant period in my life in leadership. Especially as it has helped me lead more authentically from my mauli – from a more heart-centered space – of vulnerability, courage, compassion and wholehearted acceptance of myself. It’s one thing to go out and preach – leadership is about aroha – its another thing to live it, truly live it every day. I know that LNZ has been pivotal to me making brave personal life changes over the last few years and enabled me to be my most authentic self. It’s enhanced my relationships – professional, family and friends. Aroha flows in abundance across all spheres of my life. I am a work in progress but feel so ready to now go onto the next iteration of my life.
And before I finish with some very important acknowledgments, a footnote about the CSC colleague that I mentioned at the start. She and I have stayed in contact over the years. Within a few years of doing that programme, she experienced some major upheavals in her company that caused her to leave and following some time off, and a few personal life challenges – she has retrained, reinvented, reemerged as a executive and personal life coach. She is definitely leaning into the heart space of leadership as she helps many to journey into explorations of their essential selves – aroha atu – aroha mai.
THANK YOU - fa’afetai lava, meitaki maata, malo aupito!
After 12 years there are so many people I will be forever grateful for your aroha, your alofa. Leadership NZ exists because of the alofa and collective wisdom of many leaders, many hands, our shared passion and commitment and a deep connected desire to shape a more inclusive, just and loving world.
Partners, Funders, Supporters, Collaborators – such an essential part of the fabric that is Leadership NZ. Organisations with aligned visions for leadership in Aotearoa who have made essential investments of money, time and commitment in kind, who have partnered, collaborated with us to bring so many important leadership initiatives to life, who believe in the leadership movement, who have sent leaders every year to participate in our leadership experiences. There are too many to name individually – just know you have my eternal thanks.
To members of the LNZ Whānau:
Firstly our founding Trustees and Ambassadors
Jo Brosnahan – you started it all for me! Thank you from the depths of my heart, you are our kuia and a wonderful mentor and friend to me. Thank you also to Chris for supporting Jo and Leadership NZ all these years. I want to also acknowledge Sir Bob Harvey, who like Jo has been so encouraging and supportive, and very rarely ever said no to me when I called to ask a favour. To our other founding leaders who sparked the vision back in 2003, and to all our ambassadors past and present – your mana, wisdom and leadership is exemplary and I’ll always be thankful for everything you do to keep our kaupapa alive.
LNZ Board of Trustees – past and present The small team at LNZ couldn’t do its important mahi without the leadership, vision and support of our Trustees. Even from my own time on the trust, this isn’t a board where you just come to monthly meetings to provide oversight. Being an LNZ Trustee requires hands-on input and strategic work and in the early days as CEO with a tiny team, I relied heavily on the board to help get stuff done as we operationalized the new strategy/vision/rebranding etc. I want to acknowledge you all (past and present) for the heavy lifting you have done and still do for Leadership NZ. The transformation strategy we embarked on in 2020 for Leadership Aotearoa is ambitious and aspirational, and you are ready to face into - really step into Te Tiriti leadership. These are game changing, nation building shifts and it’s really heartening to know that the movement is being governed and led by such an amazing committed group of leaders.
My special thanks to Peter Garnett for your leadership as Chair over the first 4 years – despite being thrown in the deep end, you committed to working very closely to help me get the organisation back to solid ground. We faced some big challenges together and I really appreciate your care and attention to the detail, to managing risks, and for your patience, guidance and kind support of me.
Nick Astwick - my sincere gratitude to you for your leadership in the Chair role these past 4 years You and I navigated a different context of growth and looking forward, of investment in future, of a new strategy and its paid off I think – I’ve really valued your encouragement, and belief in me and the team, and also your positive mindset, and willingness to consider new things, and stretch for LNZ. It feels good for us to be both stepping away at this time – we always said we wanted to leave the organisation in a good place.
And to all the Trustees – especially those I’ve worked closely with over recent years - Deb Godinet, George Riley, Teresa Tepania-Ashton, Neville Pulman, Iani, Steve Ferguson, Imogen Parry, Christien Winter, Tara Pradhan, Sarah Trotman, Hilary Sumpter, Sam Sefuiva, Penny Hulse - thank you for your strategic guidance, creativity and courage!!
To the LNZ operations team: None of the magic of Leadership NZ happens without the alofa, passion, total head and heart commitment, and seriously creative talents of this group of amazing humans – what a blessing you are to my life, and I’ll always be grateful to you all for the amazing contributions and leadership you have shown over our time together, and the beautiful way we have worked together to co-create, co-design, innovate, adapt and respond to whatever has been thrown our way.
Louise & Karlo, Judy, Alistair, Annette, Petrina, Nicola, Dan, Donna, Manase, Cecilia, Leanne, Richard, and the team at Haven Accounting – Janine, Emmalene, Lulu. What voyages we have travelled together! My heart is full – full of beautiful memories, laughs, lots of tears (happy and sad) and a few dramas. There might be a book to be written one day!
And then there is Anya Satyanand – what a gift it was to have the time to transition together and do a handover this way. Phenomenal Anya - you are a very special daughter of Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, Oceania, of Aotearoa. You bring to Leadership NZ humility, huge warmth, heart and vision. Your grace, strength and alofa, wisdom and curiosity, courage, and a deep care and passion for humanity, and our planet, means you are the perfect wahine to lead LNZ forward. I wish you well on your leadership journey. Much aroha.
Finally, my family and friends; our ancestors are with us wherever we take our lives in leadership, and we are their legacy. I want to acknowledge and thank my family and friends for their unconditional alofa and support. They all know how significant Leadership NZ has been to me – and I’m grateful for their belief in me and the myriad of ways they continue to support me through my life.
My parents - Maualaivao Albert Wendt and Reina Whatiri, Jenny & Graeme Wilson, my brother Mike Wendt, sister Mele Wendt, son Ash Moore and his partner Ophelia Buckleton, daughter Isabella Moore and her fiancée Benson Wilson, and of course my partner Ron Stanley.
TO CLOSE – I want to share the words of Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi Efi – they describe how I see myself, my life and my leadership and my place on this planet.
“I am not an individual; I am an integral part of the cosmos.
I share divinity with my ancestors, the land, the seas and the skies.
I am not an individual, because I share a ‘tofi’ (an inheritance)
with my family, my village and my nation.
I belong to my family and my family belongs to me.
I belong to my village and my village belongs to me.
I belong to my nation and my nation belongs to me.
This is the essence of my sense of belonging.”
Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi Efi
I will always belong to this Leadership Aotearoa aiga – and, for that, I’m truly blessed.
Fa’afetai tele lava, soifua ma ia manuia.
Alofa atu
Sina Moana Wendt
Full set of stunning photos from the evening (courtesy of Caroline Ducobu) can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/2Q3ta5x
Our warmest thanks to KPMG Auckland for extending its generosity of spirit with the superb hospitality and venue spaces for this celebration.