I’ve studied and adopted critiques of Western neo-liberal individualism and have for a long time rejected the primacy of the individual. Long before that, I was raised in a large family so my experience as one of 10 children was always that “I” did not exist outside of or separate to my family. My mother was raised in the Southern USA and the word  “kin” was used to describe our wider relations and our connection to them: “all y’all are kin”. This extended beyond blood relationships. To ‘kin’ someone was to invite them into the fold and impart a sense of belonging and connection. We saw this as something that was both good for them and for us.

My approach to leadership embodies this approach and resonates with indigenous models of leadership.

I liked the way that Chellie Spiller et al (2011)* compared characteristics of wise organsations by contrasting some traditional western model compared to an ethic of kaitiakitanga. I decided that I would do a similar ‘weave’ using examples from my organisation. This has been interesting. I hope it can help me to advocate within the organisation the adoption of more effective concepts and practices from Te Ao Maori to describe our purpose and some of our practices.