Owen Eastwood

The first step we must take is not hard. We simply have to pause and find a moment of peace. Then, look again at those people we are with and see their mana, their spirit, their dignity. Then remind ourselves that whatever we do as a tribe, that must never be diminished. This is where we can start.

Somewhere in homo sapiens evolutionary story, this fundamental role of the leader—to take care of their people—has lost its sacred place.

In Maori culture, a word for leader is rangatira, which itself consists of two words—arrange, meaning to weave, and tire, meaning a group, so rangatira literally means ‘to weave a group of people together.’

I don’t particularly like checklists but when I’m having conversations with leaders on trust these are what we work through: authenticity, loyalty, competence, consistency, adaptability, and (emotional) availability.

I come from the south-west corner of the Pacific Ocean. It is a place where the three most powerful words that can be uttered to you are ‘you belong here.’