Q. Why did you feel the need to create your own leadership and empowerment company?

A. Everyone's writing about emotional intelligence. But after sitting through countless hours of leadership development, I felt there was a need to add in the cultural aspect as to why Hawai'i is so special. There's a certain way we do business here, which is different. My whole goal of Pacific Leadership is to be able to be a bridge maker. How do I bridge, uplift and inspire local people to reach and attain higher goals? And how do you offer a little bit of tolerance training for those people who come here and see Hawai'i as still native? How do you give it a face and a voice? That's what we're all about.

Q. How do you connect Hawaiian cultural values with modern Western ideologies in your seminars?

A. I think the Hawaiian cultural side of it will show the real core elements of being a good human being. It focuses on how you treat people, your obligation to others and to yourself, your work ethics, the ability to sustain your family, the ability to sustain your organization or your village. And I see the Western part of it — it's the drive, the economic achievement, the corporate ladder, which is not necessarily directly opposed to the Hawaiian side, but it makes us aware that it's OK to step out of our comfort zone, to want a little more, to work a little harder. It's OK if you want to go for it. You can balance yourself by being humbly assertive. If you strive to achieve, promote or elevate your position, do it with benevolence, honor and integrity.

Q. How do you blend your Western and Hawaiian influences in your seminars?

A. With every cultural aspect that I teach, I find a Western parallel for it. Most of the Western concepts are stemming from the same kumus — Tony Robbins, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey — and what I've tried to do is not necessarily borrow or copy, but more validate the Hawaiian aspect of it. For example, take the whole idea of kuleana. Kuleana in Hawaiian is responsibility. Within the ancient culture, kuleana is actually very important with regards to being a parent, an ali'i, a commoner, and that same theory of taking responsibility for oneself is pretty much pervasive in all these leadership books by these other guys.

Q. What is the pa'akai theory?

A. At the age of 16, my parents decided that for a whole summer, I was going to spend it with my grandparents doing backbreaking work. It was that summer when my grandfather told me: "Everything you do should be like making salt." It was about hard work. It's grueling — you're on your hands and knees, making these saltbeds. I taught the pa'akai (salt) theory as a metaphor: hard work, determination, the process, the gift and the abundant return. It was by chance that the director of the scholars program at Kamehameha Schools gave me my first opportunity to present my pa'akai theory of leadership for high schoolers who were going through the scholars program. That's where I actually fine-tuned the program. I had been commissioned to do a class on the island of Kaua'i, and I decided to bring the kids to the salt patch. And it just hits me like an epiphany, and I am remembering the beginning. It all clicked in me and made sense.

Q. Are your leadership and empowerment seminars just for leaders?

A. It's for every human being who wants to become a better human being — not just the leaders. I've had audiences from the front line all the way to presidents and business owners. When you come to our sessions, you take that label, that title that you've got, and you drop it in that imaginary box outside that door. You come in on the same playing field as everybody else and it works. People get the same message, and it's kind of inspiring to see that. You can have the mailroom guy from Company A sitting next to the president of Company B, and they're just great friends sharing experiences.

Q. How do local people react to the issues addressed in your sessions?

A. A lot of times we find that the aloha spirit sometimes takes over logic. We're more tolerant to certain behaviors. We don't want to ruffle the feathers of anybody, but sometimes it's OK to rise to the occasion. Whether you're in a leadership role, a parental role, it doesn't matter. I pose this question: "Tell your neighbor what it is that you love about yourself." And they sort of just look at me like, "Huh?" It is hard for local people, and that's why I get them out of their box, their comfort zone. And they start to go: "Yeah, I cook a perfect pot of rice every night," and I say "Oh, that's great, because not all of us can do that." They tend to enjoy that; it's kind of refreshing.