 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines. We are broadcasting live from the beautiful Think Tech Hawaii TV studio in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. Today's special guest is someone that I've known for many years, and he truly is a great man. He graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University and received his law degree from Harvard, and needless to say, he's one of our state's top attorneys. He's also chairman of the board for the East-West Center and a great friend of mine. He is Richard Turbin, and today we are going beyond international relation. Hey, Richard. Hey, Rusty, it's great to be here. It's an honor to be on your show. Well, I'm excited to have you on the show, and I know you for many years because I used to teach tennis to your daughter, Laurel, in private tennis lessons, and now you and your wife, Ray, are my protegees in tennis. Right, yeah, Rusty, you are my tennis guru, and it's great to have you as a friend, a tennis guru, and also a guru for my work as chairman of the board of governors of the East-West Center and the other pro bono work I do in my work and my professional life. So thank you for all the help you've given me for very valuable help. Well, I'm excited every time I'm able to see you and talk with you, Richard, and I've been wanting to ask you, though, I've had some students that attended Cornell. What was it about Cornell that you'd like? When I loved about Cornell, it was really an intellectual, you know, hot house. I mean, I felt it was an academy. I mean, almost, I kind of envisioned myself going to one of the first great universities in Athens or Paris. I mean, because you're out in the country, it's far away from any major big city, New York, but at that time was seven hours away, you're in beautiful country, and there really wasn't anything much else to do other than to study, to work with brilliant professors to train my mind, you know, my intellectual capacity. So for a young student, it was a great experience. Now, I want to ask you, how tough was Harvard Law, Richard? Well, it was very tough to get in, I must say that, but once you were accepted as a student, and as long as you went to classes, as long as you participated in discussions, you know, you were fine, you know, they didn't try to work you to death and make you, you know, and throw people out of the law school. And what I loved about it most was my fellow students. So many of them were geniuses, brilliant people, interesting people, humble. It wasn't just, you know, the rich elite that went there. It was really, you know, a law school of, it was a meritocracy. Yeah, no, that's good to hear. I like that. And I want to know, how did you end up coming to Hawaii? I always had it in my mind. It was something I wanted to do as far back as I remember. As a kid, you know, I loved reading history books and geography books. And there was something about Hawaii that just fascinated me, the diversity, the bridge between, you know, North America and Asia. And even, I remember in law school, one of my professors, Dr. Leach, he had just come back from the East West Center. The East West Center had just started in 1960. And I also, and the fact that it was based in Hawaii, you know, as a bridge between the East and the West, that was another reason I wanted to come. Oh, I love hearing that. And Richard, you have a great family. I mean, I know your kids, Derek and Laurel. What are they doing now? I'm so lucky. They are just wonderful young people. Laurel is starting her second year as a professor at University of Hawaii. Great. Yeah, she opened up sustainability, resilience, environmental program in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaii. And second year as a professor working on her first book. Nice. Derek is coming home to Hawaii from LA and he's opening up a law firm here. Great. A Hawaii office of a major West Coast law firm, Gilson and Dobb. And so very proud, very proud of both Derek and Laurel. Of course you are. And Richard, I wanna talk about your wife, Rae. I mean, Rae is incredible. How did you guys meet? We met in Hawaii, I was a public defender working in the public defender's office for about a year and a half. She just came to Hawaii as a legal aid lawyer through the VISTA program. And I met her in the office. She was about ready to borrow some snorkeling equipment from another lawyer. And I said, oh, this is a great woman. She's smart, beautiful. And she's also an avid athlete. It turned out that was about the last time she went into the ocean. Well, I gotta say you and Rae are just so cute together. You guys are perfect together and I love you both. And you guys have your own hugely successful law firm, Turban, Chew, and Hyte. What do you guys, what kind of law do you practice? We represent victims. Primarily, it's a plaintiff's personal injury law firm, which means people who get hurt, hurt mostly in traffic accidents, falls, industrial accidents, victims of malpractice. We represent them and try to get adequate compensation so they are fairly compensated for the injury and the pain and suffering they go through. We really love it. I mean, we're representing the average citizen of the state of Hawaii, not the wealthy banks or insurance companies. I like to say we represent the little people and we try to bring them justice. And you've been doing that extremely well. I mean, hugely successful law firm. And I wanna talk with you about the East-West Center and you being the chairman of the board. What is the mission of the East-West Center? Well, I like to say that the mission is peace fair. I mean, not warfare, but peace fair. We want to, the initial mission was to help. We opened up 60 years ago in 1960. And our mission at that time, Asia was not the economic powerhouse it is today. It was still kind of an underprivileged area. And the purpose of the East-West Center was to help bring them the professional skills, the know-how, the infrastructure to help the very talented people of Asia become economically successful. And it sure has worked. So I think we helped do a good job. And we also wanted to bring peaceful relations there. And happy to say that since the East-West Center began, there's been very few major wars in the Asia region, which has helped to become a prosperous and economically successful. And also to create a better kinship, better relations between East and West, the United States and Asia. And if I get to say one more thing, we've had seven presidents and prime ministers of major Asian countries as East-West Center alumni. Yeah, that's amazing. And it's located on the UH campus, but it's its own identity. And I know you deeply care about the East-West Center, and I know you have great passion for it. Why is that, Richard? Well, you know, thinking about what any of us can do to help foster a better world, a more peaceful world, a more prosperous world. And if I could do my part to help serving as a leader of the East-West Center, it's an honor for me. It's a passion and it's one of my life goals to make whatever contribution I can make to have a safer, more peaceful, more prosperous world. And you're definitely doing that. And you also met with the Secretary of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. How was it meeting with him? It was a beautiful experience. He was so inspirational. He was the keynote speaker at this event in Los Angeles that was honoring the East-West Center and its outgoing President, Charles Morrison. And Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, he was such a passionate, inspiring leader, intelligent, articulate, eloquent, and very modest also. No, that's good to hear, because I see him a lot on TV dealing with all kinds of stuff with the United Nations. So that's really good to hear. I'm glad you got to meet with him. And you also welcomed the President of Taiwan, President Tsai, to the East-West Center here in Hawaii. How was it meeting with her? Oh, that was also an honor. It was just such an honor to be able to read her and introduce her to the audience at the East-West Center. And she chose the East-West Center to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the United States, Taiwan, a treaty, a relationship treaty, treaty of friendship. And it was such an honor for both Hawaii and the East-West Center that she chose the East-West Center as the venue for that great celebration. Yeah. She also, very intelligent woman, very, a very compassionate, modest woman, and incidentally, a graduate of Cornell. Oh, Cornell University. That's interesting. Now, Richard, you also recently went up to Washington, DC and you took up a couple of the board members with you, one of which was our newly retired president of Cornell School, Jim Scott, who's absolutely fantastic. And that's gonna be a great benefit having him on the East-West Center board. And you guys met with Senator Brian Schatz. That's correct. How was it up there? It was a great meeting and there is a lot of aloha for the East-West Center in Washington, DC. And we met actually with their entire congressional delegation, Senator Brian Schatz, Senator Maisie Hirono, Congressman Ed Case. We met the chief of staff for Tulsi Gabbard also. And it's important to remember that about half of our funding comes from, half of the funding for the East-West Center comes from congressional appropriations. So we need our, you know, Washington being what it is, we need the help of our congressional delegation to get that funding. And since Senator Brian Schatz is on the Senator Appropriations Committee, and by the way, Congressman Ed Case just got appointed to the House Appropriations Committee. Great. That's a big help. That's a big asset for the East-West Center. And their cautiously optimistic Senator Maisie Hirono is also very helpful. They're all very cautiously optimistic that we're gonna continue with our funding and knock on wood, maybe even get it up to bit. Nice. And you know, the more I look into what the East-West Center is all about, I mean, it's such a critical, you know, meeting for everybody to come together because it's not just the United States, but it's the countries in Asia and the Pacific. What would you want to see happen in the coming years for the East-West Center? Well, you know, we have to continue our mission as it is. We still do a lot of student exchange programs. In other words, a lot of smart, maybe not-so-wealthy young people from Asia and the Pacific nations come to Hawaii. They live at the East-West Center. They get advanced degrees from the University of Hawaii. We want to continue those programs. We also want to help the State Department do some of the jobs that the State Department can do, for example, the East-West Center was quite important in advancing a democracy in the new nation of Myanmar. We also serve as kind of the United Nations Secretariat for the leaders of all the Pacific nations. So once every two years, all the presidents and prime ministers of the Pacific nations come to the East-West Center for very important leadership meetings. In fact, the last meeting President Obama came because the President of the United States is also a member of this, we call Pacific Islands Leadership Forum. So we want to continue that work and we really need to work harder as far as helping the Pacific nations with prosperity, with building up infrastructure, and also solving the problem of climate change because some of the island nations we're losing, potentially losing some of our island nations of the Pacific because of the rising of the ocean level. So we have to help them find new homes and probably maybe relocate entire populations. So that's our major challenge. I love hearing about the awareness that you guys have for all of these different situations. Richard, we're gonna take a quick break and then when we come back, we're gonna continue going beyond international relation. Thank you, Rusty. You are watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii with my special guest, Richard Turbin. We will be back in 60 seconds. Aloha, I'm Keisha King, host of At the Crossroads where we have conversations that are real and relevant. We have spoken with community leaders from right here locally in Hawaii and all around the world. Won't you join us on thinktechhawaii.com or on YouTube on the Think Tech Hawaii channel. Our conversations are real, relevant, and lots of fun. I'll see you at the Crossroads. Aloha. Aloha. My name is Wendy Lowe and I want you to join me as we take our health back. On my show, all we do is talk about things in everyday life, in Hawaii or abroad. I have guests on board that will just talk about different aspects of health in every way, whether it's medical health, nutritional health, diabetic health, you name it, we'll talk about it, even financial health. We'll even have some of the Miss Hawaii's on board and all the different topics that I feel will make your health and your lifestyle a lot better. So come join me. I welcome you to take your health back. Mahalo. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My special guest today is the chairman of the board for the East-West Center. He is Richard Turbin and today we are going beyond international relation. Richard, you and your wife Ray are huge supporters of my book. I certainly are. Thank you so much. And I want to ask you, what is it about the book that you like? Well, by the way, you know, we bought so many copies of Beyond the Lines and gave it out to so many of our friends. Thank you. I mean, with all due respect, I mean, I think the book is brilliant and there's so many things I like about the book, both for tennis and life. Because as you know, my major hobby outside of work and my pro bono work is playing tennis. Of course. I just love the game. But for too many years, I've also been tortured by it because it requires excellence on so many different levels. And thanks to you being my tennis guru and the book, I'm enjoying my tennis so much more. And I'm just happier. I'm happier playing tennis. And thank God, because I would have been tragic if I gave the game up. But I think what I... Mindset and perspective is huge, right? Exactly, exactly. One of the things you emphasize, it's so simple, but we forget it, is what is a human being? A human being is an animal that can make choices for himself or herself. And that first chapter, when you talk about choices, it's so important because it's really the only thing in life we have control over is making choices and our attitude. That's the one thing we have control over. So like playing tennis or facing a problem when I'm in a courtroom or facing a problem when I'm serving in a leadership role, such as chair of the East-West Center, do I get upset when I hit a roadblock or a speed bump? Do I get upset? Or do I view it as a challenge to overcome? Or is a problem to be solved? And if I can have that attitude, not get upset, but look at it as a constructive challenge? You're on your way to success. That's what Beyond the Lines is all about. No, that's good. It's so much about focus and mindset and perspective. And like you said, having the right attitude and it's chapter one is the choice is yours. I mean, we all have choices. And some people, they just feel stuck in their situation. But I really want to let them know that, yeah, they don't have to be stuck. They can make a choice to do something better and change. And you talked about challenges. I want to ask you, Richard, have you had a major adversity that you have to overcome in your life? Well, let me just say straight out, I've been very fortunate. I've been very blessed and very lucky, wonderful wife, Ray Sanchu, wonderful children, Derek and Laurel, wonderful friends such as yourself, living in a gorgeous environment, a beautiful state. So I've been so very lucky. But as far as adversity is concerned, I'm thinking it. I wasn't so lucky as a child. I probably was because I had overcome some challenges. But being raised in the post-World War II era, in New York City, in Queens, being raised in Queens, one of the barrels of New York City, rough environment. It's personal, but we were the first Jewish family to move into this very old neighborhood. And there was a lot of prejudice. There was a lot of anti-Semitism, prejudice against the Jews there. And I had to overcome that. A lot of fights. I lost a tooth. I've got no scars. As memories of those fights, fighting my way to school, I felt like I had to fight my way to school every morning. But ultimately, I view it as a good experience. I had to be tough. I had to stick out for myself. I wound up fighting the bullies, helping my family members who weren't as aggressive or physical as I am, helping the underdogs in my school. We had one African-American student, and I stood up for him. We had a retarded student in the class. I stood up for him. And I think I gradually learned that I could handle these challenges not with my fists, but with words. And about the same time, I became aware of the legal profession and how there was a system of justice to help out the underdog. And early on, that was my goal to become a lawyer and help other people through our justice system. Well, that makes complete sense to me now, because I had no idea about what you have to overcome. And but it makes sense now that you're a super amazing attorney, and you just want to have fairness for all your clients. And you want to have justice and represent the law. Now, I want to ask you, Richard, why are you successful? You know, that's a tough question. I kind of think about Kurt Vonnegut's book, Cat's Cradle, where he said the secret of life is just one step in front of the other. Whatever happens, just keep on moving forward. If you just step at a time, make progress slowly. Don't give up. Be resilient. Have perseverance. It's like you've taught me in tennis. Don't be upset. Just keep on moving forward one step at a time. So I think that's a good, that's kind of what I look at. Keep on moving ahead. Follow your passion and do the right thing. Sometimes it's easy to take the easy way out, cheat a little bit, make a bad life call. Don't do it. Do the right thing. And I'm not saying don't be a fanatic. Don't be a saint about it. You've got to take care of yourself. But do the right thing and follow your passion, which you're doing, which I've done. And if you're lucky, you'll be successful. And you need to have good friends, good supporters, good family to support you. Yeah, no, that makes sense. And Richard, we've all received a lot of valuable advice over the years. But what's one piece of advice that really sticks out for you? You know, I'm trying to think about it. I remember my father telling me once, when I was a kid, I really tried to be a nice guy. And he and my father told me, Richard, you're a nice person. You're always going to be a nice person. You're always going to do the right thing. So don't be afraid to stick up for yourself, stick up for other people. Sometimes you need to get in other people's faces and be strong and adamant, maybe even raise your voice. But you're never going, being the type of person you are, you're never going to go beyond the lines and do something bad. That was good advice. And Richard, you're also a member of the amazing Boys Bunch here in Hawaii. I mean, they're all hugely successful people that's in that organization. Tell me about the Boys Bunch. Well, the Boys Bunch is a group of guys, young guys that started this very loose club about 30 years ago. And they first got together for lunch. I think every Thursday lunchtime downtown, mostly downtown business people, lawyers, et cetera. And then they started getting together once a week at a local pub. And it's been going strong for about 30 years. And I'm very happy and proud to be a member. And it's good for men, for men to get together by themselves once in a while. Women do that. They know how to have a sisterhood, how to have a sisterhood support each other. So this is a good brotherhood, and we support each other. And we've been raising money. We also run fundraisers for Make-A-Wish Hawaii, which helps out children who have illnesses and challenges. And we've probably raised well over $1 million for them over all the years. So we do some good. We have some fun. We do some good. And we support each other and have established a good brotherhood. And I've attended numerous Boys Bunch events. And they're such a great group of guys. I mean, very successful leaders. And I just love their events. And Richard, before we wrap, I want to ask you one more thing. You're very successful, obviously. And you're a great guy. But what gives you fulfillment? I think what fulfills me is helping people, ultimately, when I'm down. We all get down a little bit, depressed sometimes. And invariably, if I help someone, if I help a client to get some needed monetary sustenance to help them, it just makes me feel good. And it boosts up my spirits. And also, if I can play a good role as a leader in these pro bono organizations, the East-West Center, I'm chair of the Waila Kahala Neighborhood Board. If I can bring people together and solve the problem with unanimity, but enable everyone to have the opportunity to talk and express their views. But if I can help an organization be successful and constructive through worthy leadership, compassion, and intelligent leadership, that's what really gives me the boost. I like it. I like hearing that. Richard, it's been great having you on the TV show today. Rusty's been an honor being here. You're such an authentic, great leader, great guy. And, holy, know why you're successful now. Thank you. Thank you so much, Rusty. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information about my TV shows and guest speaking, please visit RustyKamori.com. And my book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I hope that Richard and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.