 I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys varsity team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, and it's about leadership, character, and creating a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is our former Hawaii Governor who was very successful for his two terms. He is Governor John Waihei, and today we are going beyond leadership. Hey Governor John, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Thank you, thank you. You know that's a very intimidating introduction coach. Well you've done a lot of great things. We can all live up to it, but I'm so happy to be here and thank you for inviting me. Well Governor John, you know you really shaped, I mean as Governor since 1986 to 1994, I mean you really was pivotal in really shaping Hawaii, but I want to ask you if you can share about your early years growing up. Well I grew up on the Big Island. I grew up in a town called Honokawa, which is halfway between Hilo and Kona, and what you had then was you had you know sort of the big city on the Big Island which was Hilo, can you imagine, and Kona which was the tourist destination. So I grew up right in the center of the plantation culture, and it was you know it was a wonderful childhood. I don't know how else to say it, and it was a sense of community, a sense of many of the things that we now consider special about Hawaii, except back then we just took it for granted, you know, we didn't have to work on it, so yeah that's growing up in Hawaii. My parents, yeah I had three sisters and they you know, I can't tell you enough about it without taking the rest of your show. Now Governor John, you also went to UH Law School, is that correct? Yeah I went to the law school, it was really interesting because when I was growing up, you know, my dad constantly talked to me about you know, gotta go to college, something, and he had this he had this mindset of I was going to be you know a doctor. That was in his mind what was special, and yet as we as I was growing up, you know, the whole medical profession thing didn't really appeal to me, so what I secretly want to be was a cowboy, you know, working on the ranch and doing that kind of thing, but I had to come up with something. So what I noticed was as I was sitting around the table, I was very fortunate because for some reason adults let me sit in on their conversations as they were talking about things which was not usual for most young kids, you know, and so I would listen and my relatives, my dad would be talking about all the various problems Native Hawaiians felt faced over the years or people in the community or whatever, and they would always talk about how they really needed a lawyer. I had no idea what that it tell, but I got an instant that's what I gotta be because that's what they talk about. So I started, you know, saying that and soon I started to really, you know, want to become that and so forth. And yet, so anyway, I went off to school in Michigan, and the reason why I ended up at the UH Law School was because I actually got accepted and I was going to law school at the Georgetown University, which my daughter and some eventually attending, but I was going to go to law school and I got a, I got a, I was working at that time in inner city. And so I had an occupational deferment from being drafted to the Vietnam War. And then I got a call immediately after my acceptance letter, if you go to law school, we're going to trap you, but don't worry, we'll hold the seat for you. And I said, Oh man, you know, so I didn't do that, came home, started working. And one day, a friend of mine came in and he says, Hey, they're looking for people, local kids to go to law school. They just opened up a law school. And it was, it was a great experience. Well, that, that's interesting. You know, I like hearing the beginnings of, you know, like you're growing up and then just really how, you know, you became an attorney. And then I think that's a great benefit to have that background. Yeah, it is. And it is. And to be a lawyer and be government. Yeah. And it is at the biggest. So one of the, one of the things that happens with people is, is that sometimes people get intimidated by professions that they're not a part of, you know, and so you can see that a lot of times, for example, when I became governor, one of the key positions was the department transportation. And so if you, and one of the things about that was if you're not an engineer, how do you deal with engineers, you know, that are constantly there? When do you know how to meet them? You know, it's all that kind of thing. And there's a tendency sometimes for people in the public, in public affairs to get intimidated by lawyers. So the best thing about being a lawyer is you don't get intimidated by a bunch of other lawyers because, you know, they don't know any more than you do, you know, and that helps to make decisions. I wish I felt the same way about my doctors, but I don't. I get intimidated every time I walk in their office. So being a lawyer kind of helps. It helps because, you know, a lot of what you do needs to be cross-checked legally and the rest of it. But you can, you know, what I enjoy doing is telling them, well, I tell this to a lot of young lawyers, if you can't find an ethical, moral, and legal reason to tell your client, yes, he needs another lawyer and you need another client. And you're not there to, you're not the judge, you're not there to rule on anything. You're there to try and accomplish objective. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that their job is to stop something from happening. No, that makes sense, Governor John. And Governor John, take me back to that day when you were walking with First Lady Lynn to your inauguration at Yolani Palace. What were you thinking, you know, during that day and what were some of the goals that you wanted to achieve? Well, I tell you, first of all, the picture is not in color. But the first thing that happened was that my wife was wearing this red suit and she looked fantastic. And she was just outstanding. And I remember thinking that. And then as we walked it, and it was kind of an interesting day because, you know, the thing about being a lawyer, I mean, being a governor that's different from a lot of other political positions. Governor and Mayor, we share this, is that the second you say, I do, you know, I, whatever, everything comes down on the authority of the office, everything will come down. If you're in the legislative branch, you usually have to develop a little bit of seniority, you have to deal with other people. But in our three tripart form of government, the, you know, the legislative, executive and judicial branches and the executive branch, it all happens in a second. And so what you're thinking about it, not so much when I became governor, actually, when I became head of government, I remember the day after I got elected, I was wondering, what do I do now? Well, by the time I got to be governor, I had things, I spent a month, you know, and some time working on it. So housing became an issue. Data for Hawaiian affairs became an issue. Completing the agenda that we started in the 1978 Constitutional Convention became a very tight priority. And if you read our current Constitution, it's still in many ways the outline of an agenda for the state government. And it, you know, talks about preserving Hawaiians, Hawai'i specialists, and therefore treating its land in a different way, dealing with people, accepting the fact that we are living on an island, as opposed to a continent. You know, I often say this, the wonderful thing about Hawai'i is that, well, you know, the foundation of Hawai'i is that if you don't like your neighbor, tough luck, you've got to get along. Because where are you going to go? You know, it's not like you live on the continent, then you can just go west, you know, do all of that. So we all kind of get along and live with each other. And, you know, that's, in a way, that's a kind of a follow-up on your first question, which is what growing up on the big island is all about. It was people helping people living together. And, you know, we never talked about the aloha spirit, because everybody assumed that everybody else would be living. You know, it's a kind of different variation. Well, I like hearing these insights, Governor John. And, you know, there's only a few select people through these years that have been elected governor of the state of Hawai'i. And so you're in a very exclusive group. But can you share some of the, just more insights about how you felt as governor in the office? I mean, with the public eye and various stresses that you have to deal with? Well, I guess everybody, you know, have their own way of dealing with the stress and so far with their officers and their own, put their own touch on the office. But all of us, and there's soon to be six of us walking around in the brand. The former governor brand has sort of, you know, it's not as high, it's not as profitable as it used to be because there's so many of us. But the one thing, you know, so everybody had their own approach and their own characteristics, all of us. We're all, after all, individuals. But the one thing we all have in common is precisely that, that there aren't very many people that went through the experience that we went through. And so, you know, to a certain extent, there's always kind of a governance club, just like there is kind of a president's love, well, except maybe not as much for the past president. He's not in any club, but you know, I mean, but for most governors, they're past president because they understand, you understand what it is that they're going through. And when you, when you're on this side of the chair, as a citizen, you're usually talking to a governor as a, as a advocating, as an advocate for something, what you feel ought to be done, how you ought to do it, how it's beaten up, you know, all of this stuff. When you're a governor, you, you, what you're doing is you're hearing that from everybody. And what you mostly, you know, you end up, you start your, your, you start your term wanting to do all of these great things and, and you start out and you do it. You end your term by appreciating the place where you are. I mean, it's hard to, it's hard for people to, you know, understand quite what I'm saying, but you, you really, it doesn't matter who it is that occupies, let's see, you end your term with a great deal of love for Hawaii and for its people and for what makes it special. Now we might all have different ideas of how things can be better, but I don't think any of us is any different when it comes to ending up appreciating the people and the place and just being part of Hawaii. And I say this, if you're going to be in politics, for me, the best job in the country, not the world, is being governor of Hawaii. I don't care what the crisis is on, because one thing, you know, no matter how bad we have it here, somebody else has got it worse. Number one, and number two, they might not have all the great people that we have, all the great history, you know, this is a wonderful place to be. And that is something I think every governor appreciates, which means that when we, when we meet, even if we have completely different ideas about what ought to be done, it's easy to communicate because of that kind of mutual respect. Governor John, I love hearing this, and your son, John IV, is one of my long-time friends, and he's been an OHA trustee for many, many years now. Now, why do you think he is such a highly respected OHA trustee for so many years now? Well, you ought to realize that when you say that to a parent, it's very flattering, because in a left-handed way, it's all a compliment. But you know, we never know. We never get to appreciate our own children sometimes, until we're in the situation, we're put in the situation where we go, wow, that's my kid, you know, that's my son. And I have had moments like that when I'm sitting in these OHA meetings. And you know, John is kind of an interesting person, because he's not somebody that relishes talking, at least not in meetings and so forth. So most of the time, he's sort of quiet, but when he does say things, people realize, including his parents, that this is a person who actually thought through the subject, thought through whatever it is. And he's got his own weird sense of humor, but I never thought he would become an OHA trustee. I never thought he'd become a politician. The first time he had to hold signs for me, he wasn't petrified, he wasn't scared as much as he was just disgusted that he had to be there. So he was holding his sign and kind of looking up. So he's not what you would call the world's most dedicated campaigner. His system was much more enthusiastic. And this is my son, to give you an insight about my son. I said, hey, he heard that I was going to be on the show this morning. So I told him, he said, hey, did you fix your bed? I said, what? He says, hey, if Rusty says one thing, he says, you want a sense of accomplishment, start by fixing your bed. And I'm so funny, this is a little bit about your book, so funny, because later on that morning, his mom walked into the room and I told her, and she said the same thing. She said, you want to feel good, fix the bed. So somehow maybe he's a great trustee because he's taking a little bit of your advice into his work. I don't know. But yeah, they both told me about fixing the bed. No, that's so funny because you and First Lady Lynn have both of my books and I want to talk to you about that a little bit here. And you're right. I always say the first thing that happens in the morning is when the alarm goes off, wake up. The second thing, make your bed. And I'm so happy that John the Fourth is doing that. He's telling that to you. You know, I told you, I read through your book and there's so, I really like a lot of things about it. But I never quite got stuck on that, except I know that you talk about this bed and so far, and you know, getting things done in a second. But then I thought to myself, you know, when you grow up, what do you tell your kids? I mean, the way you get them to become organized, we start their days was, you know, and you usually do it by going, fix the bed. You never fixed the bed yet, you know, like that. And here he's talking about it, but it was a new twist. You say, you want to feel like you accomplished something, at least one thing in the day. Start with fixing the bed. I guess getting up would be the first thing, but start with fixing the bed. So you do that then, and you know that you at least did one good thing today. Governor John, do you have my book right there with you? Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do. And you know, and actually it's interesting because you signed the book, but this is actually a book for my son. This is actually a gift from my son to me, from you. Yeah. Exactly, exactly. Now, what, so you mentioned discipline, what are some things that stood out to you in the books? What I like about the book is, people haven't read it, they really should. I mean, I know that I'm giving a plug to a fellow think that holds, and that's, I like to do that, but they're really out of because what I personally like about the book is all your little quotation marks. And then you spend a chapter like working on it. I mean, it goes, and there's like, you know, your four purposes, and I think it's 13 or something rules, you know, it goes through chapter by chapter. But it's not just, it's not just, so I'm selling your book a little bit, you know, it's not, it's not just talking about the subject matter. You start off with a quotation, you know, like you might be on the right road, but if you stay in one place, you'll get run over, you know, and I think a little Rogers, somebody says that you start there, you talk about why you need to move forward and keep but you seem to have a lot of the chapters with a personal story about one of your athletes or somebody has an expression. So it's good reading. People love stories. Oh, yeah. It's good reading and it's good stories. And, and the quotations, quotations are very straightforward. And I was thinking this guy actually went out and collected the stuff. And you know, in the books, you know, I talked that, you know, that I would give my players a lot of the world famous quote of the days. So I'm so happy that you love all those quotes that I talk about. I do because, you know, I like quotes. In fact, I, you know, I subscribe to quotes, but you pick, you know, oh, this is, this is one, this is, you know, and the chapter on the four fees of success, a goal without a plan is just a wish. You know, it's that kind of thing. But if you just left it there, we would say, oh, yeah, okay, Mother Goose, you know what I'm saying? I mean, you know, that's a nice, that's a nice statement. We've heard good statement. But then you actually go through a chapter, viewing with that in very readable language, you know, and, and, and, and throughout the book, you see examples of that. Well, I want to make all of Hawaii proud. And, and I hope that I can make a huge positive impact in, in the world, you know, through inspiring people with excellence and hope with the book. But there's a quote about that. Yeah. There's a quote about that someplace in there about, you know, you might not be able to change the world, but if you change that for one person, you change that person's world. Exactly. That's the, that's, you know, somebody put a lot of thought in getting the quotes. Because unfortunately, like I said, you know, we, all of us, they're like, close, we'd be close if we made it paper. But we don't actually, like, put me into it. That makes me feel so good that you like it. And, and Governor John, what would, what would you say is the best advice you ever received in your life? You know, it's like, it's, it's kind of hard to, to like talk about what is the best I think the best advice is at the moment when you think that you're, when you are, when you, when you're having some kind of doubt, and somebody tells you something that removes, removes the doubt, whether you're going to do something or not do something, you know, and, and so that kind of advice, I, I, I sort of distill it down to what my father used to say, something about if you don't know what to do, do what's right. And, and so, yeah. And so, you know, I, I, I was, I handled stress very well. I mean, you know, what stresses me is not having stress, but everybody gets to a moment in time when you know, you know, you really, really don't know left from right. And yeah, so you just got to kind of figure out what is the right thing, you know, if they do it. Governor John, I always say that there's never a wrong time to do the right thing and that, you know, you can have 99% confidence, but you have 1% doubt and doubt is a confidence killer. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the best advice is to get past that, right? Yeah. Now, Governor John, when you, you know, as governor, what were some of your biggest, proudest accomplishments? Well, there were, you know, there were many, and actually they kind of evolved over the years. I, you know, I like the idea that we had a great housing program, for example. And then when I left the office, when I left the office, the median price of housing dropped. I think, you know, that's, I don't know if that's ever happened again. And I think we should have it happen. But we, you know, we did a lot of controversial things. I did stuff with the native Hawaiians that I'm very proud of. My wife told me one time, I remember right, right after I got elected, actually, I think she told me that on the day of the inauguration, not that I think about it. Well, we were actually, you know, getting ready to walk the walk that you saw. And she looked around and she said, you know, Dad, you know, if you, if you don't, if you never get remembered for anything else, you better get remembered for helping your people, for helping me. And I thought, well, we're going to do much better. But she said, well, I just want to tell you. So that's my wife telling me that. And yeah, so there's a lot of things, you know, it can't be the wonderful thing about being in the business of public service is having done the service. I don't know how to say that is actually being able to go out and do something, to change something, to make things happen, to change the trajectory of people's lives. I used to joke about it. I said, the reason why I like practicing law is I rather think about society than what person's life. The point being that how many people get an opportunity for doing that? And I tell people, like, if you're not going to run for office, get involved, you know, participate. I mean, the wonderful thing about a democracy, this is going to sound, and I'm sure some people have, but the wonderful thing about a democracy is you get a chance, your ability to influence policy, influence change, to influence something positive happening. The entry, the ticket to that to doing that is holding a sign. You know, getting involved, campaigning, you know, it's not going through 16 years of education. It's like bringing yourself to the table, you know, and that's a wonderful, that's a wonderful character, although it's important to go, I don't want all the teachers that I've ever had to say, you know, he said, no, the point I'm making is it's such a low entry and the results can be so great. Yeah. And Governor John, no, I love that. And, you know, when you look back at, you know, when you were governor, what would you say was your biggest challenge as governor? I, you know, my personality is such that, you know, the big stuff never fazed me. You know, what used to drive me crazy is all the little things that could have actually been handled. And I think, you know, there were all these issues. I mean, we had hurricanes, we had this, you know, we had the necessity for housing, but that's what made coming to work fun. You know, right now, I remember some young legislators came to see me one time, you know, and they would say, they said something like, Governor, aren't you glad you're not governor? Oh, you've got all these problems. I tell you what, why are you elected? I mean, that's like being going into the World Series game in the 1980s. God, and you're up there and you've got to drive one run in and you say, I don't want a bat. It's, you ought to be terribly excited that you're living in times that require you to do something great. Not to, I mean, you know, for me it would have been boring if life was perfect when I was in office and all I got to do was ride around in a chauffeured car and stay in a former queen's home. Why would you run for office? And so people didn't elect you to, they elected you precisely for this moment. And just like you train your athletes, it's precisely for that moment that they worked so hard. And you shouldn't at that moment say, wow, you know, I wish I was in better times. No, that's the times you want to be there. It's okay. That's kind of an expression. Governor John, that I, you know, I love hearing these insights from you. And I want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today. And you made such a big positive impact in our state. And I just, you're someone that truly goes beyond the lines as well. So I want to really thank you again. Well, thank you for having me and thank you for all the flattery. Take care. Thank you, Governor John. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Governor John and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha. Follow button on Vimeo. 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