 Rusty Kamori, and this is Beyond the Lines on ThinkTech Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou School Boys Varsity Tennis 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, inspiration, and creating a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is the president of finance insurance. He is Joy Barua, and today we are going beyond leadership. Hey Joy, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Hello Rusty, great to be here, and thanks for having me on the show and really enjoyed your books and looking forward to sharing the wisdom, what I learned and how it touched me, and yeah, I mean, it's just amazing to be here with you this morning. Joy, you have been very successful in every company that you've been with, but I want to first ask you if you can share a bit about your background. Sure, so I'm originally from Bangladesh, and when I was about nine years old in third grade, I was fortunate enough to get this scholarship to attend a British boarding school, and then high school in Japan, international school, and of course, after that came to Hawaii where I pursued my higher education concurrently while also dabbling in different sectors, whether it be a nonprofit where I worked in for about 15 years or so in that sector, and then of course, healthcare for about 10, little over 10 years, and public sector, and of course now I finance insurance. And so being all over the place, I also conferred, he was a lecturer for the MBA program at Hawaii Pacific University, and so that's me in a nutshell. I mean, as you can tell, I've been all over the place, then Hawaii's been home for nearly three decades. And so I think in many ways, I'm sort of multi-multi-multi-multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral, and multinational in some ways. Well, that's great to hear, Joy, and Joy, I want to ask you, you know, in your early years personally, what's a big adversity you faced? Wow, that's a great question. And it's great only because as I'm sort of thinking, there are many adversities, so to speak, that I came across, and they have all been sort of, the learning incubator, the elementary school of kind of learning how to embrace failure as a way to sort of get to success. And one in particular that comes to mind, when I was working in the non-profit sector back in the 90s, my first job, you know, it was very, you know, as you know, non-profits, we have to fund rates to further our mission, but also to grow as an organization. So one of the projects that we worked on at that time was the culinary business incubator, which took about $5 million to raise. Initially, we were very much discouraged by all the funders that we approached. You know, they just in a nutshell kept telling us that it couldn't happen, and that was the reason why they couldn't give us funding. And so it took about five years, I wish it took lesser. And you know, both emotionally, as well as being a leader in my formative years, doing fundraising and trying to pitch the mission to socially conscious stakeholders was pretty difficult. And you have to keep in mind that when you have different stakeholders, you know, there were a lot of knows that it took us before we got to the yes. And so, you know, one of the things that resonated with me in your book is about, you know, the importance of being persistent as a leader you have to stand out. And so we kept that sort of front and center in many ways as I'm reflecting for us to get to success. So in terms of success, you know, we're able to create 120 business startups in about a year and a half that also created through this project, 250 jobs. Imagine the economic impact we created. But earlier on, it was very discouraging, if you will, every time, I mean, to get to one yes, we have to go through 20 no's, and to keep at it is what drove me. And I'll tell you that there were times I'll admit it was very discouraging where I at times thought that maybe we're not onto something great here. Maybe it's not possible. But at the end of the day, it wasn't so much the idea that didn't have merit. It was more about how we perceive the idea. And so it required a lot of persistence, re-engaging with the funders, asking them their no's and getting to that yes. And as you know, it was more of an art than a science. And so I'm really proud when I look back that is one particular project that really is a lesson that I look back at when I go through adversity right now to remind myself that, hey, it is a game of patience. It is a game of persistence. It is a game of standing out. And I'm glad that I went through it because I'm able to look back and say, hey, that's what it took for me to be where I am today. Well, definitely, when you overcome adversities, it makes you a better person. It makes you stronger. It makes you tougher, smarter. And Joy, I want to ask you if you can tell me about finance insurance. Sure. Finance insurance is an insurance agency. We are one of the largest and among the largest, if you will, and a growing agency at it. We've been around for almost 50 years now. We have about a little over 30 staff, also 30 agents. We operate statewide. And we offer a lot of choices by way of carrier choices, the insurance companies. A little over 100 of them that we offer. Our agents are who we value because they're the ones, they're essentially small businesses that are out there trying to sell insurance and also promoted in such a way that there is that element of choice. As you know, here in Hawaii, the cost of living is so high and everything is more expensive, relatively speaking than any other place in the US. And so we take that too hard to see how we can help people, ultimately the insurance to have choices so that they are able to afford insurance that is very much needed. In terms of our product offering, we offer personal lines product like your home, your car, your personal belongings and so forth, but also commercial insurance and specialty insurance. So we do all sorts of insurance from A through Z, if you will. And I'm proud of my team and our state-wide presence and for us to have grown tremendously just over the past year, year and a half or so to where we're able to recruit 10 agents and to perpetuate history in terms of what this agency is all about. As we like to say, we exist to provide options and to provide protection for people. It's assurance that you need when you realize that you're able to afford it as well in a way and via the choices that you have. So I'm really proud of my team and the work we do. Oh, for sure. And you guys, you've been making such a great impact in our Hawaii community. And Joy, I wanna ask you about Russell Lau. Russell Lau is the chairman of Finance Factor's Family of Companies. What do you admire most about Russell? You know, the difficult thing is to name one because there are so many points of admiration that I always sort of credit to him. If there was one that I would pick out or be selective about, and this is more personal for me, is he's very warm hearted, yet very intentional. And by that, what I mean is that he's authentic in his own unique way. He's always willing to hear and listen. And even though he realizes that this is a company that we've been in business for over 70 years and we did celebrate our 70th anniversary last year, he's very open to change and looking at ways, how do you sort of use the wisdom and the legacy of our past because we have had successes, many successes. And how do we intertwine that with the opportunities that we have that are before us? And so in that, he speaks with conviction and passion and he never shies away. And if I may poke a little fun here, I mean, Russell is a finance guy, but he knows how to bring fun to finance in such a way that I, for me personally, I find it very engaging and encouraging. So, and we do share jokes and throw a little punch here and there, all in the good spirit of, they're just a tribute to a great individual and a professional that I deeply admire. I completely agree with you, Joy. Russell is a great man. He's super fun, super smart. And Joy, I wanna ask you if you can share more about the finance factors family of companies because Russell's daughter, Jen, is the EVP and his son-in-law, Rob, is the president of finance factors. And if you can just share a bit more. Sure, absolutely. So as I mentioned, we've been around for 70 plus years, 71st year this year. We originally started as a, you know, the bank side was the first. And at that time we provided options, financing options for those that could not afford. And so whether it was financing pots and pans and things that people needed. And so the mainstream banking sector at that time, and you have to keep in mind in context, this is 70 years ago. There weren't a whole lot of options. So Russell's dad had this great vision along with a few other investors. You know, there was a convergence of vision around how do we, you know, make financing accessible to those that aren't able to access traditional needs. And so that's how the company came into being. Now, since then, obviously we grew with insurance and, you know, the real estate side. So right now where we are, we have finance factors that provides great savings and, you know, mortgage options and lending options. You know, and that is led by Rob Nelson, who's our president for finance factors. And then we have white phono real estate investment, which is led by, and the president of that is Greg Kawakami, great individual who I deeply admire because he brings so much wealth of knowledge from the real estate side and really enjoy listening to him and learning about opportunities. And then of course last but not the least are insurance agency, finance insurance. Jen Lau provides a nice buffer between us and Russell by way of looking at the overall enterprise vision and how does that translate into these three very different and yet inclusive industries, three major industries. So you have banking and finance, you have insurance and you have real estate. And so for Jen, the challenge is always being that she's being really great at it. How do you bring these three sectors in a way that it adds value to the enterprise? And so that is more than just dabbling in one particular sector and Jen definitely has that discipline. She also brings this sort of fun factor into the job and always challenges us to challenge ourselves as to what that next chapter might look like without necessarily painting that picture for us and allows us that opportunity to be able to sort of define ourselves and redefine it through how we perpetuate the mission into the next, into the next 70 years, if you will. And so Russell obviously is our chairman who we did deeply admire. He's always looking at ways to not only nurture Jen with this deep and rich wisdom that he has amassed over his many, many and more than half a century career, but also while being open-minded about how do we sort of function and dabble in these three very different and yet sort of inclusive sectors in a way that they add value to our finance enterprise or the family of companies. And yeah, so we really admire and love Russell just as much as we love Jen. And having the two of them is more of an asset than anything. Obviously, I'll be a little biased here by saying Jen is relatively younger, but that's true, we all know that. But Russell brings wisdom that is unparalleled. You can't buy that with money. And so I think we have the best of both worlds in the leadership in both Russell and Jen. Well, again, I completely agree with you. Jen is super smart, super nice, super brilliant. I mean, such a great person. And you guys have such a great system going there. And I wanna ask you, Joy, since you've become president of finance insurance, you have really created a culture of excellence among your staff and agents. Can you tell me about what your culture is like? Sure, first and foremost, I think food and fun go hand in hand. And they resonate with what Oye is all about. And I guess the third half would be family, food, fun and family, you know? It's easy to talk about building culture, but it's another thing to execute it. And it's even more challenging to enact it collectively. So let me share a little bit about that. I think to say that I did it would be incorrect. In many ways, I think the credit is owed to the staff, but it starts with the recognition and self-awareness and sort of understanding your place. And this is something that your book also touches on, right? You have to be able to demonstrate. You have to be able to show as a leader. So one of the first things I did was when I came in here, of course, you know, there's a lot to learn about insurance and it's always evolving and during the pandemic and not, I mean, even further compounded by, you know, as you know, the monthly wildfires and so forth. So to say that the industry is constantly changing within understatement, but one of the things that you cannot discount is the fact that people remain people. Who we are as white people, you know, the fact that we enjoy food, we collectively, you know, make fun part of work and it's not a side thing that you do after you're done with work. And so a couple of things I wanted to share is being able to capitalize on, you know, these three family food and fun, by way of what we do every day. So whether it's throwing random parties, things like national hot dog day, you know, family speed day. And one of the things I've learned is, you know, my team, they love to be spontaneous and they love the spontaneous fun. Of course, you know, when food is involved, I mean, you don't need spontaneity. Everyone is game, right? So we enjoy doing that. But at the deepest core though, what it does is, it helps my staff react to spontaneity and using their positive context to embed within themselves disability the self-recognition that they can do it. And when you are a team, things only come out better. If you have a failure, you suffer collectively, if you will, but you have folks to share it with and use that as a way to as a warm up person sense. And that's something I'm really proud of, my team. And it's becoming, as you know, culture, you know, it's said that culture eats strategy for breakfast. I think Peter Drucker, you know, one of the management gurus said that, it's very true, right? So understanding how do you, how do you, you know, make culture the norm, you know, as part of your everyday practice, not just say it, not just through what I would call orchestrated activities, but rather you just make it normal. But it starts with you understanding that what exists, it's a good thing and taking a stock of the positive. You know, oftentimes you look at things on perfect, right? So imperfection sort of colors or view in such a negative way that you're starting with negativity and in some ways you're setting yourself up for failure because you're trying to be perfect. And as we all know, Russie, there is no such thing. You know, excellence is a state of mind and a state of practice. So how do you get there? And using culture as a mechanism to get there is a great way to self-celebrate while you're doing so with the group. And those are sort of some of the raw materials that contribute to the culture we have today. Well, Joy, you're so right about food, fun and family. That's perfect. And Joy, you guys opened up an office in Kauai. Well, what's the significance of really expanding to the outer island of Kauai? Great question. And, you know, I'm so excited to share about our new offices on Kauai. So historically, we've had physical footprint in all the major counties except for Kauai where we did work with a sub agent. And so what happened was, you know, as part of growing our agency, we were able to recruit for new agents. And so when we did that, we realized that, hey, you know, we would also need a place to put them. And so it was more than just finding an office, so to speak, just so that we could put our agents and they could do what they do. And so as we were exploring options while recruiting the agents, we realized that there was a place there where our finance factors branch is located that we were leasing or renting the space. And so, you know, just we have to make a business decision by looking at if we are doing what we have done in the past by investing in people, by investing in the community, by creating jobs and opportunities. And if that's sort of the lens we want to bring into this, then what are some other options than just finding a place? So long story short, after a lot of deliberation, research, analysis and all the, you know, doing the right homework, if you will, we ended up purchasing the fee and the property where we were formerly, you know, tenants, if you will. And so that provided a new home for not only our finance insurance, the new agents we recruited, but also an expanded venue with a lot more visibility to serve. The county of Kauai, through and continually served and through banking and financing options through our finance factors offices, but also to add the element of insurance offerings as we have done statewide. And so we did a great ground opening. We didn't realize that a lot of folks would show up as you know in the neighborhoods, particularly on Kauai, it's smaller and it was during the pandemic. And I'll tell you, I was just blown away. We had the business sector, the private sector, C-suite leaders, community leaders who were able to show up, but also elected officials and public sector folks that just came in to celebrate. And what was particularly humbling was when we did a groundbreaking was thank you for being here. We hear about options, but we seldom see that executed. So for you to make this bold move during the pandemic, just speaks volumes about the promise. You know, when you purchase a property, it's more than just renting a place. And that is a testament as to what we collectively and how we collectively think as sort of our finance factors or the finance, you know, family of companies. So that was our value proposition. And since then we've been growing in good ways and trying to bring value, the value proposition we have to Kauai and with Kauai now added, we are truly statewide with physical footprint on all counties, which also include Maui and the Big Island. So we're really excited about this bold move and so far it's going great. And we're being receptive to what's happening in our community, how the needs are changing, how things that happen in Honolulu or other neighbor islands impact Kauai and vice versa and being able to bring that and translate that by way of our product offerings and services to our agents and to the community we serve. Well, Joy, you know, you mentioned the grand opening. A lot of people came. I know why they came. They came because you are a lot of fun wherever you're at. It's always fun with Joy Barua. And Joy, you have both of my books and I wanna ask you what are some things that really stood out to you in it? Sure. I don't know if we have enough time to go over all the things because they were, I mean, every time I read something or there was a quote or validation of what we know but we didn't realize how it's so simple and yet impactful that we could go on and on. But if I were to just pick on a handful, I would say that first and foremost, it's about leaders standing out. And it's more than just, when you read it without reading into the context, one may be led to believe or prematurely conclude that, oh, it's about standing out because you're a leader and you have a title, and all of those things are important. They're sort of ascribed right over time. But what's more important is when you're standing out, who are you standing out to? Because a leader without followers, I mean, isn't a leader and building followers is more than just building a fan club, so to speak, in the traditional sense. And so, you have to be able to demonstrate to your team that you're able to do the tasks that you're asking them to do or at least be able to show sensitivity to the nuances, the complexities, the challenges that come with them. And being able to do just that as a starting point is a great way to demonstrate that you are committed more than just someone that is just kind of giving orders in their traditional sense. And then also be able to empower them to make choices. And by choices, I mean, just try things and not prematurely stifling. I mean, I don't think any leader does it intentionally, but at times, we all have our blind spots, right? Maybe we are under pressure. Maybe we're under a time crunch or just sort of over consumed by the crises, right? We're not realizing that. And at those times, we may be impatient and not being as open-minded as we should be to being receptive to the ideas that are coming because you have to assign credibility to those who are actually doing it. For instance, I mean, you're a terrific coach. And I mean, you're the perfect example of a coach, if I may say that. I mean, 20 plus years of success consecutive. I mean, it wasn't just doing the same thing. It's being able to do what's fundamentally core and being able to demonstrate it and contextualizing it. So along those lines, I mean, a coach ultimately isn't necessarily the one playing the sport, per se. You know, if I may use that metaphor. But you have to be able to show them that you're someone that is more than just yelling on the sidelines and cheering on and so forth. You are there for them, with them, because you see things from a perspective that they are not. And maybe they're in a certain, so in a work context, whether they're in a department, a certain unit, they have their respective sort of the confines of the job description. But while they're doing it, they get the big picture as to the role that a coach plays. And one of the most important roles a coach can play is to be able to reveal their own vulnerability by showing what they can and what they can. And that is very, very empowering. It can never be overstated because at the end of the day, a coach, a leader, they're also human. And being able to expose that human side, it's sort of giving people space to just warm up to you in a very accelerated fashion by just doing that. So I know that in a world where things are moving so rapidly, sometimes it's important to slow down and allow for that human interaction, that emotion, to take the place of building that rapport, that mutual exchange of credibility, and that can be very, very empowering. So really, I'm sorry, I did a bit of a double click, of a double click there. But for me, that was very enlightening because as I read on, it's unleashing your potential. How do you stand out? How do you go from great to excellent? I mean, it's a huge transition. And it's more of a mindset than sort of what you do to act because mind controls the body. Yes, as far as we all know, and it's how you think that shows up in your action. So for me, that was that if I were to pick one, that was very, very empowering and sort of differentiating and refreshing. No, I love hearing your insights there, Joy. And yeah, and you're right. We could go on and on, but I want to ask you, I mean, you had your team participate in the Asian American Pacific Islander heritage. Can you tell me about how fun that was for your whole team? Sure. So as I mentioned before, food, fun, and family were all there, if you will. So one of the things I did was I told my team that, hey guys, this month is coming up, and it's being celebrated and celebrated in different ways in different places. And just by way of additional context, I've been part of the Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum during my health care days in the national scene looking at how you need to advocate for issues, recognition, building sensitivity, equity, quality, all the good stuff that we need to be cognizant of. So to which I told myself, well, here in Hawaii, we sort of do what we do anyway, right? Because we are diverse, but there are certain things that we could build more sensitivity and understanding and awareness around. So long story short, what I did was we reached out to each and every culture, ethnicity, and sort of diversity aspects, if you will, among our staff and agents, and we said, hey guys, if we were to ask you to share something about your culture that nobody knows, or you would like people to know more of, what would that be? And we even gave them a little bit of money. Every person that came forward to dress up, to buy whatever food they wanted to share, and it doesn't have to be the generic. Maybe it's a home-cooked thing that sometimes culture is sort of, there are certain things that are not necessarily representation or a accurate representation of culture. So we wanted them to live up to the challenge of being able to share their culture. And so we had as an end result, we had folks that showed up. They even, some folks made flags, but they were, they took great pride in not only sharing, but also telling a story about, hey, this is a country we came from, but within that country, we have different subcultures, subgroups, and here is my cultural identity. And here's how I identify myself. And it helped for many of us, great stereotypes, gain a better, deeper understanding that we didn't have. And then understand that, it's one thing to watch experience culture via media or secondary experience. It's a whole different thing to get that first hand from a person who's representative of that. And so there was this spirit of ambassadorship. There's a spirit of sharing. There's a spirit of awareness building, all of that coming together, of course, doing it sort of local style, if you will, over food and fun and family. It was just amazing. For me in particular, just, I mean, I learned so many things that I didn't even know. And for me, that was very enriching. Well, Joy, I have to say that you are a great leader with fantastic character, and you always have positive energy. And I wanna really thank you for taking time to join me on the show today. No, thank you, Rusty. Rusty, thank you for having me. And wish you the best with the two books and more coming on the way, I hope. I mean, I'll tell you, I was inspired and I would recommend folks to check them out if they haven't already and learn about how it's different by taking simple concepts and sort of encouraging people to sort of activate this potential, the stamina they have and to be, to get to go from great to excellent. And I think just that alone, I hope if not anything will help people sort of read more and be inspired by what you've got to share. I also wanna thank you and Think Tech for hosting me. It was very humbling and quite an opportunity. And I wish you the best and thank you again for having me. Thank you, Joy. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit rustycomory.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Joy and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.