 Rusty Kamori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, 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 inspiration, welcoming adversity, and building a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is a highly respected leader and CEO of Kai Hawaii. He is Ryan Tanaka, and today we are going beyond leadership. Hey, Ryan, welcome back to Beyond the Lines. Thank you, Coach Rusty. Ryan, while you attended Punahou School, when was the first time you first saw me there? When you were, you looked the same and you were in all white at the NS courts, and I was playing JV. I was a JV player. I was in my junior year of high school. And I remember that you were always there extra, practicing extra many, many hours, and that really shows about, you know, your character and the person that you are today. And Ryan, you have a beautiful family, your kids, Kai and Emmy, your wife, Casey, who was my longtime tennis student, and when you guys got married, I was so happy. Out of Casey's many great qualities, what's the biggest thing you admire about your wife? Oh, she's just one is very difficult, but she is extremely kind and kindhearted, and there's really no agenda ever with Casey. And as you know, Coach Rusty, so much of what we do is driven by our intention. And so with Casey, I'm always able to just do a gut check and make sure that I'm always doing everything for the right reasons. So she's a nurse. She takes care of people for a living. And she certainly takes care of me and our entire family. Now, Ryan, when I had you previously on the show, you were the CFO and principal of Kai Hawaii. Now you're CEO. Tell me about Kai Hawaii and about some of your goals that you want to achieve to keep Kai Hawaii moving forward. Well, thank you. And let me start by acknowledging Ken Hayashida who founded Kai Hawaii in 1998. So it's been actually, I'm sorry, 1995. It's been 28 years. And because of him, he's built this wonderful company that's now one of the leading structural engineering firms here in the state of Hawaii. And I appreciate that he selected me to succeed him. And I hope I make him proud. Well, I absolutely love Ken. And Ken is really smart. And he's extra smart to have you succeeding him. Now, what do you want to do as CEO to really keep Kai moving forward? Yeah, so last year I met with all of our staff here at Kai Hawaii. There's about 50. And I met with them for several, either hours, several hours for some of them. And found out from them, what do they want to see over the next three to five years? A lot of what we do is in the development process, really trying to add value to our clients. So we're client driven. We take care of our staff. We have a set of core values that we strongly believe in. And what we want to do is just further that. So we want to invest in our people. We want to make sure that we extend our client relationship, transform how we work, and also be a leader in sustainability and resiliency in our community. So our staff really drive our future. And it's because we're project managers at the heart of what we do. So we want to be on time on budget, have extraordinary service and a really strong product. And then always find new ways to innovate for our clients. Well, Kai Hawaii is definitely a highly respected company for sure. And another one, Ryan, you last year, you acquired underground services. Tell me what underground services incorporated is. So underground services deals with services that are below ground. So, you know, if you don't, if you don't, it's out of sight, it's out of mind. But so much of what we rely on is our underground infrastructure. There's collection systems for stormwater and sewers. And what we do for underground services or USI is we will clean and inspect. And we do that for stormwater for sewers. We do flow monitoring. So we'll gather raw data that we provide to engineers who interpret that, provide them to lawmakers. And that's how they base their decisions on capital projects. So we're really integrated into the fabric of our infrastructure, which is aging. And it's an essential service that USI provides. We also have a phenomenal team. So there's dedicated people who have been there for now 10 years and longer. And they continue to lead the company and to help take care of all of our clients. Ryan, you know, all of us, we see things above ground. We really don't see what happens underground. And like you said, it's such an essential service, what you do because the infrastructure is so important. I mean, that's something like you just mentioned, is needs to be updated throughout Hawaii, right? Yeah, the area has their own collection system and they're owned by city, state, federal, sometimes private. But each system, because they're aging and they're below ground, it's really hard to access them. So our team is specialized in confined space. They're Nazco certified. And they're also CDL licensed. So they are able to drive these very large trucks that come in and address all these different issues. Right. And Ryan, you're also the owner of Island Business Management. Tell us about Island Business Management. My background is in investment banking and finance. So I started in Tokyo. I was working for Tokyo Star Bank and Deutsche Bank. I then moved back to Hawaii in 2007 and founded Island Business Management. It is a financial consulting company and it helped clients to buy, manage, and sell real estate and businesses. So during my time in Tokyo, that's what I did. I learned financial modeling and how to appraise commercial real estate, how to appraise businesses, not just from a third-party perspective, but really from an acquisition standpoint. So acquisition valuation sometimes is different because you have synergies that you offer as the buyer. And that's what Island Business Management does for select clients. And that's amazing. And Ryan, another thing that's truly amazing is you bought Giovanni Pastrami Restaurant in Waikiki 45 days before the pandemic. Why is Giovanni Pastrami such a popular restaurant? We talk about motive being such an important driving factor. And the reason I bought Giovanni Pastrami was really to take care of the people who are there. And that's what makes it so special. There's just phenomenal people. When you go down there, you're going to have a great time. There's not just great food. For example, we have a round table pizza license. So we make our dough fresh, our ingredients are all fresh, and everything's made to order. So it melts in your mouth. So the food is delicious. It's a New York style deli. We have sandwiches, pasta, salads. We have a nice breakfast menu. And going forward, we're going to be opened from 7am to midnight. Right now, we're still at 8am to 10pm daily. And we'll be back to pre-COVID hours here shortly. But what makes it so special is just the overall experience. There's great people. We have a fun environment and delicious food. Well, I absolutely love it. There's many things on your menu that I need, not want, but I need. And Ryan, tell me about the Giovanni Pastrami Restaurant Group. You're the CEO of the Giovanni Pastrami Restaurant Group. What does that entail? So last year, the founder of Giovanni Pastrami, he turned 80 years old. And because he had sold, like you said, Giovanni Pastrami 45 days before COVID, we became very close. And because of our relationship, he actually asked if I would be the buyer of his remaining Hawaii restaurants, CJs, and round table pizza at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. And those are just great locations with a great team. And they're consistent. They're always dedicated to the highest level of service. They keep very high standards. So that has completed the Giovanni Pastrami Restaurant Group, which we closed December 1st of last year. Wow, that's exciting. I mean, Ryan, it's amazing. You sure there's not six Ryan Tanaka's? Is there just one Ryan Tanaka? There's only one. Now, Ryan, I want to ask you about my books. You told me that you read both of my books five times each. And I think you might be just as much of an expert with my books as I am. Now, what are some things that stood out to you in the books? Yeah, so right now across our six companies, we have 200 employees. And I gifted your two books to most of them by now. And that's why I've read them so many times is I want to make sure that what I read and talk about with them, I'm also applying and incorporating it to my own life. So one of the, for example, one of the principles that I just talked to them about last week actually was coaching versus teaching and your three cons. So the first con bring to contribute. And I encourage our staff and our managers to catch each other doing great things that are selfless and that people may not notice. But if you see them to point it out, take the time to pull them aside and just say, thank you for doing that. That was outstanding. I did notice it. And then share it with us so we can incorporate that into how we evaluate our leadership team going forward. The second con is consistency. So it's not just the consistency and high performance, which is obviously what drives what we do, but also the consistency and follow through. So it's important that sometimes, you know, some of our staff, they get very busy at times and communication becomes extremely difficult. So that follow through is so important, keeping that as a driving, a driving factor in how we work. And then last, if you're good at what you contribute and strong in your consistency, that builds your confidence. That's the third con is confidence. So that way our staff, whatever they're doing, especially if they're client or customer facing, they're confident in what they do. So your principles, trust your success principles, helps to drive our culture and to improve our culture of excellence. Ryan, I love that you brought up coaching versus teaching and the three cons there. And yeah, I mean, you know it inside and out. And it makes such a huge impact with any team, whether it be in sports or business. And I love how you're implementing those concepts with your companies. And Ryan, you've helped me with numerous book donations to help our community, our schools, organizations, sports teams. I mean, why have you helped me so much to really do these book donations? Well, Coach, you're one of a kind. You're somebody who's had this perfect record, 22 consecutive national championships, state championships that has created a national record. And that has led to you writing beyond the game to teach other organizations how to build that same culture of excellence, that same championship culture. So first of all, thank you for writing the books. And thank you for being willing to then share that knowledge with others so selflessly. And again, intention, guys, everything when people get to know you and get to know your intention, you just want to help inspire others and make them better. And your book has saved lives. They have improved mental fitness for people, and they have helped entire organizations like they have for ours. So that's why I continue to gift your book to different organizations because of what it's done for myself, my family, and for our companies. Ryan, when you and I physically go there to donate the books, and we can see the excitement, how really, I mean, it's a big positive impact that it's making on these various organizations and teams. And I mean, isn't it so fulfilling when we're able to do that and really see all that? It is fulfilling, especially when you see, like, if it's a team and you see the players buying to it, because that's going to help the coach to coach more effectively, right? That's going to allow our coaches to then retain those players and to also recruit more effectively. And that's an underlying driver of not just sports teams, but also companies where we have an employee shortage. If you can find ways to really inspire your team and find ways to have them connect not just with your principles, but with each other, based on your principles, it's going to bring out their best. And then when they're having discussions with each other behind closed doors, they're just discussing the best things and ways that they can live the best versions of themselves and take care of our clients to the best of their abilities. And Ryan, our most recent book donation was last week to our University of Hawaii men's basketball team. And we had Bratahood Grines at your Giovanni Pastrami restaurant with the men's basketball team last week. And you are the founder, the originator of Bratahood and Cystahood Grines. Can you tell us about what Bratahood and Cystahood Grines is? So it started as a nutrition program with Coach Tim E'Chang. It has evolved after 14 months into a leading NIL provider of the named image likeness provider of nutrition, career development and experiences for our University of Hawaii coaches and their teams to recruit and retain Hawaii's top athletes. That's what Bratahood Grines and Cystahood Grines has evolved to. The way that's happened is after Coach Tim E'Chang and I helped to kick this off for football, we then did the same thing for men's women's basketball, men's women's volleyball, men's women's golf and now women's soccer. Starting in January of next year, we're arguing discussions with Coach Richelle about launching it for baseball. What's been the greatest challenge is creating a sustainable movement that is allowing all these different corporate sponsors and restaurants to be a part of it. So now we're at over 20 restaurants. The most recent is McDonald's. So thank you, Victor Lim. But we're also expanding the corporate sponsorship aspect of what we do because of the career development. So a higher number of mentors, internships, full-time job providers, as well as just giveaways during these great events. So they're now receiving multiple gift cards, gas, certificates, Aloha shirts from Kahala, Kaloha jewelry, multiple hotels are often over in its days, Alaska Airlines, anywhere they fly in the world. It's just been amazing. When we celebrate for women's volleyball in August, there's a new grand prize that's going to be even even more special. So stay tuned for that. Well, Ryan, I was there with you in that initial meeting with Coach Timmy and man, I mean, how special was that for me to be there? I mean, you donated my books to Coach Timmy and his entire Hawaii football team there. And when he asked about or he shared about the issue about wanting nutrition or meals, I mean, you stepped up. I mean, you're the first to say you wanted to find a way to help them, Giovanni Pastrami. And then what are the next three restaurants that you asked that also joined in immediately? Yeah. So first, if there was no beyond the lines, there would be no brotherhood grinds, like we say. After Giovanni Pastrami, I was very willing to support Coach Timmy just because of who he is as a person, but the community needs to support him. We need him to be successful. UH football is our professional sports team, along with all of our other teams at University of Hawaii. And so it was because I'm the chairman, I was the chairman of the Hawaii Restaurant Association, thanks to Tom Jones at Kiyotaku, Mike Palmer, Ruby, Mike Palmer of Kuhio Al Food Hall, and Rick Nakashima of Ruby Tuesday. Those are the original four. And then after football for basketball, volleyball, golf, and soccer, then Jersey Mike's, so Tim Janazewski, Jason Higa from Zippy's, and Ken Takahashi from Kuhio, from a hundred burger company also stepped up. So just a number of restaurant tours in the beginning, and that just led to a number of new restaurants getting involved, published in Cultural Center, a hundred sales at Prince Waikiki. There's just so many new ones that are exciting, and they're all exciting, and just so appreciative to all the restaurants, all the restaurant owners. These are selfless individuals who are coming out of COVID, who just want to help to make Hawaii better also. And we share that same passion for you, which I love. And Ryan, this, this is just the second year of Brotherhood and Sisterhood Grimes. And I want you to share, being a business owner of restaurants, I mean, there's a, there's a lot of restaurants that did not survive COVID. And the restaurants that did survive COVID, they still might be struggling. And there, and some of those restaurants are the ones that's helping support our University of Hawaii teams, right? Yeah, a big thank you to all these restaurants. Many of them, like you said, have not survived. I've had to be on multiple different interviews talking about the restaurants that have closed. And we'd like to focus on the future, which is extremely positive for us. And we are faced with new headwinds as an industry for restaurants. And so we appreciate our local community stepping up and supporting our local restaurants. That has meant everything. That has allowed all of these restaurants to stay in business. Right now, 4,400 eating and drinking places per the last entry report. So that's how many, there's nearly 100,000 employees in our, in our workforce that work for restaurants. But that's how large of the impact restaurants make on our local industry, our local economy. And Ryan, what I also like seeing, you know, you mentioned NIL agreements, but even beyond that, you're, you're trying to help these student athletes beyond sports after their sports careers might finish to really help them with their business careers, right? So we've been meeting with the coaches this second year and saying, okay, it's beyond nutrition. What more can we do to support your organization, your team? And they'll list a number of priorities. And we met with players. So the Joaquin Ivalde-Bartin came down, nine of their players, Coach Robin and one of the coaches, Coach Nick, and they identified a number of different things. It's not just nutrition, that that is a top priority. But one of the other top priorities is career development. They just want support with being able to connect with the community off the court, off the field. So what we're doing is we're just rounding up all different people who are interested in helping if you are. Please email me at kaihawai.com. And, and we're just trying to find people who are willing this to offer time to our athletes. And it's not just a one-time lunch or a coffee. It's actually ongoing. We're trying to create these multi-year relationships that's going to allow them to succeed and, and, and develop throughout their college years, but also after graduation as a working professional to give that continued support going forward. Ryan, you're just, you're funny earlier about if, if there was no beyond the lines, there would be no brotherhood grinds. And wow, I mean, just to see how this has just blossomed. And like I said, it's just the second year, Ryan. And the potential is huge. And I think to really retain the athletes, but also to really attract, you know, the recruiting for new athletes, I think is going to be huge. And Ryan, this past Christmas, you did a adopt a family through Helping Hands Hawaii. What compelled you to adopt a family this past Christmas? You know, when I went and visited Helping Hands Hawaii, Susan Peruta, with my wife Casey, she gave us a tour and showed us things like this warehouse where the community can donate. And these stack shelves of electronics, food, clothing, all these household essentials, and they'll give homeless families a shopping cart and they offer them a shopping spree for, let's say 30 seconds. And that allows these families to have these wow experiences and it's so inspiring. So their adoptive family during Christmas program is just as inspiring. There's 100 companies involved. We're fortunate that we were able to get involved this past Christmas and throughout, you know, an invitation to all of our 200 employees and many of them stepped forward. They wrapped gifts. They, you know, we got the wish list from each other. Six to our family was a single mom unemployed with six children and very young children. And we met with them. So we found out what they needed, not just what they wanted, but really these are their lifestyle needs, clothes, shoes, backpacks, things that you would think, you know, for the moms because you're unemployed, a laptop, just things that they need to survive. When we visited their apartment, we saw that their refrigerator and range was broken and the landlord refused to fix it because they broke it. So, you know, we had to really look at, okay, how do we know solve all these problems and our employees stepped up also with cash contribution. So we raised $6,000 among our six companies. And that allowed us to buy new appliances and, and we were hardware, you know, computer electronics and they fulfill their wish list multiple times over. And then we had people like coach Timmy Chang offer football and cash, coach Robin Amal offer pictures from her Olympics, tumbling the Olympics to leave her in the house to inspire the private to inspire their family. And then we had, you know, Marissa, my general manager, Giovanna Prum wrap everything and we delivered it with Cahi Graham, the former football black quarterback for St. Louis School and his family with coach Gary and their, and their, you know, their wife and, and other son. So we went down and made a huge impact for this family, leveling them up completely. And that was such an inspiring experience to be a part of. I love that, Ryan. I absolutely love it. And Ryan, I want to talk with you about leadership now. You are a very humble leader, but I want to also ask you what, what are some of the reasons why you are a successful leader? Well, I saw a long way to go. Thank you, coach Rossi. I believe it's more important to give them to receive. And that's really what I, what I focus on. We also create healthy organizations. So we believe in our core values at Kai Hawaii. It's, it's not just showing up for work. It's really showing up for work and, and believing in being a steward and innovation, collaboration and dedication to what we do to our clients. So much of, of what we do is driven by the needs of our clients. Our success are driven by helping them to be successful. And so that's why it is so important for us to be on time on budget to deliver beyond their expectations. So so much of what, of what I do is work with great people who are delivering that. Our teams at each company as managers and staff for phenomenal. I believe that we have some of the best staff in Hawaii. And because we're blessed with that, that allows us to be successful individually as well as collectively. Ryan, I know that you have high standards and you are building a superior culture of excellence with all of your companies. How do you, how do you get your team members to buy into your leadership philosophy? You know, it's that principle of right people on the bus in the right seat. It's just who they are. They're just they themselves live by the highest standards that they can. And because of that, it becomes contagious. They then, they train and mentor other people on their team to do the same thing. And so a lot of what I do is I just focus on supporting them, right? We meet weekly and ask them, how can I support them and their great efforts because they're really the ones who are doing a lot of the driving of our client experience, our customer experience. And my role, my main role is to support them to be successful at it. And Ryan, I know you very well. And I know that you have empathy for every team member of all of your companies. And you care greatly, I mean, super deeply about their well-being to try to help them individually and to really help the whole team collectively. What are your thoughts? Thank you, Coach Rossi. That's just because I, you know, I started with nothing. And my career has been one step at a time. I hope that the people who I worked with, if I maybe, you know, wasn't as, as, didn't treat that relationship as well as I could have. That looking back, we can continue to build those bridges again. And going forward, I just, just strengthening the friendships and the collaborations and partners that we have in place now. So it's a constant work in progress. But what matters the most to me is that I'm from Hawaii, I grew up here and so many people over the years have selflessly helped me to get to where I am today. And I take it upon myself to do the same thing for those around me. And that's why I spend so much of my time trying to just give back to the community and serve others. Ryan, I have to say that you are a proven leader. I've seen you take good companies and make them great. I've seen you take great companies and make them extraordinary. You are an extraordinary leader and person and a great role model for everyone in the world. And you know me, I'm trying to inspire the world through my books and keynote speaking and my shows. And I know that you're focused on trying to really inspire and help everyone in Hawaii, right? Yeah, that's the one thing that we have in common. You're out there just trying to inspire everyone that you can globally. And I'm good at just focusing here in Hawaii. Trying to make Hawaii better. Ryan, well, teamwork, right? Teamwork. Ryan, I want to thank you for taking time to join me on the show today to really share these insights. I mean, it's absolutely fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKomori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I hope that Ryan and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha. and LinkedIn. Check out our website, thinktecawaii.com. Mahalo.