Lately Aunty wanted to talk about followership. Everyone talks about leadership these days, but what does it mean to be a good follower? She attached this poem “I am a Poet” from Wendell Berry to the following message. In 2023, she wrote us:
Aloha ‘Ohana:
Lots of times we focus on leadership development, but that really is only half of the equation of what it takes to get things done. So I went agoogling and found this insightful article from Indeed on Followership: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/followership
Let’s go wondering and wandering together and share your insights of when you were a great follower and what allowed you to follow well. Please also read the attached poems and essay.
Mahalo. aunty pua
Do we ever question what we follow? One might argue that folks who aren’t tied to land, place, history, culture, can follow some pretty interesting things. One wonders. In our session with Aunty discussing this topic, we grappled a lot with leadership and followership through the lens of our own experiences. Below are some ramblings I wrote in response to this prompt. (Mahalo Makalika for teaching about the definition of what it means to be Indigenous. Woah.)
Last week I learned that the political definition of being Indigenous just means you’re colonized. That the world you’re in wasn’t designed for your success, and the dominant paradigm expects you to fail because it was made for others. So people will always try to help you, but it’s always within the restriction of the system, where you’re going to lose anyway. I think we have to eat the system, our aloha has to be larger than it.
I was talking to David about “the table” and who gets to sit there. You know how they say “if you’re not at the table you’re on the menu?” And how people say “we have to bring our own chair to the table…”
Why do I want to drag a chair around? Especially since my ancestors probably sat on the ground anyway? And the food is waaaayyyyyy better at our table…
When I think about how the world was designed for other people, it makes the dissonance in my life make so much more sense. Before I didn’t see it as dissonance, I saw myself as needing to improve or catch up… How liberating to realize that the measures and the standards belong to someone else. And it makes you curious–what do I want to measure? What do I value? Who can I be? What is needed now?
Community leadership, personal leadership is something that happens because something needs to be done. I think for people like many of us, it happens because we are reacting to injustice, like I mentioned before. And that struggle we go through gives us skills, hard and soft, that you can’t learn in school. And that journey is an evolution. When I was younger, I had to defend myself and fight to be seen and heard and not objectified or dismissed. I had to recognize myself first. And we oppress each other, it’s not just one color that does the oppressing. There’s all kinds of judgements out there.
It’s an ongoing journey, too: as a leader, if that is what I am, I don’t want to fight all the time, I want to strategize. It’s like kōnane, like chess but arguably better. Kingdoms were won and lost over that game, literally. Uncle Maka and folks like Kaina Makua say “what’s your move?” and they are talking about kōnane, strategy.
Also, we need joy, too. Too many of our young people or even adults don’t get to experience joy. When I work with young people, which professionally isn’t super often, but personally a lot more, when I’m with them, my goal is to show them how much I care about them, that they matter, and also to ask them about their dreams, and encourage those dreams. Meet them where they are at.
And then I wrote this for me, for us:
Poem to myself
teach me that I belong
that I matter.
that it’s ok to exist.
that I have a story, and that it’s important to someone,
anyone,
to me.teach me to have dreams
let me know that it’s possible.
that dreams are worth having,
and I am worth dreaming.teach me that I am a healer
that I have the power to cry and hurt, and I will survive;
give me tools to
unfold myself forward
one step at a time.teach me about the horizon
that there is one,
that there are so many things I can do,
that I can be.
that I can be anything.teach me to break the horizon
that my potential is infinite,
beyond these walls, this place
and all the things that happened in it.teach me about the table where the people
who decide sit.
teach me about the illusion of power
and who holds it.
teach me how their table is made
so I can make it irrelevant,
so I can make my own.give me grounding
so I know I’m not alone.teach me to rest.
give me excellent health care
and a thriving wage
so I don’t have to choose between
my survival
and my community.
(I am my community.)teach me the shape of joy
to take care of myself
to keep some things for me
to hold them sacred.
because I am.
(you are.)
(we are.)
sacred.teach me that I deserve to be safe.
give me the true definition of what that means
more than surviving
or running
or standing still
or fixing
or fighting.
just being.
(safe.)teach me, grant me the grace to receive all these blessings. Give me the capacity and strength to hold them all. Not just for myself, also for others.
but first, for me.
I wonder…what have you been learning and teaching lately? When were you a good follower? Did you ever have a time when realizing that to be a good follower, you had to lead? Who have you followed that really inspired you? What does following look like in these times we find ourselves in?
I hope you have a week full of safety, rest, and belonging.
Mahalo,
Dawn
Photo taken 4/26/25 on Molokai