What does leadership from te ao Māori look like? What makes a good leader? Is it a vision or humility or the ability to inspire others, or is it all of these things?
I like to think humility is a necessary quality but then I had a kōrero with someone who pointed out that a healthy dose of ego was sometimes needed and present, especially in a particular generation of Māori leaders. The same person reckoned that sometimes all it took to be a leader was the ability or skill of creating a good boil up. I like to think there is also some mana involved.
Leadership is sometimes hereditary, sometimes bestowed, sometimes a matter of achieving a particular objective.
We found that “the Māori way of doing things” was a guiding value, says Maree Roche who is a senior lecturer and co-director of the leadership unit at Waikato Management School which in turn is part of the University of Waikato.
Roche came up with five key values of Māori leadership after interviewing a bunch of people. They are:
Whakaiti – humility
Ko tau rourou and manaakitanga – altruism
Whanaungatanga – others
Tāria te wā and kaitiakitanga – long-term thinking, guardianship
Tikanga Māori – cultural authenticity
Roche stresses the need to understand this is a journey.
Te Kai a te Rangatira, subtitled Leadership from the Māori world, from Bridget Williams Books, is a “snapshot into the current state of Māori leadership”.
It is also a website. The book came out a couple of years ago and what I particularly like about the kaupapa is that it represents the energy of the rangatahi who did the interviews and got the photos and the collected wisdom of the subjects who feature. And it allows the subjects’ words and wisdom to shine through.
Plenty of people have pondered what leadership looks like, notably Selwyn Katene (Ngāti Toa, Ngā Ruahine, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Tuwharetoa) with The Spirit of Māori Leadership. He was Professor of Māori and Indigenous Leadership and Director of the Global Centre of Indigenous Leadership at Massey University at the time.
Think about examples you have encountered. Personally, I have observed so-called leaders all my life, some good, some terrible but with an overt appreciation of themselves.
Temuera Morrison speaking to E-Tangata’s Dale Morrison after he had portrayed the role of his tūpuna Rewi Maniapoto in Ka Whawhai Tonu reckoned that: “I just don’t think we have anywhere near the gifts and the special powers that our tūpuna had."
He may be right. Who knows?
Nā Mark Revington
