ASB Proves Support for Hawaiian Artists

A fair number of companies in Hawai'i say they support Hawaiian values. But how many of them walk the talk? Kudos to American Savings Bank for proving their support. The bank recently renovated the corporate headquarters, and contracted with 28 local artists to provide paintings, scuplture and lighting. Many of the artists are of Hawaiian ancestry, and many of the art works reflect the bank's commitment to Hawaiian values.

I have a personal interest in this because my husband is one of the artists selected. You can see his lamps at MarkChaiArts.com So often we have watched as one company after another uses mainland architects and artists to try to create a Hawaiian sense of place. They can't do it!

Do you want Hawaiian values to permeate your organization? Think locally, act locally.

Real Stress Reduction or a Band-Aid?

A professional speaker friend just flew in from the mainland to speak to employees at a small company here. The company knew its employees are stressed due to long hours, traffic problems, and poor morale. To solve this problem, they hired my friend to come in and speak for an hour on how to use humor to release your stress.

My friend is a wonderful speaker, but let’s face it, an hour of making people laugh is not going to solve their problems! In fact, because they were dragged away from their work for this meeting, it no doubt increased their stress levels. And if they ever found out how much he was paid, their stress would go through the roof!

To reduce stress, employees need tools they can make into habits to use every day. Yes, keeping a sense of humor is important, but there are 5 choices we can make that have been proven scientifically to reduce stress. Anything else is just a band-aid.