As we move toward a new year (Wohoo 2026!), many leaders feel the quiet pressure to “get things right.”
More planning.
More oversight.
More involvement.
But leadership or veiliutaki was never meant to be about carrying everything.
In the Pasifika worldview, leadership begins to look a lot more like stewardship and is about holding something in trust—for the people who rely on it today, and for those who will come after.
You don’t own the system. You care for it. The same applies in organisations.
When leaders become the point where everything flows through, the business may look strong, but it is actually fragile! Like a prize fighter with a glass jaw—a boxing reference for you uninitiated. The health of the system becomes tied to one person’s energy, availability, and endurance. It becomes fragile!
Boring ole business psychology tells us that sustainable leadership is less about control and more about clarity:
- clarity of roles
- clarity of decisions
- clarity of purpose
When people know what they are responsible for, they don’t need to wait and when decision paths are clear, momentum continues. When purpose is shared, effort aligns naturally.
Stewardship asks a different question:
Not “How do I hold this together?”
But “How do I design this so it holds without me?”
That shift is quiet but it changes everything.
I wish you a blessed New Year!
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Alfred Tora 
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