Cool Projects Maui

The Native Hawaiian owned company, Akimeka, hosted Sen. Inouye at a re-dedication ceremony for their Joint Information Technology Center at the Maui Tech Park on Friday 8/21 after a similar event at the Maui High Performance Computing Center.  Last year Akimeka received a $738 million ten year contract to staff the Pacific Middle Range Facility on Kauai.   

 See Pacific Business News article and Harry Eagar’s Maui News article article, with headlines focusing on the supercomputer, republished in the Honolulu Advertiser on Saturday.

Akimeka’s web site

On Friday, August 21, 2009, the 50th anniversary of Hawaii becoming a state, the Maui High Performance Computing Center, which is 15 years old, received an upgrade and was renamed from "Jaws" to "Mana".  Operated by the University of Hawaii and the U.S. Air Force Research Labs, it has regained the distinction, for at least a short while, of being the most powerful computer facility in the U.S.    Present for the blessing were U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, the original and current champion of having a supercomputer on Maui; and new University of Hawaii President M.R.C. Greenwood, making her first public appearance as UH President.

Cutting the ribbon.  Front row from left:  Irene Hirano Inouye, Sen. Daniel Inouye, Maui Mayor Charmain Tarvares, University of Hawaii President M.R.C. Greenwood; back row from left: UH VP for Research Jim Gains, Capt. Joseph Dratz of AFRL, UH VP for IT and CIO David Lassner, (obscured) Director of DoD Hi Performance Computing Modernization Program Cray Henry, and Laura Ulibarri of AFRL (photo by Cindy Schumacher)

Maui News Article

Maui Weekly Article - coming

Maui High Performance Computing Center web site

MHPCC Application Briefs - 2009 Update Expected Soon

  Creative Conflict Solutions, an Hawaii consulting business, has just released a white paper, "A Clean Energy Future for Maui and Hawaii: Conversations with Key Players - Issues, Interests and Solutions".   Authored by Creative Conflict Solutions partners Melanie Stephens and Dr. Phillis Robinson (see photo), the white paper represents the fruit of interviewing 17 leaders in Hawaii’s clean energy movement (see list below). 

Robinson has a Doctorate in organizational psychology and Stephens a Masters in mediation and conflict resolution.  They work with both businesses, non-profits, government agencies, with families and individuals to creatively resolve conflicts.  The changes involved in shifting from a petroleum based economy to a renewable energy based economy inevitably are conflict charged. 

Stephens and Robinson advocate a proactive preventative approach before conflicts take on a life of their own, lead to litigation and to win/lose or lose/lose scenarios.   My experience advising businesses has shown that inter-personal conflict is the number one cause of business failure, which is why I have strongly encouraged consultancies like Creative Conflict Solutions.

Interviews for "White Paper":

Robbie Alm, Vice President of Public Affairs, Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO)
Brad Albert and Matias Besasso, co-owners, Rising Sun Solar
Irene Bowie, Executive Director, Maui Tomorrow
Leo Caires, Owner, Maui Energy Co. (Residential Wind)
Alex DeRoode, Sustainable Living Institute of Maui (SLIM),
Maui Community College, Chair of the Maui County Energy Alliance Working Group Two, Education and Workforce Development
Mark Duda, President, Hawaii Solar Energy Association, & Partner/Finance, Distributed Energy Partners
J. Carl Freedman, Haiku Design and Analysis, Integrated Resource Planning, Public Utility Regulatory Affairs
David Fisher, Director, Hawaii Small Business Development Center on Maui
Mike Gresham, Former Director of First Wind
Ruby A. Hamili, Maui Attorney
John Harrison, Administrator, Maui Economic Development Board, Maui County
Kelly King, Co-owner, Pacific Bio-Diesel
Chris Mentzel, Owner, Clean Energy Maui
Rob Parsons, Former Environmental Coordinator of Maui County, Vice President of Maui Tomorrow, and Conservation Chair of Sierra Club of Maui
Ed Reinhardt, President and Sharon Suzuki, Renewable Energy Division
Maui Electric Company, Limited (MECO).
Ronald “Skeeter” Stebbins, of Maui Real Estate Company, representing Southland Community Development Corporation in the purchase of the Hana Ranch.
Charmaine Tavares, Mayor, Maui County and founder of the Maui County Energy Alliance (MCEA)

You can download the white paper at this link

You can also read an article about the whitepaper at the MauiWeekly, where  Creative Conflict Solutions have a regular advice column.  

Find out more in general about Creative Conflict Solutions at their website http://CreativeConflictSolutions.com

I also have an interview that I did with Phyllis and Melanie that I will be posting here shortly as a podcast.

Hawaii Business Tax Summit 2009 - Next Friday, July 31st at the Frank Loyd Wright-designed Kamehameha Golf Club from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (including lunch).    The Maui accounting firm of Levin & Hu is organizing the event.   Besides host Doug Levin, speakers will include Lt. Governor James "Duke" Aiona, and KGNB9’s business reporter Howard Dicus, who is brilliant at making complex stuff understandable while always leaving his audience with a smile.  Also presenting will be Brad Albert of Rising Sun Solar, one of the top installers of PV systems.

The summit will review all the latest in tax issues that should be of interest to small businesses, both State and Federal.   Most of the new Federal stimulus provisions relating to small business are in the tax code.   Find out how to get refunds, about the very attractive credits available for going solar, and how to get reimbursed for 90% of your employee health insurance.   Also get an update on Hawaii’s innovation tax credits, which are still significant, even though they have been reduced.   We will also get an update on how ARC loans are coming along in the implementation process.  As of this writing none in Hawaii yet, but first ones on Mainland last week.

There will be lots of networking.  You can get a big discount by entering "SBDC" when prompted for a discount code.   Register here.    This event will repeat on Oahu on August 26th.

 Les Hewitt

Yesterday was the culmination of several months of intense work by Maui marketing consultant Kirk Heiner.   Several hundred gathered at the Grand Wailea Resort and Spa to hear Les Hewitt, author of The Power of Focus and for Heiner to release his first book, Three Great Secrets and give a talk "Show Me The Money".  Big Mahalo to the Grand Wailea which donated much for this event to happen.  Also to the Bank of Hawaii, and Maui County and over thirty-two individuals and organizations who contributed to get the word out and make this happen.

Hewitt gave a 4-hour explanation on his "Power of Focus" fundamentals:  goals, priorities, relationships, and habits–with the key matra being "Focus and Follow through".

Heiner had a much shorter time to give a teaser on his "Three Great Secrets" and did not give them all away, but shared as central King Solomon’s saying, "Wisdom is to know and to do what is right", or to study and practice "pono" as we say here in Hawaii.  Heiner also made a case for balancing "right brain" or the creative side, with "left brain" or the analytical side–but emphasized his agreement with Daniel Pink’s belief that it is the "right brain" that is going to dominate in the future.  Heiner is also very interested in "the power of threes".    I look forward to reading Kirk’s book.

This is all good stuff and is needed on Maui, especially the focus and follow-through disciplines, but also the need to remember the idea of pono in all our actions–it is after all the centerpiece of our state moto:  "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono" which means "the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness".   "Pono" which is most frequently translated as "righteousness" can also be translated as "balance" or "harmony".  The "life of the land", which we are striving to perpetuate, is a subject for further focus.   I think this includes both the environment…and the people who come from, are nurtured by, and eventually return to the land

I did my own little creative exercise with this material, integrating my own concept of the management "trinity": marketing, finance, operations.  This should be seen, like most things, as a work-in-progress:

Jim Langford, principal of Tribe Game Studios, presents at the Maui Venture Forum held on March 4th, 2009.

See Jim’s web site:  http://tribegamestudios.com

I wrote my own viewpoint piece on Act 221 in the Maui News back on February 8th.

Maui entrepreneur, author, and systems designer Lynn Rasmussen presents her ICANOLOGY project at the Maui Venture Forum on March 18, 2008 at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center.

ICANOLOGY is a strategy for recognizing, and encouraging the learning that takes place outside of formal educational settings.  It is a strategy that integrated community organizing and Web 2.0 tools with a focus on skills needed for a broad range of activities for both specific and broad needs.  

Besides watching the video here, you can go to Lynn’s website:  http://lynnsbigidea.com.  

Participating in the forum long distance (and in this case off camera) were John Bower (http://uboost.com) in Honolulu and Matt Nathan from CoAchieve in Denver, CO.