Equality of Business Opportunity

George Ariyoshi

My feeling is that for nearly half-a-century we progressed in business as well as politics in creating an open society of opportunity. Since sometime in the 1990s, I feel we have been falling backward to some of our old patterns: If you are from the outside, you are presumed to know more and might as well be paid more.

If we need a special person, how likely is that person to be from Hawaii? Are people from Hawaii in danger of being perceived as second rate and even of thinking of ourselves that way?

Let me retrace a little history. Prior to World War II, the economy of Hawaii was run by an exclusive little club, an interlocking directorate that was based in the old Big Five. Managers were routinely brought in from the Mainland and given royal treatment. Individuals in Hawaii remember waiting patiently for a promotion. When a higher-level job opened, Hawaii's people would train a recruit from the Mainland, then be passed over for that promotion. There were also instances of people performing the same level of work, but people brought in from the Mainland would automatically be paid more.

It was then unimaginable that a Johnny Bellinger or a Walter Dods would become president of First Hawaiian Bank, or that Warren Haruki would become the chief executive of Hawaiian Telephone Co.

World War II raised the questions, "What kind of society are we? And what are we going to be?" The young people of Hawaii mobilized to fight for democracy, and when the veterans came home they wanted to see democracy in action. The war set new attitudes in motion.

In 1948, a courageous executive, Henry Clark, looked at his fellow board members of Honolulu Gas Co. and asked who their customers were and who their stockholders often were. Obviously, the answers to both questions were local people, and Clark quickly located two local directors - Peter Fukunaga, founder of Servco, and banker Kee Fook Zane.

As a young attorney, I was invited to sit on the Gas Co.'s board. Since I was a Democratic legislator, I wrestled with the wisdom of accepting the appointment. I decided to accept, believing that reaching out is a two-way process. Around that time, the highly distinguished Masaji Marumoto was invited onto the Bank of Hawaii board, and I was then asked onto the First Hawaiian Bank board. These were straws in the wind, in an overall pattern of change.

This was not about ethnicity per se, nor about a rigid standard of locals first, but rather it was about fair play and proceeding sensibly and confidently. At the Gas Co., we filled the chief executive position in such a way as to respond to international pressures. We brought in Jim Gary to transform the old gas company into Pacific Resources International. Gary surrounded himself with people from Hawaii, respected their skills and views and promoted the goal of opportunity for all. He became a fine community-builder.

After I retired from the governorship, I was approached by the Japanese magnate Yoshiaki Tsutsumi to run Prince Hotels in Hawaii. I stressed to him that the business culture here was different from Japan and from the U.S. mainland. I stressed that Hawaii was multiethnic and multicultural and that our standard of equal opportunity had been hard won. I said it was crucial that people in Hawaii be developed and promoted, and that they be encouraged to dream of unlimited opportunity. I said the practice of fair play and equal opportunity leads to committed employees, who give 110 percent.

He bought it and gave me a free hand. I performed my work in a way attuned to the uniqueness of Hawaii. When issues arose, naturally we conferred, but the solutions were typically Hawaii solutions.

My concern is that, with globalization, we are slipping. This concern is aggravated by anecdotes of who is being passed over and who is being put into many of the top-level jobs. Let us speak honestly with one another. What is going on? What do we value? What can we do?

George R. Ariyoshi is the former president of Prince Resorts Hawaii Inc., a subsidiary of Seibu Railway Co. Ltd. An attorney by profession, Ariyoshi served in elective office in Hawaii from 1954 until 1986. A protégé of the late Gov. John A. Burns, Ariyoshi served as governor of Hawaii from 1973 until 1986. He was the first Japanese American to be elected governor in the United States. In the years since he left the state Capitol, Ariyoshi has been active in Hawaii and international business circles, particularly in Asia.