‘New leadership program will help CNMI in long run’

Former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann believes the recently launched Marianas Chapter of the Pacific Century Fellows Program will, in the long run, help the Commonwealth.

Speaking before members of the Society for Human Resources Management-NMI Chapter’s monthly meeting last Friday at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan, Hannemann said PCF Marianas Chapter is a non-profit organization that will specialize in leadership development and community service.

“It’s very important because it’s something that will help the CNMI in the long run because it’s all about focusing on solutions on the challenges that face the Commonwealth. It’s all about developing a network of young leaders who after our second, third, fourth, and fifth year will continue to get together and continue to identify opportunities for community involvement, public service, and I really believe the response that we got so far indicates to me that we’re on the right path,” he said in an interview with Saipan Tribune.

As part of the program, those selected in the first batch of the PCF Marianas Chapter will have the opportunity to travel to Hawaii where they will meet leaders and businessmen.

Based on the Pacific Century Fellows Program in Hawaii and modeled after the national White House Fellows program, PCF Marianas Chapter intends to develop and bring together strong community leaders to strategically tackle some of the CNMI’s most pressing matters.

Hannemann himself was a beneficiary of the White House Fellows program in the 1980s.

“I’m eternally grateful to the Reagan administration and in particular former vice president George Herbert Walker Bush for giving me the opportunity to work at his office for a year. He did it in a nonpartisan fashion, which is missing in Washington today. He didn’t hold it against me that I was a member of another party and I benefitted from it. I hold him in high esteem and the fellows program is a wonderful program.”

Hannemann said the local program is very timely since the region where the CNMI belongs to continues to be ignored by the powers-that-be in the United States.

“We’re in an area which is often neglected, ignored by rest of the U.S. and the world and I’ve always felt that the Pacific-Asian basin, the islands that represent Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia are very important and they have a contribution to make and they have something to say. That’s what I’m here to do. I’m here to bring out the potential and goodness of leadership that you have here.”

Hannemann also had some advice for members of the SHRM, disposing of this through his “Muffi’s Maxims” philosophy.

“I tried to make them realize the importance of fostering a good team. That it starts with leaders who are engaged in a good cause, and leaders who feel that they can’t do it alone. The Muffi’s Maxims that I showed them is based on my view and my experience working in government, the private sector, and non-profit organizations.”

Hannemann also subscribes to the “Pacific Way” that was coined by former Fiji prime minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

“He said we in the Pacific have a certain way of doing things and I’ve always felt that I followed this in whatever I’ve done in Hawaii, the rest of the United States, and throughout the world.”