aio Group’s Duane Kurisu on reshaping the rules of developing Hawaii

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii government and business leaders gathered this past week for Hawaii Business Magazine’s inaugural P-3 Summit to discuss how public-private partnerships can help address some of the state’s biggest challenges.

Read more Local program gives Hawaii residents free job training

Hawaii real estate and media mogul Duane Kurisu came up with the idea for the conference to raise awareness about the benefits of a P-3 approach.

“This process really is about building trust, building this sense of can do, the sense of building an environment where people are are taking away blame and for taking kuleana for what responsibilities they have in making things work and it’s both on the private side and the government side,” said Kurisu, Chairman and CEO of aio Group.

“It’s important for us in the private industry to help shape that behavior, being stuck with governments saying, well, we’ve been doing this for the last 50 years,” Kurisu added. “We cannot wait for policy changes. So this gathering is important because to know leaders in government and leaders in business and in the community, leaders we’ll get to learn to build trust and and trust is important to help build transformation by changing the rules on our own.”

Speakers included leaders from state agencies managing transportation, schools, housing, education, and Hawaiian Home Lands. State department of transportation director Ed Sniffen shared some of the developments being made to airports and highways through P-3 projects.

Read more First Alert Forecast: Large dangerous surf on south facing shorelines

“Bending the rules might be a little harsh, but I’ll say more like shaping behavior, but I think what’s more important is thinking about different ways to address the problems that we face or the opportunities that we have in front of us because, doing things the old way may not necessarily be the right way to do it today,” Kurisu explained.

“Many of the delays that are happening with building permits, I mean, yeah, it’s painful, it’s painful for everybody, but I gotta believe that those who are in charge of those permits, those who are in charge of that quote unquote impediments, would really prefer doing something that would be forwarding for everybody. And so together we need to help shape those rules, maybe reshape those rules rather than bend the rules.”

Kurisu, known for his laidback leadership style and use of pidgin, said the best way to sum up the P-3 mindset is through the mantra: “If can, can, if no can, can.”

Read more Sailor who died in Pearl Harbor attack buried in Arkansas 85 years later