00;00;03;04 – 00;00;24;21

Mark

The Pursuit Of… Podcast, a purely guest centric show focusing on people and organizations that advance positive change. Positivity can be anywhere, and in a time of vast discord, The pursuit of… is finding those who champion its causes loudest. Join us as we sit and learn about the pursuits of local leaders in their communities. Let’s go.

00;00;25;01 – 00;00;36;22

Ryan

Hello, good people and welcome to the pursuit of podcast where it’s truly not us, it’s you. I’m Ryan Buck, Artist Development, New Leonard Media with me as always is The Boss, Mark Wilson, President, New Leonard Media. How are you?

00;00;36;24 – 00;00;39;07

Mark

I’m doing great, Ryan. Today I rode in a car.

00;00;39;09 – 00;00;47;16

Ryan

That is enough of that’s about us. Our guest today is Sakura Takano, chief executive officer at Rotary Charities of Traverse City. How are you?

00;00;47;17 – 00;00;49;05

Sakura

I’m very good. Thanks for having me.

00;00;49;05 – 00;01;08;08

Ryan

Thank you for being here. This is very exciting in putting this together and knowing that we were going to talk to somebody with Rotary, which is kind of a ubiquitous name. I think a lot of people know what Rotary charities are, but maybe a lot of people don’t. Maybe that’s a misnomer. So quite simply, if somebody just says, what is Rotary Charity’s do, what’s the easy or a complicated answer?

00;01;08;14 – 00;01;42;28

Sakura

Ooh, the easy and complicated answer. You probably know the word rotary, because in most towns in the United States, there’s a Rotary Club. Right. So you think about entering a club, you see the little rotary wheel next to the Lions Club. We’ll next to the Kiwanis wheel. And essentially it’s a civic engagement and community service club. Now, our region has a special Rotary Club because back in the twenties and thirties, those Rotarians believe that part of their service mission was to make outdoor recreation available for young kids.

00;01;43;11 – 00;02;09;10

Sakura

So they bought a bunch of lands and leased out those sites, too, like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and for age and other youth oriented clubs. And, you know, let them have that space for recreation in the mid-seventies. One of those sites happens to also be the host for the Niagara and Shelf, which is a large geologic mass with oil and gas reserves underneath it.

00;02;09;26 – 00;02;36;16

Sakura

So those have struck oil. Yeah, pretty much they pretty much struck oil. And all of the revenues from that project, if you will, is the Endowment for Rotary Charities. So we were founded in 1977 after a very generous revenue sharing deal was made with the explorers, and that’s how we were founded. So I get to, you know, be part of this legacy and hopefully do good work for the community through our funds.

00;02;36;17 – 00;02;43;05

Ryan

That’s incredible. Is it a good thing to strike oil? I mean, you don’t have to say numbers or anything, but is that something that people should look to do if they can?

00;02;43;09 – 00;02;48;06

Sakura

I mean, I don’t know if you’ve got like a pickax and shovel, and I think you can do that.

00;02;48;06 – 00;02;51;06

Ryan

But it’s definitely work well for Rotary Charities. It turns.

00;02;51;06 – 00;03;01;07

Sakura

Out. Well, it’s one of those things where we have to acknowledge our history and where we came from so that we can fully appreciate the gifts that are in front of us and how we can make that go forward.

00;03;01;10 – 00;03;10;26

Ryan

That’s interesting. How much of the history today is imbued in the culture of Rotary? Is that something that’s talked about with new hires or what role does that play for you today?

00;03;11;05 – 00;03;33;13

Sakura

Yeah, that’s a great question. So we think of ourselves as a conduit to help good people and good nonprofits and municipalities and people who want to see a better community here help their work move forward. So oftentimes we’ll have, oh, Rotary did this or Rotary did that, but like, really, we’re just helping other people and other organizations do the great work.

00;03;33;14 – 00;03;47;05

Sakura

All of that happens on the ground. So we like to help as much as we can, but certainly we are not the ones on the ground and doing that work. So we want to be as humble and as appreciative as possible to community partners.

00;03;47;05 – 00;03;49;25

Ryan

The most altruistic charity that there could be.

00;03;50;00 – 00;03;51;05

Sakura

Well, you know, I.

00;03;51;05 – 00;04;07;23

Ryan

Said I said you don’t have to. Do you ever put yourself into the place of what it would be like running Rotary when it was founded in the 21st ever? Think about that post-World War One. Well, you’ve got the 19th Amendment ratified, giving women the right to vote. Do you ever think about that?

00;04;07;24 – 00;04;12;16

Sakura

Well, you know, fun fact was that women weren’t allowed into Rotary Clubs until the eighties.

00;04;12;26 – 00;04;15;15

Ryan

Interesting. Yeah. So that would be a challenge that.

00;04;15;15 – 00;04;16;00

Sakura

Would have been a.

00;04;16;00 – 00;04;18;10

Ryan

CEO of Rotary in the twenties would have to deal with.

00;04;18;11 – 00;04;19;06

Sakura

Yeah, it would be.

00;04;19;06 – 00;04;24;07

Ryan

Do you think it would be easier in general or would it be harder back then to have tried to push this mission forward?

00;04;24;24 – 00;04;48;25

Sakura

Every decade has presented new opportunities. So back then, Traverse City was the edge of town was a dirt road and it was like Peninsula Drive, from what I hear. So think about how much our community has changed in the past hundred years. Right. And the projects that we’re thinking about now, I mean, what a contrast. Right. So I think it’s exciting that we can see so much community change happen.

00;04;49;04 – 00;04;54;07

Sakura

And for more people to call this awesome place home and to raise their families and do some good.

00;04;54;20 – 00;05;08;24

Ryan

Right. When you look at the culture of an organization, I don’t even love that word for what we’re describing it for. But when you got to Rotary Charities, what was the culture there and what kind of unique perspectives have you brought to it in the last three years?

00;05;08;29 – 00;05;33;09

Sakura

I think my predecessors have always been community focused and asking ourselves like, how can we help? And we ask our partners, Hey, how can we help? Whether it’s financial through grants, through helping build learning opportunities and building leadership in the community to making those relationship connections. We really try to think of all those different tools as part of who we are.

00;05;33;25 – 00;05;56;23

Sakura

And I think that culture of like How Can We Help has been a really strong theme through leadership, which is pretty exciting. And I would say that our team now we’ve got a team of five program and one amazing office manager who has managed to work for us for 35 years. Whoa! And all four executive directors.

00;05;57;08 – 00;05;58;11

Mark

So. Holy cow.

00;05;58;16 – 00;06;32;08

Sakura

Yes. Stacy is amazing. But I would say that helping culture is now really fuzed with this idea of teamwork. Half of our team started during COVID, so we were a virtual team. We slacked, we used emojis, we high fived each other on different stickers and all that kind of stuff. And when we went back in person a couple of months ago, it was just so wonderful to see each other in person, smile and say, Hey, thanks, have lunch at the conference table and those rituals of work that really help build culture.

00;06;32;08 – 00;06;33;03

Sakura

Right? Yeah.

00;06;33;26 – 00;06;42;07

Ryan

Am I getting that? When you went back to somewhat normalcy, did you have to tighten things up a little bit from the slacking? Is that what I was hearing?

00;06;42;07 – 00;06;46;19

Sakura

Oh, when I say slacking, I mean, like virtual chatting with. Yeah.

00;06;46;22 – 00;06;50;13

Mark

So it’s a chat app. And I thought there was like.

00;06;50;18 – 00;06;52;26

Sakura

Wow, you just reveal something about yourself.

00;06;53;02 – 00;07;01;00

Ryan

My walker over to the side here and get that out of the way. Hopefully this is entertaining to listen to. Are we.

00;07;01;00 – 00;07;03;21

Mark

Talking about tic tacs on how earlier that I know.

00;07;03;27 – 00;07;06;12

Sakura

I never throw my team under the bus and see that there was.

00;07;06;12 – 00;07;10;13

Mark

Slacking, by the way. I guess that’s exactly it. It’s like slackers.

00;07;10;13 – 00;07;21;18

Ryan

That is that is a good point you have. I could tell you have more decorum than that. But you mentioned staff. What other human power does it take to make this mission move forward, whether it’s volunteers? How does that work?

00;07;21;28 – 00;07;42;13

Sakura

Yeah, we do rely on volunteers and they really help us, like the Rotarians in our five county area are offered and we really love to see them show up for our grant reviews. So they help us review grant application and sometimes they have new relationships that they might be able to lend to applicants and then they give us their opinions.

00;07;42;13 – 00;08;15;02

Sakura

And that goes to like our decision making body for final approval. But another big piece of what it takes to run our little like neck of the woods is really good communications because we want to make sure that as many organizations, people who are on boards and people who are engaged in community know that we’re around in a variety of ways to help with resources, whether it’s, like I said, learning, maybe connecting them to some webinars around board development or organizational development, all kinds of learning opportunities.

00;08;15;02 – 00;08;33;15

Sakura

It’s like, okay, we can help connect you more directly to that. Or we host program meetings for organizations that are interested in grant funding and they’re like, Well, we’ve never, you know, written a grant before, so can you walk us through this? Like we’re really a resource and a facilitator to accessing what we have?

00;08;33;15 – 00;08;44;18

Ryan

And we’ve heard this on this podcast a few times before. A grant writing is not a fly by night. Let me just pick that up with a night annex course type of situation. You need specialists. You need people who are.

00;08;44;25 – 00;09;01;27

Sakura

It can be an art and a science. And we continuously work to reducing those barriers so that an everyday volunteer or really active and engaged board member can step into that process. And we’re definitely seeing more and more of that now, which is awesome.

00;09;01;27 – 00;09;19;16

Ryan

That’s great. You have a bachelors in Finance and Economics from Boston College, an MBA in social enterprise from Columbia Business School. And looking at that, you kind of seem perfectly poised for this role. But given your time in this role, would you look back on your academic pursuits a little differently? Would you have done anything differently?

00;09;19;16 – 00;09;49;18

Sakura

Oh, wow. You Googled me, didn’t you? So, I mean, I don’t know. I feel like when you build experience over time, it’s a matter of like how you can bring that to the current situation and the current phase in life you’re in, if you will. So those early days of working in banking were very long. I mean, sometimes I would sleep under my desk and, you know, have like three meals at a desk, you know, it’s like three.

00;09;49;18 – 00;09;50;13

Ryan

Meals in a month.

00;09;50;29 – 00;10;11;25

Sakura

Intense lifestyle. But I learned so much. I learned about organizational culture and behavior, what I liked, what I didn’t like. I learned a lot about Excel and presentation skills, talking to clients, and so I would not give any of those things that I learned up. But I knew when I was ready to move on.

00;10;11;25 – 00;10;31;28

Ryan

Right. Is there something in there that you would say to a younger person starting out today to develop a skill, to develop, to focus? Because you talked about a few things, presentation skills even excel that I think a lot of people look for flashier things to focus on. But is there anything like that that you would say all these things are good, but definitely focus on the smaller thing.

00;10;31;28 – 00;10;56;29

Sakura

I think those technical skills have been very helpful to me over time, but I think understanding, like your personal work ethic and how you want to live in different phases because sometimes sacrifices, like I mentioned, working so many hours, that was just my life then, right? I didn’t really have much to compare it to until I realized I was like, Oh, I’m getting tired, I’m getting burnt out, and then you can go and launch into do something else.

00;10;56;29 – 00;11;09;04

Sakura

But I think fully exploring a skill set when you’re young is really helpful because when you mature into your career, it gives you like a lot of options, right? You can apply all those skills to lots of different fields.

00;11;09;07 – 00;11;12;09

Ryan

Wow. What was the social Enterprise Club like?

00;11;12;26 – 00;11;13;29

Sakura

The Social Enterprise Club?

00;11;13;29 – 00;11;14;13

Ryan

Yeah. What was.

00;11;14;13 – 00;11;42;23

Sakura

That? Well, we were like the misfits of the business school. Everyone who was trying to quit banking or consulting or, you know, work for big companies were like, What are you guys doing here? Shouldn’t you be over like, you know, at like the public policy school or we were kind of this like band of do gooders essentially is what they called us that were in the business school, interested in nonprofit consulting or working with micro-enterprise is in developing nations.

00;11;42;23 – 00;11;54;00

Sakura

I mean, all of these idiosyncratic specialties and it was an awesome learning space because I got to travel and I got to do cool consulting projects in like India and Cambodia.

00;11;54;19 – 00;12;07;27

Ryan

Is that why you were the, you know, maybe ostracize bad men and women of that particular school? Because you’re like nonprofits or third world countries. They’re all looking at the big dollars and you’re going for the tougher stuff.

00;12;08;01 – 00;12;10;17

Sakura

Yeah, there’s definitely a little bit of that.

00;12;10;17 – 00;12;25;17

Ryan

I love that. That’s great. You talked about those times of long, long hours and sleeping under your desk. Obviously, there are some skills to be learned both professionally and personally, but that took you to someplace kind of unique, the Rockefeller Foundation.

00;12;25;22 – 00;12;49;22

Sakura

Right? Sometimes it’s good just to be lucky and not smart, because that was pure luck. I was just scrolling on the school’s job board, and at that point I had not really known that much about philanthropy or what this whole thing about giving was. And I hopped up on this job and I was like, Oh, this is something I can do while I’m in school and work part time for this.

00;12;49;28 – 00;12;53;09

Sakura

Whoa. Okay, huge foundation. I’m going to go for it.

00;12;53;09 – 00;12;57;26

Mark

Yeah, but don’t they say luck is when preparation meets opportunity?

00;12;58;05 – 00;12;59;13

Sakura

Well, you said that.

00;13;00;04 – 00;13;00;19

Mark

We could try.

00;13;00;26 – 00;13;01;17

Ryan

We’re saying that if.

00;13;01;17 – 00;13;03;23

Mark

We’re sitting there saying, okay, that’s.

00;13;03;23 – 00;13;04;25

Ryan

True. She’s understanding.

00;13;04;29 – 00;13;05;19

Mark

That you don’t need.

00;13;05;19 – 00;13;07;04

Sakura

That opportunity. How about that, Mark.

00;13;07;20 – 00;13;13;04

Mark

That you were prepared? The opportunity presented itself. That’s true.

00;13;13;05 – 00;13;15;18

Ryan

If you had you not been prepared, I don’t think they would have taken you.

00;13;15;19 – 00;13;15;28

Mark

Yeah.

00;13;15;28 – 00;13;16;29

Sakura

Okay. All right. I’m just.

00;13;16;29 – 00;13;17;12

Mark

Lucky.

00;13;17;18 – 00;13;24;07

Ryan

That that’s a name that’s got a lot of heft behind it. They’re not just willy nilly. But you grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, correct?

00;13;24;17 – 00;13;25;12

Sakura

That’s correct.

00;13;25;15 – 00;13;33;26

Ryan

That is great. And your parents were two individuals. You immigrated to the United States and your mom was a big influence in your life, is that correct?

00;13;33;26 – 00;13;35;18

Sakura

Yeah, she was.

00;13;35;18 – 00;13;36;14

Ryan

She was. She still.

00;13;36;14 – 00;13;36;27

Sakura

Is.

00;13;36;28 – 00;13;42;11

Ryan

She still is. And work ethic that’s something that she instilled the news that correct?

00;13;42;20 – 00;14;10;02

Sakura

Yes. Both my parents. Well, first of all, they were immigrants. My dad’s from Japan, my mom from Taiwan. And they met in Hawaii. And when you’re starting out and you’ve got to eat what you kill, you work a lot, right? So that’s been a journey for me to really kind of hone in like, well, what I want that to look like in my life over time, especially when you have kids and you have other priorities and you want to live as balanced of a life as possible.

00;14;10;12 – 00;14;31;25

Sakura

I’ve learned that lesson over time, and so has she, which has been just really wonderful. So my mom, who was all about working, saving, working, saving. We never left a scrap of food on our plate. We never got soda or chips. It was like three meals and they were cooked at home and we were the kids with the stinky lunch at school.

00;14;31;25 – 00;14;33;03

Ryan

I can identify with that.

00;14;33;03 – 00;14;33;17

Mark

Yeah.

00;14;34;04 – 00;14;51;10

Ryan

And at one point she had four jobs. She came to this country at 18 and made her way. Was that something that it took me a while to recognize and respect her? As you were growing up, did you see her as like, this is a strong woman and I should follow her, teach?

00;14;51;10 – 00;15;24;03

Sakura

Well, she was a strong woman. She was very direct. So that is, like I said, evolved over time. Because when you’re young and you’re a kid, you’re like, just give me some space and let me figure out my own things. So that’s been a journey and I think what is so fun about it is that as she sees me as an adult more than as a child and sees my kids and how we’re all interacting together, she’s like, Oh, it looks so interesting to have build time and to hang out with your family and to like have friends.

00;15;24;03 – 00;15;29;26

Sakura

You have time for your friends. I’m like, Yeah. She’s like, Well, that must be nice. I’m like, Yeah, Mom, it’s awesome.

00;15;29;26 – 00;15;31;01

Ryan

So like concept to her.

00;15;31;01 – 00;15;42;24

Sakura

Yeah, it’s a novel concept, but she’s observing it and she’s learning from it and she’s taking on new hobbies and it’s really cool to see her kind of like let go a little bit and enjoy life, which is pretty.

00;15;42;24 – 00;15;46;27

Ryan

Special. That sounds a little full circle. She’s taken some guidance from you.

00;15;46;29 – 00;15;49;06

Sakura

I don’t know if she’ll agree to that.

00;15;49;06 – 00;15;54;01

Mark

But but you could have said, well, you’ll also notice I have time for you as well.

00;15;54;02 – 00;15;56;05

Sakura

Oh, hey, I’m going to use that next time.

00;15;56;05 – 00;15;56;14

Mark

Yeah.

00;15;56;28 – 00;15;57;24

Ryan

Just given all.

00;15;57;28 – 00;15;58;26

Mark

That, that one’s free.

00;16;00;12 – 00;16;03;26

Ryan

In your opinion, what is the biggest difference between charity and change making?

00;16;04;19 – 00;16;27;04

Sakura

Oof, huge difference. Our name has been around since their inception, but I have been thinking about that like there is a huge difference between charity, which kind of implies a sense of power, right? Being charitable is one spot giving to another. And I think change making is a much more community and like holistic view of how communities change.

00;16;27;19 – 00;16;43;20

Sakura

Communities change and shift because the people who live there have more voice and more power to do so, and they have avenues to access that change, which is really special. And we hope to do more and more in that vein and support more of that community. Led action.

00;16;44;07 – 00;16;46;05

Ryan

Wow. Have you been posed that question before?

00;16;46;15 – 00;16;47;11

Sakura

No, but I’ve been thinking.

00;16;47;12 – 00;16;48;06

Ryan

I wasn’t really getting.

00;16;48;11 – 00;16;48;27

Mark

You didn’t you.

00;16;48;27 – 00;16;49;27

Ryan

Didn’t start by saying I’ll.

00;16;49;27 – 00;16;50;11

Sakura

Write it down.

00;16;50;18 – 00;17;06;00

Ryan

In a 2021 Council of Michigan Foundation’s article, there’s a question posed, which I thought was kind of interesting quote Why are we not making more progress on our toughest problems? Is that constantly a pertinent question, or is that a question that just kind of spinning wheels? Is it too big a question?

00;17;06;01 – 00;17;28;25

Sakura

Hmm. Well, I think when we look at problems as outside of our world and outside of our immediate lives, then it can spin forever. But I think the important part is people have to feel a sense of community and a sense of belonging so that they want to take action for change. Right. Creating conditions for change is so important.

00;17;29;00 – 00;17;48;16

Sakura

And that gets like the very beginning right sense of belonging that feels so luxurious, but it’s not food, shelter, housing. Those are necessities. But a sense of belonging is also a necessity. So if we can get more people to feel like they belong, the more they’re going to participate, right?

00;17;48;18 – 00;18;16;15

Ryan

I don’t think I’ve ever heard that framed in those terms. But as you said, it resonates very significantly as a necessity or need to belong, which is amazing. Also in that article you talk about in your industry, specifically focusing on things you can change in for you as the CEO of this organization. Can you speak to that? Because I feel like that must be hard because inherently in what you do, you just said you are here to help everybody.

00;18;16;25 – 00;18;20;11

Ryan

So how do you figure out how you can control what you can change?

00;18;20;22 – 00;18;44;20

Sakura

Yeah, that’s a great question. So that’s kind of like the change maker part, right? Helping communities develop the capacity and people so that it’s not one person or one organization or one institution carrying the load for everyone. It’s important that you can see yourself in the work and that’s the whole like what’s the idiom about the tide and the ships.

00;18;45;08 – 00;18;47;04

Ryan

As the tide rises or rise?

00;18;47;04 – 00;18;47;22

Sakura

Yes.

00;18;48;08 – 00;18;58;20

Ryan

Yeah. I don’t know if that’s it, but we can go with that today. We can all sorts of firsts on the pursuit of today. But yeah, the idea is lifting together.

00;18;58;21 – 00;19;28;24

Sakura

Right. And I think that it’s hard to do. That’s a very aspirational goal to have and in my world of philanthropy, a lot of foundations and funders are thinking about this very question. We can’t be all things to everyone. So how can we help focus so that we’re efficiently and effectively supporting lovers of change? And that’s the thing is how do we use leverage and levers of change to make good stuff happen?

00;19;29;00 – 00;19;43;17

Ryan

Is that kind of a day to day focus for you? Again, controlling the things you can change because with such heady matters and such big issues that you tackle, is that something that’s important to you to instill in your team as well and monitor that each day so everybody doesn’t get frustrated?

00;19;44;08 – 00;19;50;19

Sakura

Yeah, that’s a great question. I should check in because we probably don’t check in enough. Right. I think.

00;19;51;14 – 00;19;53;04

Ryan

We’ve made it clear they’re not slacking, they’re.

00;19;53;04 – 00;19;53;22

Sakura

Not clapping.

00;19;54;11 – 00;19;55;26

Ryan

So that’s good.

00;19;55;26 – 00;20;19;17

Sakura

They’re not slacking. But I think because we talked to so many different types of organizations to make sure that we do have that priority missing in our heads. Right. How can we be most helpful? Right. I think that that’s an inherent question that our staff always focuses on. We have a set of guiding principles that help us understand where can we best fit in here?

00;20;20;06 – 00;20;42;14

Sakura

And when it comes to those complex problems, housing, childcare, I mean, we know that these are big, hairy issues in our community. It would be foolish for us to think that we’re going to solve either of those problems, but we know who key players can be to help amplify, not just talk about the problem, but like, let’s talk about solutions.

00;20;42;29 – 00;21;06;00

Sakura

How can we get small groups together to build on a set of solutions to kind of, like, chip away at this thing, right? Right. And at different levels, too. So we’ve got people who are policy wonks. We’re like helping to craft good policy, to help rural communities. And these issue areas, we’ve got community activists that are asking friends and family, hey, do you want to open a daycare?

00;21;06;11 – 00;21;09;21

Sakura

Or like, what would it take, right, to get you to open a daycare?

00;21;10;02 – 00;21;33;07

Ryan

Exactly. Or to help make moves to reasonably increase capacities and things like that to support those initiatives. But that is true. I met a new business person to the community and he’s been here a little while and said still hasn’t found a place, deliver child care. So that is still a very prevalent issue in 2018. Your reimagine your vision and mission statement and I want to read the vision statement from the website.

00;21;33;07 – 00;21;41;21

Ryan

We envision communities that are adaptive and thriving for everyone know. That’s great, it’s wonderful. It’s succinct. Was that a big change?

00;21;42;16 – 00;22;08;16

Sakura

We continue to learn, but we have learned a lot from our pandemic time. Right. And we want thriving and resilient communities as well, which is part of our old mission statement. But one of the things that floated to the top that we saw across the board was the ability and willingness to be adaptive helps us create newer and better conditions.

00;22;09;05 – 00;22;40;21

Sakura

Right. So we saw nonprofits really they’re already doing the hard work, right? We saw them adapt either with how they manage their own staff or how they provide services, how they’re engaging community. All those things help for longevity. Right, and sustainability. All right. So that word floated all the way to the top. We still want to help communities be resilient and thriving, but we do think that being adaptive leads to those outcomes, right?

00;22;40;24 – 00;23;02;29

Ryan

Yeah. Well, adaptive. I love is the term and I think that’s something that definitely was birthed from pandemic times. But when you think about another word that I think is not necessarily synonymous, but innovation, is innovation inherent in change making, or is it hard sometimes to innovate within the scope of what you’re doing?

00;23;03;09 – 00;23;19;26

Sakura

It is very hard because when you’re already riding the bike and you’re also cleaning the bike and making sure none of the bike parts are falling off, and then you have to think about, well, what would a new bike look like? That’s kind of what folks in the nonprofit sector have to they’re already going on all cylinders, right?

00;23;20;12 – 00;23;46;15

Sakura

So I think innovation can be challenging. But I think one glimmer of hope for me is that if we can help create the space for people to dream and to think for a different day, instead of maintaining the current day, how awesome could things be? Right? Yeah, I’m not going to say we have created that yet, but that’s definitely intention that I have to help make some of that space so that people can dream for future.

00;23;46;20 – 00;24;11;16

Ryan

Right fund their website. Your impact areas are listed as community assets systems change and Leadership for change. Well, I think is really definitely all encompassing based on our conversation so far. But if I can get a little more granular for something that you do that I thought was interesting and worth discussion, what is meant by focusing on the inclusion of neurodiverse people in the workforce and how can Traverse City benefit from that focus?

00;24;11;16 – 00;24;40;03

Sakura

Yeah, one of the things that we have is a leadership learning lab and it’s bringing leaders from most of the nonprofit sector. But we also have governmental and sometimes for profit leaders who come together in a year long cohort program. And what the goal is, is to, first of all, create community right across competent communities of leaders who are growing up into these new responsibilities and roles together.

00;24;40;20 – 00;25;04;01

Sakura

And it’s not about one form of leadership training. This is really focused on helping people understand their leadership styles and how that interacts with the people that they work with in community and how it’s all dynamic. There’s not like one perfect leader.

00;25;04;01 – 00;25;04;06

Ryan

So.

00;25;04;20 – 00;25;15;26

Sakura

Many kinds of leaders with many styles. And really what we focus on is how do you essentially, you know, understand how to engage with lots of different kinds of people?

00;25;15;26 – 00;25;16;08

Ryan

Sure.

00;25;16;19 – 00;25;21;21

Sakura

Because that’s a more sustainable model, probably. But that’s our hypothesis. We don’t really know what we hope.

00;25;21;25 – 00;25;31;16

Ryan

Right? Well, it doesn’t sound like a terrible thing. Hopefully nobody listening disagrees. Looking at how large Rotary charities are, it’s a worldwide organization, correct?

00;25;31;24 – 00;25;34;17

Sakura

Actually, we’re five county, but Rotary, not this one.

00;25;34;17 – 00;25;47;04

Ryan

But Rotary International. So tied to how influenced are you by national events and if so, how do you bring that into the fold for Rotary Charities here in Traverse City?

00;25;47;17 – 00;25;49;14

Sakura

Yeah, you ask good questions.

00;25;49;17 – 00;25;50;19

Ryan

Thanks. We try.

00;25;50;19 – 00;26;05;22

Sakura

So I’m a second generation Rotarian. My dad was a Rotarian. He had this cool white hat with the rotary wheel embroidered on the front and I forever. I had no idea what it was. So how serendipitous that it’s such a big part of that’s.

00;26;05;22 – 00;26;12;07

Ryan

An image from your father who I understand and I’m sorry to hear that you lost early in life. That’s an image that was.

00;26;12;26 – 00;26;13;15

Mark

Associated.

00;26;13;15 – 00;26;33;01

Sakura

With my head. Yes, absolutely. You know, you never know when things come back around. But when I came to this community ten years ago, I was invited to a Rotary Club meeting. I’m like, Oh, this is so familiar. Why do I know this? And then it just popped into my head. And so I knew that this was going to be part of my life.

00;26;33;23 – 00;26;57;02

Sakura

And I was able to attend a Rotary District conference, which is kind of like a regional group of Rotarians. And what I loved so much about that was that common thread of We want to help community and do that through community service and fellowship. So when I think about those values, I’m like, Who doesn’t want that? Who doesn’t want to be part of a community, who doesn’t want to have fellowship?

00;26;57;16 – 00;27;25;08

Sakura

It really frees me in a way to feel secure that those are values that I can carry forward with me wherever I go. And, you know, when we think about how do national level issues like racial justice translate to our region, it oftentimes is just so puzzling, right? Because we see our community and the demographics speak for themselves that it’s a fairly homogenous community by race.

00;27;25;13 – 00;27;42;01

Sakura

But like, what does that really mean? Because we all have our story. We all either grew up on one side of the track or the other. So there is some shared experience that I think we really have undervalued or not yet had the bravery to like bring forward.

00;27;42;28 – 00;27;54;12

Ryan

Right. Is it hard to communicate a new concept or if you want to bring something in, what’s the key to delivering it to your team, your organization, and getting everybody on board with you?

00;27;54;26 – 00;28;20;29

Sakura

We talk, we share ideas. We come to the table with openness. I mean, that is I think one of the greatest things about our current team is if we need extra help, we’re like, Hey, I need a hand here. Or, Oh, I came across this idea in community. Like, What do you think about it? I think creating that culture of openness is so important because people can ask for help and people are very willing to give help.

00;28;21;09 – 00;28;40;19

Ryan

Right. I want to present a hypothetical to you and you’re not held to this at all. But I think it may be an interesting discourse if for some reason, all things being equal, it came down and you were told you need to just focus on one thing, one issue, for whatever reason. What would that be?

00;28;41;16 – 00;28;42;22

Sakura

One issue?

00;28;43;04 – 00;28;52;09

Ryan

All the oil is gone now and we just have the resources. For one thing that we can move forward on. Would that be an easy answer for you to come up with on behalf of Rotary?

00;28;52;22 – 00;29;17;12

Sakura

No, it’s not, because I think one of the things that we’ve learned, which is why we are not an issue focused organization, is because life is interconnected housing, child care, workforce, those things don’t exist without each other, right? So I think there’s definitely a danger of picking the one if I really, really had to pick, oh man.

00;29;17;17 – 00;29;19;17

Ryan

Would equity be at the top in all forms?

00;29;20;23 – 00;29;35;19

Sakura

The word equity, what it means to me is a little more broad because I’ll go back to that sense of belonging. The word equity has to exist because there’s a great sense of not belonging and not being accepted.

00;29;35;19 – 00;29;41;21

Ryan

Right. Why is it important to you to bring non-conventional minds together?

00;29;42;13 – 00;29;45;00

Sakura

Oh, because that’s when the good stuff happens.

00;29;45;00 – 00;29;45;15

Ryan

The good stuff.

00;29;45;16 – 00;30;08;05

Sakura

That’s when the good stuff happens. When you can create a space that people from different perspectives and experiences can come to the table and feel both safe and brave to speak up and feel that they’re not going to be judged or dismissed. And then you can come up with wonderful, great ideas because every person brings something new to the table, right?

00;30;08;07 – 00;30;24;20

Sakura

They also might have a resource that they don’t even think of as a resource. And it needs to be drawn out like, oh, wait, you know what? Oh, I can do that or I can make that happen. But if you’re not part of the discussion, if you’re not asked about it, it’s really hard to uncover those hidden resources right?

00;30;24;20 – 00;30;25;00

Sakura

Yeah.

00;30;25;25 – 00;30;40;03

Mark

Yeah. I mean, a lot of leaders don’t consider themselves leaders and they don’t think of themselves in that manner. But then if you sit and talk with somebody, you start pulling that out of them. You realize all the interconnectivity and the knowledge that they hold.

00;30;40;08 – 00;30;41;11

Sakura

Yeah, exactly.

00;30;42;07 – 00;31;02;22

Ryan

From the Fulfillment podcast, there was a great story that you told about. You were slinging Wall Street bonds from a desk in New York and you’ve traveled internationally, and I’m sure those things are called upon in your day to day role now, which I’m sure you appreciate. But you talk about getting to a point where you became disconnected either with or from work.

00;31;03;08 – 00;31;12;23

Ryan

What are the keys to recognizing that for anybody who may be facing the same thing, maybe not necessarily at your level, but just are there signs and should you always act on that?

00;31;13;08 – 00;31;37;22

Sakura

That’s a great question. So if I went back to my earlier self and think back to what were those signs? I think one good quick check is when you look at the people around you and what they value in their life, it’s often related to the culture, the organization, right? It attracts similar types of people who want to do similar things.

00;31;38;06 – 00;31;59;19

Sakura

So when I did that, I was like, Mm, no, I don’t think I want to do those things, battle it out in a big city over private school applications and that whole kind of gamut of life. The golden handcuffs, if you will. And it just wasn’t for me. But, you know, I have a number of friends who have corporate lives and it’s busy and it’s different.

00;31;59;28 – 00;32;00;28

Sakura

And that’s great, too.

00;32;01;03 – 00;32;28;10

Ryan

Yeah. Later in your life and career, your mom said something pretty important to you, which is I just want you to be happy. So you had this motivating mentor in a way or leader and a mom who motivated you. And when she said that, you said that it felt like a pressure valve was released for you. Right. But was there a part of you that wanted to say, like, why didn’t you say that before?

00;32;28;10 – 00;32;36;16

Ryan

Or Why did you wait so now? Because it seems very well time it does for the story. But was that an important trajectory for you?

00;32;36;27 – 00;32;52;12

Sakura

Well, like I said, we’re all still learning. Right. And so I don’t think my mom really came to that realization for quite some time because she was extremely proud of me having this fancy banker life. And yeah, I don’t think she came to that’s a little bit later.

00;32;53;00 – 00;32;54;04

Ryan

Hashtag bank life.

00;32;54;16 – 00;32;55;00

Mark

I do think.

00;32;55;28 – 00;33;06;07

Ryan

You were quoted as saying in that previous article that it’s important to allow yourself to experience joy and curiosity as a leader. Can you expand on that?

00;33;06;18 – 00;33;17;16

Sakura

Oh, man, how do we not do that? Because when you don’t allow joy and curiosity, I mean, we’re just making the widgets. We’re just making widgets.

00;33;17;24 – 00;33;22;22

Ryan

Making the widgets. That’s great. That is true.

00;33;22;22 – 00;33;44;14

Sakura

Yeah, it’s hard to do. You can’t knock at a line and be like, Oh, it’s all like puppies and rainbows. But I think if you can create time, whether it’s just a moment of appreciation for the spring bloom or whatever it is, I think we have to get out of our everyday selves to like really bring our best to the table.

00;33;44;16 – 00;33;57;07

Ryan

Absolutely. You’ve said and I wonder if this is still true. That’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done. And I’ve lived here so I can empathize. But was being in San Francisco with a newborn. That’s still true.

00;33;57;18 – 00;33;58;06

Sakura

Mm hmm.

00;33;58;06 – 00;33;59;04

Ryan

Hardest thing you’ve ever done.

00;34;00;08 – 00;34;11;16

Sakura

You read all the baby books of. Oh, your baby’s a peanut and your baby’s a marshmallow and your baby’s a pineapple. I did not read a single book about what you do after your baby comes home.

00;34;11;16 – 00;34;12;01

Mark

Oh.

00;34;12;26 – 00;34;36;12

Sakura

It was a lot of trial by fire. And because my mom was so work oriented when she came to visit, when my daughter was born and she was watching me change diapers and burp and do all the things that basically happened on like a two or three hour cycle with a newborn. She just looked at me and she goes, Wow, that looks so harsh.

00;34;37;22 – 00;34;38;06

Mark

It’s like.

00;34;38;19 – 00;34;42;18

Sakura

Yeah, it is hard. And then she like walked away to go watch television.

00;34;43;01 – 00;34;45;14

Mark

In the way she could do it. Like.

00;34;46;07 – 00;34;47;25

Ryan

It’s real hard at that.

00;34;47;26 – 00;35;00;29

Mark

We forget it quick. And as the kids get old and then go back and you see somebody else, you’re like, Oh yeah, yeah, because I’ve had baby fever before. And then another friend has a child and like.

00;35;00;29 – 00;35;01;17

Ryan

That’s what that was.

00;35;01;17 – 00;35;02;11

Mark

Like. Yeah, yeah.

00;35;03;27 – 00;35;18;08

Ryan

You have a great quote and I’ve quoted you to yourself a few times. It’s another accolade for you. You’re very quotable and I like this one a lot. Quote, Keep the window to the world open because creating that space is necessary to facing the tough challenges in front of us. As I said.

00;35;18;08 – 00;35;18;18

Sakura

That.

00;35;18;23 – 00;35;20;07

Ryan

You did.

00;35;20;07 – 00;35;21;04

Sakura

Wow. Okay.

00;35;21;05 – 00;35;23;08

Mark

People don’t get to see that you just up with this time.

00;35;23;19 – 00;35;41;10

Ryan

I’m really enjoying that. We’re going to do that again, keep the window to the world open because creating that space is necessary to facing the tough challenges in front of us. And I feel that it’s similar to your philosophy on allowing yourself as a leader to experience joy and curiosity, but what does it mean to keep the windows of the world open?

00;35;41;28 – 00;36;06;22

Sakura

Hmm. I think people can rack up accomplishments over a lifetime. Right. And when we’re done with the career or when we’re passed on, people want to talk about all the great things that you did. But those are kind of, you know, finite items. Right? What is really like the value of a human life? Accomplishments are wonderful, but we are also all humans.

00;36;06;22 – 00;36;24;00

Sakura

And whether or not you have one or ten or none or a thousand, we’re still all humans. I think that really for me speaks to let’s remember that we are humans and that there are a lot of us and we’re better in community and together than like keeping our heads down and just focusing on our own stuff.

00;36;24;16 – 00;36;24;29

Ryan

Right?

00;36;26;00 – 00;36;30;12

Mark

Wow, I wasn’t prepared. Lung cancer shows over.

00;36;31;10 – 00;36;46;05

Ryan

Yeah. I mean, we can literally drop the mic at this point in time. And finally, maybe my most hard hitting question, the most hard hitting question we have for you is, are you still really amazing at Windex saying the bottom two feet of a window?

00;36;46;05 – 00;36;55;27

Sakura

Well, ask Mark, because I windex my car windows today because I had puppy nose prints all over them and we had to carpool to an event that the windows are clean.

00;36;56;16 – 00;36;56;25

Mark

And it was.

00;36;56;25 – 00;36;57;04

Sakura

Clean.

00;36;57;04 – 00;37;06;14

Mark

So he didn’t I got I got in one of those cars with that guy. Yes. It’s messy. I got to get it detailed. I got it. I was like, well, she’s never riding with me.

00;37;06;14 – 00;37;16;11

Ryan

Everybody is harder on themselves a little bit, I think. And so that was a skill that was developed from your time at the resort and your mom’s tutelage. And I think that’s great.

00;37;16;11 – 00;37;20;25

Sakura

Right at the unofficial matches, swimwear, store, daycare.

00;37;20;26 – 00;37;28;03

Ryan

Amazing. The resort daycare and saw the windows at Rotary Charities. Do you have an unreasonable expectation for cleanliness at this point or.

00;37;28;12 – 00;37;33;26

Sakura

Ooh, that’s a great question. You know, the folks at Grand Traverse come and take care of us.

00;37;33;27 – 00;37;34;10

Ryan

Oh, that’s.

00;37;34;13 – 00;37;35;22

Sakura

The windows are always clean.

00;37;35;22 – 00;37;41;05

Ryan

That’s amazing. Is there anything else that you’d like to share with our listeners at all as it relates to yourself or Rotary?

00;37;41;29 – 00;37;43;21

Sakura

Oh, man, check our website out.

00;37;44;13 – 00;37;47;07

Ryan

Yeah We were going to go there. Rotary Charities dot org.

00;37;47;14 – 00;38;02;13

Sakura

Whether yes, that’s right. Rotary Charities dot org. Whether or not you are new to town or old town. A longtime resident, you know, there are so many opportunities to engage in community and it’s a good place to get started to look for resources and get engaged.

00;38;02;16 – 00;38;05;29

Ryan

Is that the place that anybody can support or even donate?

00;38;06;10 – 00;38;08;15

Sakura

Oh, we don’t take donations.

00;38;08;16 – 00;38;09;02

Ryan

All right.

00;38;09;13 – 00;38;10;17

Sakura

Given to the non-profits.

00;38;10;23 – 00;38;16;17

Ryan

That is true. But support any kind of volunteer opportunities would be found on the website as well, correct?

00;38;16;18 – 00;38;22;15

Sakura

Yes, volunteer. And also, if you’re interested in volunteering generally in the community, United Way has an awesome volunteer portal.

00;38;23;09 – 00;38;40;26

Ryan

Beautiful, excellent. Well, Sakura, thank you so much for your pursuits. And to all of those who pursue along with you ensuring that we are addressing and putting forth solutions to our region’s complex problems and creating community assets for all. I love that and to our listeners, thank you all for listening and thank you for pursuing the puzzle.

00;38;42;04 – 00;39;09;23

Mark

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us again for one more episode on the Pursuit of Podcast, The Pursuit of Rotary Charities of Traverse City. We want to thank Sakura Takano for coming in and speaking on behalf of the Rotary and for more information and to get involved, visit Rotary Charities dot org. Find out about funding opportunities, learning experiences and overall community connections.

00;39;10;05 – 00;39;15;15

Mark

And as always for all things audio and video, podcast check us out at NewLeonard.com.