As the holiday lights go up and we gather with family and friends, I find myself in that reflective space this time of year always brings. Thanksgiving reminded me to pause and appreciate what matters most - our ʻohana, our community, the relationships that make doing business and living in Hawaii so special.
It's also got me thinking about the year that's been. And what a year it was.
The 2025 AI Whirlwind#
Let's be honest: 2025 was a lot. It felt like every week brought another headline about AI that was supposed to change everything. New tools that could write your emails, generate videos from a text description, build apps without code. Models that used to need massive data centers suddenly running on a laptop. A new "ChatGPT killer" seemingly every month.
The pace was overwhelming. And with all that noise came pressure. The pressure to act, to adopt, to not get left behind.
Many of us felt it. Some jumped in. Some held back. Most of us did a bit of both, trying to figure out what was real and what was hype.
What I've noticed: the businesses that struggled weren't the ones who picked the "wrong" tool. They were the ones who skipped a step.
The Step We Skipped#
When I talk with business owners about their AI experiments, the ones that didn't quite land, I hear variations of the same story. They started with technology. They found a tool that seemed promising, maybe saw a demo that looked impressive, and tried to fit it into their operations.
What they didn't do first? Sit down with their people.
Not to explain the new tool. To listen. To actually understand what their team does day-to-day, not what's written in a job description or documented in a process manual, but the real work. The workarounds. The friction points. The things that eat up time and energy.
I've lost count of how many times I've seen a gap between "how we think this works" and "how it actually works." That gap is where AI projects go to die.
If you don't understand the real problem, you can't evaluate whether it's worth solving. And if you haven't involved the people who live with that problem every day, you've already lost them before you've started.
A Different Approach for 2026#
So my invitation for the new year: slow down to speed up.
Before you evaluate another AI tool, before you attend another demo, before you read another article about what's coming next, start with your people. Observe. Ask questions. Understand the work as it really happens, not as it's supposed to happen.
Then co-create the solution with them. Not "roll out" a new system. Not "train" them on something that was decided without their input. Actually involve them in figuring out what would help.
When you do this, you get ownership instead of resistance. You get real adoption, the kind where people actually change how they work because they helped design the change. Not shelfware.
This Isn't New to Us#
What I love about this approach: it's not some fancy framework. It's how we already do business in Hawaii.
We build relationships before we build transactions. We take time to understand before we act. We move at the pace of trust.
Kuleana reminds us that responsibility is shared, we’re accountable to our teams and our community, not just our timelines. Lōkahi reminds us that we work better together, across departments, across roles. Mālama calls us to care for what we’re building, to tend it with intention.
The businesses I see thriving with technology aren't the ones who moved fastest. They're the ones who brought their people along.
Looking Ahead#
The AI tools will keep coming. 2026 will bring its own whirlwind of announcements and breakthroughs and pressure to keep up.
But technology serves people, not the other way around. The best solutions come from understanding real problems. And lasting change happens when people feel like partners, not passengers.
As we head into this holiday season, I'm grateful for this community, for the conversations, the questions, and the willingness to think differently about what technology can do for us here in Hawaii.
May your holidays be filled with warmth, connection, and just enough downtime to dream about what's possible.
Mele Kalikimaka and Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou.
