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Season 1 · Episode 02  —  Dan Walker · Microsoft

Let the Island Find You

Content note: This episode includes reflections on suicide, childhood abuse, grief and brain injury. Please listen with care. If you need to talk, free-call or text 1737 (NZ) any time.
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On choosing to be unapologetically Māori in corporate spaces, the pōwhiri that welcomed him into Microsoft, and gifting a pounamu to the company’s CEO.

The masks we wear to survive, a daily karakia in the sea that resets everything, and “hongi the taniwha” — befriending the darker self. Identity, whakapapa, and the double-hulled waka as a metaphor for work.

Read the article about this episode

In this conversation

  • The identity crisis, feeling like “the other,” and corporate culture as a substitute culture.
  • Redundancy as the turning point that sent him back to te ao Māori.
  • Land as your grandmother — kaitiakitanga, and Taranaki Maunga’s legal personhood.
  • The morning water ritual, and letting the water carry away the mamae.
  • The waka, wayfinding, and “let the island find you.”
  • The mask, and “hongi the taniwha” — becoming one with your darker side.

Moments worth holding onto

“I’m going to be unapologetically Māori. I shouldn’t hide it and cover it anymore.”— Dan Walker
“The wayfinding wasn’t about finding the island. It was being in the right space, so the island finds you.”— Dan Walker
“You are connected — not just to each other, but to your ancestors and your descendants.”— Dan Walker