From baseball to banking, Billy Pieper's  journey is a master class in hustle, humility and leading for the greater good.

We  meet at the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design - once the home  of philanthropist Doris Duke - now a center for art, ideas and connection.

Ours begins in what was her living room.

I'm a son of Hawaiʻi, born and raised here,  love this place, and I feel like lately my biggest focus has been on the fact that so  many people are leaving our islands.

I try and bring it all back to how do we create  opportunities for local people to thrive.

Tell me about that drive, why  that's so important to you.

You know, I went to Kamehameha Schools, and when  I think about why Princess Pauahi created or left everything she owned to start a school, it was  because she thought education could be the answer to reverse what was happening to her people, and  what was happening to people were they were dying, right?

Thousands of people every year  and most of it due to disease and foreign contact but she said education will be the key.

And you fast forward the tape to today.

People aren't necessarily dying, but our people are  leaving in the same numbers.

I mean, you know, 2023, I think it was 60,000 people left.

Why I love Hawaiʻi so much is because of the people.

And that's changing, right?

And when  you think about what tension exists in me is that I do want people to thrive.

And many times there's  not opportunities here for local people to thrive.

So yes, go.

Go to Texas or Vegas, right, and  make a life.

And make a living that you can be proud of.

But ultimately, if this continues,  Yunji, Hawaiʻi will be unrecognizable in 10, 15, 20 years, right?

If this continues to  happen, and that can't happen on our watch.

So as a leader, what are you  doing to help stem the tide?

Affordability is the main issue.

And  then when you break down affordability, housing is a big expense.

So what can we  do as a bank to drive improved outcomes for folks when it comes to owning a home?

But I think broader, when you look at from a more broad perspective, is, what can leaders  do in their current role to help create improved outcomes, right, and namely in affordability,  but everybody has their own kuleana in Hawaiʻi, and what are they doing to help stem the tide  of folks leaving, right?

What can we bring to the potluck?

So imagine the pot luck is  the party where the solution for what's happening is gonna be made.

What are we as  a community bringing to the table, right?

I feel like things are changing now whereas  like I said people are actually looking at what they can do to, to make a difference.

Collectively looking at what can we do together in concert to make difference.

Now instead of community being gimme, gimme gimme put your hands down and start to work  because we're trying to do for the, and again, it's not new, but we're trying provide  hope that we're trying to bring things to the potluck.

Now community, your turn too,  right?

That's not just sitting back and waiting.

Given the scope of that challenge, you're  one person, I know you say community and all those other levers that you talked about, but  does it ever feel like, how can I, you know, do you ever feel overwhelmed by this problem?

Yep.

Definitely.

I mean it's something that I think anybody would, any leader would feel  overwhelmed.

The thing though is we've got to start somewhere.

It's like you can't learn  how to drive in a parked car.

So if we just sit in the car and don't move, sure, we're safe, but  we're never going to get our license.

Right?

So, so.

We need to get our license.

Like we need, we  need action and we may not have all the answers, but we're not gonna solve it in a parked car.

That urge to get out of park and into gear, is not new.

It’s the same drive that made him  a force in football and baseball at Kamehameha Schools, earned him a football scholarship  at UCLA, and drove him to play two seasons of minor league baseball.

For as long as he  can remember, Billy has been leading teams.

I was always... you know from when I was 5 years  old, I was always like the biggest guy on the team and then as a result I guess I was probably the  most bossiest guy on this team and as a result I was the leader on all of my teams.

I mean I  was literally team captain on every I've been on I think in my life.

I think so.

Wow, even when you were small?

Even when I was, I mean, we didn't really have  team captains, you know, in Pinto and Mustang and I think a lot of it was probably DNA.

I  think, you know, that's how I'm wired.

But a lot it too was probably my size, right?

You  know, when I started going to school, ended up being a leader in my class, right?

And just,  you know, emerging into leadership roles there.

Height helped, but it was his father who set  the standard: be your best, no matter the task.

In our prayers at night, he would always ask Ke  akua to help make me the best that I could be.

And what that meant for me was that in whatever I did,  whether it was school, whether it was athletics, whether it was taking out the trash, cleaning the  yard.

I just had this sense of excellence where I wanted to be the best that I could be.

We know that you were a standout athlete and also standout academically.

How were you able to do both?

I tried to outwork the competition.

I  wasn't the smartest, but I would study hard, I would prepare for exams, and I did well and  then athletics, in particular, that's where, you know I think a lot of my work ethic comes from  today because you can't fake it.

You can't cram for an athletic test.

You can't cram a physical  test.

You got to put the work in.

And so my dad taught me that.

He underscored the importance of  preparation and outworking the competition.

And we may not be the smartest people in the room.

But we for sure will be the hardest workers.

And how has that carried over to today?

That work ethic, that discipline, help me professionally.

And so I’m, I think if  you look at, you know, the way I, I carry myself in the community, the humility I hope people see  that I carry myself with, a lot of it comes from working hard in private, not working hard to  get noticed, but working hard and outworking the competition when no one was watching.

Still ahead on A Leader's Journey... You know, coach Gaison used to tell us, you  can teach what you know but you reproduce what you are, right?

So you can talk  the game, but you know people want, they learn more from models than manuals.

Billy takes us back to where for him, it all began and reveals the moments that tested him most.

We asked Billy Pieper to take us to the place where he feels most grounded in Hawai‘i.

For him,  it’s not a beach or a boardroom.

It’s this bench, overlooking the football field at  Kamehameha Schools Kapālama Campus.

So Billy, why'd you bring us here?

Well, this is where it all started.

When I got into Kamehameha in seventh grade, I really didn't  wanna go to Kamehameha.

Probably like most folks, they wanna go their public high school or middle  school in their neighborhood.

Mine would have been Niu Valley Intermediate or you know ultimately  Kaiser.

But when I came here, I immediately signed up for all the sports.

And football was the first  season.

And I met some unbelievable coaches that were unlike any other coach I had in the sense  that they saw something in me that I didn't necessarily see in myself.

And they made it their  mission to kind of pull it out of them.

And so, athletics really opened the door for me to  understand what I really was capable of.

And what he gained here went far beyond the field.

Kamehameha provided me, I think, three main things.

One, my wife.

You know, I met my  wife here in the seventh grade.

We started, you know, we dated in sophomore year.

Kind  of been together ever since, but it gave me a sense of pride in being Hawaiian  again.

I think part of me was shame that, and depending on the group, shame that I either  wasn't Hawaiian enough around my Hawaiian friends, or that I was Hawaiian amongst my Japanese friends  and that meant I was lazy or not as smart or, and so Kamehameha reinvigorated in me that no,  being Hawaiian is actually a gift.

And you have some supernatural strength that comes from that,  you know?

And then the third thing, I think one of the most important things is it actually gave  me... It provided me the foundation of my faith.

How do you carry that with you in your leadership  as you, you know, go on, you mentor others, you kind of bring that coaching style  regardless of whatever the venue is?

Yeah, you know, Coach Gaison used to tell us, you  can teach what you know but you reproduce what you are, right?

So you can talk the game, but you  know people want, they learn more from models than manuals or from what you say.

And so that's what  I try to do.

I try embody the values.

Be kind, put others above yourself, work hard, right.

And be proud of your ancestry, and with all of that comes, ultimately, I think one of the  biggest things is this sense of responsibility.

After Kamehameha, Billy went to UCLA  on a football scholarship, then spent two seasons playing minor league baseball.

When the major leagues didn’t come calling, he came home—earned his MBA from UH Mānoa,  and built a successful career in finance.

But letting go of that first dream wasn't easy.

(:16) Part of I think my identity for so long has been wrapped up in athletics and I feel like there's  a certain part of me that feels like I failed, that I never made it.

And so like I said, I  played college football, played college baseball, I was drafted, played minor league baseball,  but I never made it.

I never, never made to the major leagues.

And I think, you know when  I came home, it was never something conscious that I thought of.

But I feel like there's  this sense that I'm not a failure because I don't want to be just doom and gloom,  but that I got something to prove still, And I think over the last decade or so of my  life, I finally, again, maybe not complete peace with me not making it, but I think there's more  peace around that it's less about performance.

It's less about me and what I'm doing and what  recognition I'm gonna get and more service.

And it feels a lot better, I think, but more  importantly, I'm starting to see different types of doors open and I think it's partly because  of that mind shift around to your point was one of the difficulties or tensions or challenges.

It's been me versus me, right, is this concept of trying to prove myself.

And I think as leaders the  faster you can figure out that it ain't about you the better and the more impactful you're gonna be.

It's so interesting to hear you say this because from outside looking in, right, standout athlete,  standout scholar, on all the lists, you know, "20 for the next 20" or whatever, what have you in  our community, you've hit all those benchmarks and now senior vice president at a major institution.

So to hear you say that you have that same self-doubt that I think so many of us share.

I think that's reassuring for a lot of folks.

Yeah, it's true, it is not something  I'm faking.

Yeah, it’s a, you know, I think we all have strongholds.

We have these  things in our lives where they're lies.

And the faster we can identify and then work to  overcome them, I think the better off we're going to be not only for our own, just our own  mental health, but I think for others as well.

The team captain who once relied on  size and grit, has evolved.

Today, the father of three is not charging ahead, but  creating space for others rise alongside him.

You mentioned your father and this black and  white sort of style of parenting.

How did that influence your leadership style?

Has that evolved  over time?

Are you that same kind of a leader?

I'd like to say I'm a student of leadership.

So  early on in my career, and obviously in athletics, I was a leader, maybe bossy is the best word,  like I would just tell people what to do, right?

Black and white.

You go there, you do this,  right, and get on people to get them to perform at the level we needed to, or needed them to.

I  think as I evolve... My leadership style evolved.

Leadership, it's an art, right?

There's  different types of leadership you use.

But I think as I got older, especially as I moved  into higher level teams, it was less about telling people what to do, being bossy.

It was  about leading by example.

And so working hard, doing things that I was asking them to do.

And  showing them that I'm never gonna put people in a situation that I myself am not comfortable doing,  right.

And then it evolved into this sort of more influence model where it was about winning hearts  and minds and showing people that I legitimately cared about them and their success.

It's kind of  like how I look at my role as a parent.

Like in the beginning right, you tell your kid exactly  what's right, what's wrong, what to do what, not to do, punish, and right.

But as they get older,  you move from this coach to more of a consultant, where now you're making decisions on the same  side of the table with your son or daughter right.

And I feel like that's how my leadership style  evolved over the course of my professional career.

Coming up, at a time when so  many are choosing to leave, why Billy is staying - and fighting - for Hawaiʻi.

For Billy Pieper, preserving what makes Hawai‘i home goes beyond policy, it means  helping others believe it’s worth staying , even when so many forces say, "Go."

I operate different here.

I played minor league baseball, I played college, I played on the  continent.

And I don't know, I just feel, and again, it may be supernatural, it might  just be mental, but I feel like when I'm here in Hawaiʻi, dealing with stuff that are related to  the people in Hawaiʻi, I operate, I'm operating at a hundred percent.

I'm firing on all cylinders.

What is it about this place that you feel so in flow with?

Is it the natural landscape?

Is it  community relationships?

Is it your own genealogy, right?

And being of this place.

What  do you think it is that has you in flow here better than anywhere else?

I love that I'm gonna use that in flow because that's what I feel like.

And I  think it's all of it.

I go back to people., But when you go a level deeper it's not just the  people, it's that they care.

They genuinely care about you and your family.

But that's, I think,  the essence of what makes Hawai'i so special.

This concept that no need goes unmet.

When you're making the pitch to others to make some sacrifices to stay here,  because we acknowledge that living here is not always easy, what's the pitch?

I've had several of those conversations with families that were saying, hey, we're  going to Texas, we going Vegas.

To a man, every single conversation I have with folks  that leave, never do it joyfully.

It's like, we're going with the intention to come back.

We're  going, but that's not home.

Hawaiʻi is home.

And so, that's the only pitch, I guess, that I've been  making of folks is, hey, sounds like you already made up your mind to leave, and that's good.

But  you?

I like your term about, you are performing in flow.

You are in flow in Hawaiʻi.

You're not  in flow, in Austin.

And go there for a season.

Have the kids go to school, you're not having to  pay thirty thousand dollars a year for private education, right?

So good, do that.

But come back.

Billy's message isn’t just about staying—it’s about staying connected.

As he sees it, the  path forward can only be forged together.

I really try to focus on unity.

The Bible speaks  about, this is Psalm 133, but it basically talks about where there is unity, that's where  God bestows his blessing.

And I believe that's a principle that can be applied today, Unity doesn't mean we're all kumbaya and everybody agrees on decisions that are being made, but unity  in terms of what's the most important thing.

And you know, bringing it back to the problems we're  facing today.

You know what the most important thing, in my opinion, is?

Is that the fabric  of the community is changing, and local people, especially those who are born and raised here,  but don't feel like there's a realistic shot that they can actually thrive in Hawaiʻi.

And  that... That is shocking, right?

And so to me, if we can all agree on that, the how, the how  we're gonna disagree.

There's gonna be a lot of different viewpoints, but if we all agree  that Hawaiʻi is sort of losing her essence, the stuff that makes Hawaiʻi so unique, or the  stuff makes us so unique to other people when we travel across the world, people find out you're  from Hawaiʻi, it's a different dynamic.

Well, we're slowly starting to lose that.

So  that's to me the most important thing.

Why do you think Hawaii is worth fighting for?

Well, my ancestors, I, I I believe, I feel them lobbying with me to say that can.

Like, we can do  this, and that's why I think it's worth fighting for, because if it was a foregone conclusion that  we're just going to be on playground for tourists, then maybe we don't need to fight as hard,  right, or don't to be, you know, as bold.

We use the example of the fish pond, right?

Paepae  o He'eia, where it was overgrown in mangrove, just up the yin-yang, right.

You couldn't  even see, basically make out the fishpond, but they started work, rehabilitating the fish  pond.

And years into it, I would go visit and look like nothing changed.

I was like braddah  you guys been here for how long and but but what he said was um he goes actually no you you  incorrect there is a lot of change happening.

You might not see it, because the mangrove is still  here.

And it's kind of choking out some of the view of the fishpond.

But what you'll be surprised  to know is that the native birds are starting to return to nest.

Some of the native species  from the fish pond were returning.

So, he said, we're making progress.

The ecosystem is becoming  healthy again.

There's harmony.

There is unity, you know, in this ecosystem, and that is providing  the environment for the natives to return.

That example of the fish pond gives me hope  that although we don't see drastic numbers of folks returning or housing prices stabilizing and  affordable options being added to the inventory by the tens of thousands, we're seeing a lot more,  I think, than we've had in the past.

Government stepping up, developers stepping up.

The  non-profit development community, banks.

I just feel like I'm going to hold on to that  metaphor that we are doing stuff and the metric that we can measure will be the natives returning.

So beautiful.

I want to end by asking you what's the best piece of advice you ever received?

Life isn't about the destination, really.

It's about the company along the way.

When we're on our deathbed, we're not gonna ask for our Louis Vuitton bags or our  newspaper clippings or our, you know, anything material, we're gonna ask for people.

And  I feel like if we can put people at the center of our decisions and really think about from a  perspective of care, reciprocity, kindness, that when you boil it down.

Relationships are what  matter most in life.

It's not our achievements or the acquisition of things, right?

It's people.

It's people.

Billy’s journey reminds us: it’s not about how far you go, but who you bring with  you.

For A Leader's Journey.

I'm Yunji de Nies.