Courage: A tribal value

1
Courage A tribal value

• Custer Leadership vs. Sitting Bull Leadership
• Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc.
• www. spiritlakeconsulting.com

2
Introduction to Courageous Leadership

• The goal of our Leadership Training is to help
  project directors and other managers become
  courageous leaders to address common reservation
  concerns such as
• time management
• maintaining schedules
• meeting quotas, and
• employee absenteeism.

3
Courageous Leadership Our tradition

• Integrity. Sitting Bulls contemporaries, both
  friends and foes, respected his integrity. He
  understood the legitimizing force of integrity
  and established an uncompromising ethical code of
  cooperation and trust among his people. The
  Sioux in 1876 . (and) today, could not afford to
  follow liars, thieves, and fakers.
• Source The Genius of Sitting Bull, 13 Heroic
  Strategies for Todays Business Leaders.

4
Courageous Leadership Today

• Training emphasizes the importance of having the
  courage to make decisions, make exceptions when
  justified and still stand by your policies, not
  backing down when employees demand to have the
  rules waived for them.
• The right technical and management tools will
  help directors, board members, and supervisors
  become courageous leaders. These tools will
  enable them to manage their positions with more
  understanding of how to motivate employees
  through ethical decisions, consistent procedures,
  and fair policies.
• Hint Check the Electronic Filing Cabinet - go
  to
• www.spiritlakeconsulting.com/TLI/efc/

5
Facets of Courageous Leadership

1. Commitment- a leader in the tradition of Sitting
   Bull starts by a commitment to the people, to
   service, not self-interest. This is a Sioux
   tradition, being selfish has long been
   unacceptable in our tribe, as it is unacceptable
   in our leaders today.
2. Knowledge - the Sioux defeated Custer because
   they had knowledge of the numbers, the tactics
   and the weapons possessed by the opposition. They
   studied the competition.
3. Honesty - Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and other
   historic Sioux leaders faced the weaknesses
   within their own ranks and addressed those
   weaknesses.

6
Historic Sioux leadership What did Sitting Bull
know?
7
Sitting Bulls View

1. At stake was the survival of the Sioux as a
   people.
2. Success required that the warriors of his tribe
   work together for a common purpose AND that they
   work with other tribes.
3. Each chief, each warrior, each member of the
   tribe must put the survival of the people above
   selfish interests.
4. Success required the ability to change, even
   using the tools from the white men, such as
   rifles and horses.

8
Custers View

1. Custer was interested in his personal glory.
2. Subordinates who did not agree with Custer did
   not have any place in his organization.
3. Custers interest was in money and power for
   himself. All historical accounts show very little
   concern for his men. He, on the other hand, was
   always well-dressed and well-fed while those he
   was supposed to be leading often went hungry,
   neglected and ignored by their leaders.

9
Writing Assignment

• Take 15 minutes to write about your experiences
  on the reservation with a Custer style of
  leadership.
• What similarities to Custers leadership style do
  you see on the reservation today?