May 2009 Archives

The tactics of the Indians [during the Little Bighorn campaign] resulted in their doing to Custer exactly what Custer had planned tactically to do to them.  And they were able to do it because they had the leaders, the arms and the overwhelming forces, none of which facts were known or appreciated by the Seventh Cavalry.  Their numbers had been underestimated; their leadership and fighting capacity undervalued; their superiority in arms not even suspected.  The Seventh Cavalry paid the penalty for national stupidity.

    Lt. Col. W. A. Graham

And so begins the book, The Genius of Sitting Bull, 13 Heroic Strategies for Today's Business Leaders

National stupidity. That's a good phrase for it. It's a few days after the latest election in my home state of California. The state is facing a budget deficit of $24 billion. In human terms, that means the state is shortly going to run out of money. Our governor says teachers will lose their jobs, firefighters will be laid off and college students will not get grants for tuition this fall.

Murphy & Snell, the authors of the Sitting Bull book say,

"The ultimate tragedy of Custer and leaders like him is that they repay their societies for the privileges they've received by damaging them.  Like so many of America's Eighties generation of "me-first" leaders, Custer symbolizes the greed and insensitivity of predatory values.  Leaders like Custer measure success in simple, one-dimensional terms with such tangible rulers as position or money.  As a result, they pursue single-minded objectives that distort their own personal missions and those of their organizations, corrupting the very foundation of leadership.  Existing only for themselves and the sycophants who protect them, they create a black hole of selfishness that ultimately collapses in on itself.  Just as Michael R. Milken's selfish vision bankrupted Drexel Burnham Lambert, destroyed the financial lives of thousands of individual investors, and cost the FDIC and American taxpayers billions through the sale of phony junk bonds, Custer's vision of personal glory at any price cost the Seventh Cavalry their lives."

What has all of this got to do with Sitting Bull and our current mess in California and the nation?  Let's take Custer as an example of the same type of management that got us into this mess, since, at least in his case, we can see how it turned out.

What mess are we in? Well, in California and the nation we have spent money we didn't have for a very long time. We did this as individuals, states and a country. People took out loans they had no way to repay in the belief that their house would rise in value, they would sell it for a profit and pay back the loan. They believed this because they did not know the facts. Like Custer, they had 'advance scouts' telling them the signs that the facts were different than they believed, but they refused to listen.

Sycophant. There's a word you don't hear every day but it is very appropriate here. A sycophant is someone who flatters his superiors, who hides from them information they may find unpleasant and never disagrees with them. There are a lot of other less kind words for people like this and our organizations are full of them.

How did state government in California get so over budget and why did the people refuse to allow any changes to bail them out?

One way is lack of honesty, generosity, fortitude and courage, those virtues which were the foundation of traditional Sioux culture.  Let's take the most recent fiasco. The state has a budget crisis. We are going to cut teachers, the police force, fire department and grants to students.

Why those areas?

Large organizations have project managers, administrative assistants, "communication specialists" who produce the department newsletter, benefits specialists who help employees with completing health care forms, and a hundred other job descriptions. If each of those areas cut one position, yes, it might be inconvenient to get department news quarterly instead of monthly, to have to wait to get your office supplies or trip scheduled. HOWEVER, it probably is not nearly as inconvenient as having 35 first-graders in a classroom or having your house burn down or not being able to go to college.

Let's look at how the failure of traditional Dakota values led to these cuts:
Generosity - Sitting Bull sacrificed along with his people. He ate what they ate, slept where they slept.  Custer rode while his men walked, ate while they went hungry. Without having shared in their hardships he was not fully aware of how unprepared his army was in terms of arms and supplies.

In California, our "leaders" are asking the people, both taxpayers and those relying on tax-funded programs, to sacrifice while there has been relatively little discussion of cutting budgets for the numerous boards and commissions filled by political appointments or cutting the support staff who provide services to government employees. Because Sitting Bull lived among his people, living the same lifestyle they did, he understood them. He understood their needs, what they could and could not do. Since the ballot measures in California have failed, I have seen many reports from politicians and career government officials who claimed that ,

"The public just didn't get it. They thought we were bluffing about these cuts in programs coming. These cuts are really going to happen."

It was, in fact, those in government who didn't get it. They did not get two facts, due to their disconnect with the people. The first fact is that the public sees a lot of places where government services can be cut that bureaucrats don't consider, because those positions, like having a personal secretary, benefit them, not their people. The second fact is that people just don't have the extra money.  After my husband passed away, there were a couple of tough years while I paid off the funeral bills, medical bills and others that had stacked up. My daughters would occasionally argue with me that they NEEDED a new backpack, or new Nike running shoes because it was for school, or the track team. They somehow thought if they just made me see that it was for a good cause, that they could get me to pay for it. What they failed to understand is that if I just did not have the money, it did not matter how badly they needed it, I could not get it for them. Now, that is excusable  when you are a child of ten or fifteen, but the failure of our state leaders is for the same reason, they just don't understand the position of the average person. Unlike my daughters, our state government leaders are old enough to know better.

HOWEVER, this lack of generosity is not limited to politicians. Over the years, I have reviewed many grant proposals for services that were just not needed. Disability services - how could we be so stingy as to deny services to people unable to care for themselves? Reading the proposals that began, "Everyone deserves a home of their own, eating dinner with a tablecloth on the table..."

In one grant review, I stopped and asked my fellow reviewers,

"Says who? I don't own my own home and I don't understand why I should pay for you to have one."

In the latest round of stimulus grants, I heard complaints that money was not being given to arts organizations, instead going in large bulk to the National Institutes on Health.

Yes, art is wonderful and every time I go into a museum or some beautiful public place like the Los Angeles public library, it reinforces my faith in the goodness and generosity of humanity. If you have $300 million and you give $10 million to build a museum, I think that is fabulous.

If you don't have a job or any skills and you think that one hundred of your neighbors should each pay $1,000 so you can have a house, I think you are very selfish. If you think your neighbors should each pay $500 so you can have a job using your talents and preference, then you're selfish.

In the Tribal Leaders Institute, there are a lot of stories about Joe the Tribal Worker and Susie Sainte. Erich says,

"Joe must have supernatural powers because I meet him on every reservation I visit."

Joe is an unethical person who lies about his qualifications to get the job, comes to work late, leaves early, takes two hour lunches to run into town for groceries or a six-pack of beer, hires his relatives who also do almost no work - well, you get the picture.

Another person we discuss a lot is Susie Sainte. Susie is the opposite of Joe, competent, hard-working, ethical. Fortunately, for every Joe out there, we have meet at least one Susie, too.

Joe and Susie are frequently in conflict. Their goals, values and beliefs are completely different. You can read the stories some Tribal Leader Institute members have written about the Susie or Joe on their own reservation on the Tribal Leader Forum's Joe the Tribal Worker section.

Why would anyone want to keep Joe as a worker instead of Susie? It seems like a no-brainer, right?

It all goes back to two of the Dakota values discussed over and over, courage and honesty. Let's look at what happens with Marcia, a generous, hard-working manager, in her first year as manager of the Tribal Health Department. She has several people working for her, Joe, Susie and a few others who are neither as worthless as Joe nor as completely honest, reliable and effective as Susie.

In her first month on the job, Susie walks into Marcia's office and complains that Joe has three times missed  a meeting that was scheduled with another department. Because the two of them were responsible for representing health concerns, Susie for the children's health programs and Joe for elder health, the project is behind schedule. Susie says,

"I put a lot of work into this. I have come to the meeting and presented my programs and we are all waiting on Joe. He is making the department look bad and wasting everyone's time."

Marcia thinks that Susie is a little too focused on herself and it is not worth getting angry about, however, she promises to talk to Joe. She does, and Joe tells her that Susie did not tell him about the meeting. Besides, he says, Susie is just an over-anxious person trying to be white. He jokes,

"She doesn't understand about reservation time, like real Indians like you and me."

Joe is quite charming. Marcia tells Susie that she has talked to Joe and the situation should be better in the future. As the months go on, Joe continues to miss meetings while Susie obtains a new grant for an early childhood screening program. At evaluation time, Susie gets an outstanding evaluation and a raise.

Joe also gets a good evaluation and a raise. After all, he is a nice guy and we all need to get along. He has worked for the tribe a long time and we need to support our enrolled members. Or so Marcia tells herself. In that time, Joe has worked for seven different departments in the tribal administration, while Susie has been in her present job for three years and her last job for seven years before that.

The truth is that everyone gets a good evaluation. Marcia does not want any unpleasant scenes if someone gets a bad review and doesn't get a raise. After all, she tells herself, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Susie thinks the fact that they both received good evaluations and raises is extremely unfair but she can't think of a way to bring it up without looking stingy. She thinks about coming into work an hour late, as many of her co-workers have started to do, noticing that nothing happens to Joe. However, she believes it is just plain wrong to lie on your time card and claim you worked more hours than you actually did. She just can't bring herself to do it even if everyone else in her department does.

Susie mentions to Marcia that she has been working a lot of hours and it does not seem to be reflected in the difference in pay and promotions. Marcia tells her that she does not need to work so hard and should relax, the work can get done tomorrow.  When Marcia tells Joe or the other employees this when they complain, they compliment her on being so understanding. On the other hand, Susie says, "Fine!" and walks out of her office.

Don't get me wrong, Marcia really likes Susie. She is smart and really cares about tribal health, and so does Marcia. They have good conversations on the future of health care, on what the tribe needs. Marcia thought it was great that Susie got a grant and has told her so many times. In fact, she can't understand why Susie seems so annoyed with her so often when Marcia tries to be a good supervisor, She gave her a good evaluation. She got a raise. Marcia tells Susie she appreciates her.  What more does she want?

After a year, even Marcia is beginning to see that Joe is not doing his job. Other department managers have complained to her. The Transportation Department manager says when he asks questions about the number of elders needing transportation, or how many vehicles Tribal Health has for transportation or how many trips they make with elders per month, Joe either has no answer or gives an answer  that turns out to be wrong. Other staff members seem to avoid being assigned to work with Joe.

Marcia does not want to confront Joe. He has a reputation as having a bad temper. He has a large family that is very active during tribal council elections. Besides, she tells herself, he has been working for the tribe for a long time, he has a family to support.

On Thursday, Susie walked into Marcia's office, slammed the door and told her that she had just found out that Joe had gone to the tribal council and claimed to have written the grant for the children's program. Believing him, after all, he worked in tribal health for Marcia, the council approved Joe to go ahead and write a proposal for health care funding. He did not get the proposal in on time and the tribe lost the chance for funding. Marcia finally sees the point. She says,

"That's it. I am going to move Joe out of the elder programs tomorrow and you are going to take those over."

Susie says quietly,

"No, I don't think so. I am leaving to work for the Tribal Controller."

Marcia is stunned. How can this be happening? She has given Susie raises, praised her work, let her have time off whenever she wanted. How can Susie be quitting?

It's simple, really. Marcia has not had the courage to take the action against Joe she needed to take. Marcia did not have the honesty to admit that Joe was a bad employee. He did not need more training, more time, another explanation of department needs. Marcia did not have the courage and honesty to fire Joe, so she lost Susie Sainte.

And this is how tribal organizations lose their good workers and keep their bad ones.

Erich and I have different opinions sometimes. In his podcast on Dakota values, he says that there isn't any one that is more important than the others, that each of the traditional values - courage, honesty, persistence/fortitude and generosity - is most important in certain circumstances.

Personally, two of those seem to be more needed by leaders. When I consider three men who I see as role models, values that particularly stand out are courage and persistence. Erich is an extremely courageous person. Most recently, he has taken a strong stand against the Fighting Sioux logo. This has certainly cost the company some business, resulted in a lot of hate mail directed toward Erich personally and strained relationships between Erich and some of his friends and relatives.

Three of the biggest role models in my striving to be a leader are two Indians and two Olympic athletes in judo. If you think two plus two equals four, read on...

Three and a half years ago, I was elected to the Board of Directors and as vice-president of the United States Judo Association. Six months ago, when the president resigned, I became president. Facing difficult decisions, Erich's example has been a model for me. Recently, I was faced with some decisions and some well-meaning advisors suggested that I not do anything, delay until after the next election so as not to alienate any potential voters. Thinking of Erich, I said,

"You know, gentlemen, only doing the right thing when no risk is involved doesn't take a lot of courage. Where you really show your character is when you do the right thing even when you know there will be repercusssions. You know people will stop speaking to you, block you from getting positions or promotions you deserve, vote against you, oppose any ideas you have. When you really show your courage is when you fight on even knowing you might lose."

Persistence. It doesn't take that much to be courageous on one day. I've been married three times. My first marriage ended in divorce when I was 25, after six years of marriage. My second husband died shortly after our tenth anniversary, and I am still married to my third husband. Almost twenty-eight years of marriage to three different men gives me some basis for opinion on what is a real man. And, as one of my daughters says,

"Believe me, Mom is just brimming with opinions."

I'm not too impressed by the man who is willing to get in a fight in a bar to 'defend my honor' if he isn't just as willing to get up and go to work every morning to feed our kids. First of all, if you are getting in a fight in a bar, you are probably drunk, but that is a whole different issue.

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, before he was the first Native American elected to the U.S. Senate was on the U.S. Olympic judo team. He was a member of the board of the United States Judo Association, the same board I am on now. He published a book on drill training. With all of his qualifications, he should have been the next Olympic coach and due to some political deals, someone else ended up being the coach instead of him. Think about this a moment - here is a person who has spent most of his life dedicated to something. He made the Olympic team. He competed around the world. He was elected to the national board of directors and a public author. He has been really unfairly treated and lost out for political reasons for a job he should have had. He had a number of choices at this point. He could have sued to try to become coach. He could have accepted that he was treated unfairly and gone on as if nothing happened. He could have stayed around and bad-mouthed and tried to undermine the people who had ousted him. Senator Campbell did none of those things. He walked around and applied his considerable talents to other areas. He became successful in business, ran for the House of Representatives, was elected, ran for the Senate, was elected and served many years. One day, when an attacker came at Senator Quentin Burdick, Senator Nighthorse Campbell used his judo skills to take down the man and protect his fellow senator. Persistence AND courage.

When I get faced with difficult decisions, I think of Senator Campbell and how even though he lost out in the small world of judo politics he had a brilliant career. As for whoever got the position of Olympic coach that year -- who knows? My point is that some of the fights we get caught up in our SO small and petty. We can be like Senator Nighthorse Campbell, just step away and go on to do something more meaningful.


Finally, one of Campbell's teammates back on that judo team, Jim Bregman, was President of the United States Judo Association a few years before me. I called him to get his membership number for a form I needed to complete. He said, "20".   My daughter, who joined six years ago, has membership number 345,871 . So, Jim has been with this organization since the beginning. When I took over as president he advised,

"Don't let the ducks bite you to death."

Jim was a member when the organization started, then, like Senator Campbell, he want on to other things. He had a very successful career in the Department of the Interior, but when the USJA fell on very hard times, he was called out of retirement by his former colleagues. When he took over as president, the organization was $600,000 in debt. Today, and for the last few years, we have been in the black. The same thing happened with him as I saw happen with another president, Cankdeska Cikana Community College president, Dr. Erich Longie. Both brought major financial improvement to their organizations. Both dedicated a good bit of their lives to making their organizations better. Both ended up resigning in disputes with boards.

Depressing? No. Because, like Senator Campbell, both went on to be successful in other ways. Erich founded Spirit Lake Consulting, an extremely successful business that continues to make a difference on the reservations to this day. Jim ran for the board again, with a new slate, and recruited people like me to be on the executive committee. He epitomizes the quote by Walter Lipmann,

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and will to carry on.

Jim did that. Ben Campbell did that. Erich has done that.

Persistence. As a leader, you must have the courage to make the hard decisions. Even if you fail, your example will lead others to follow your example. And that, I agree, is the true test of leadership.