GUIDELINES FOR LEADERS

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GUIDELINES FOR LEADERS
Lessons in Ethical Leadership from Sitting Bull
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THE LITTLE BIGHORN
This was the greatest loss ever handed the U.S.
army. Most discussions have focused on the errors
of Custer as an explanation. Here, we look at the
brilliant - and ethical - decisions made by
Sitting Bull that led to victory.
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Little Big Horn

• A contrast in ethical leadership

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What kind of leader are you?

• We ask, what kind of leader are YOU, not what
  kind of leaders do we have.
• Tribal Leaders with Character is about taking
  personal responsibility.
• As a leader, we applaud you for your continued
  willingness to learn. At the end of this
  presentation are references to continue your
  education further.

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LT. COL. GEORGE CUSTER (An Antithesis to Sitting
Bull)
Leaders like Custer . . . 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. (Murphy Snell, p. xxviii)
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Results of Custer leadership

• Two of Custers ethical faults were being abusive
  to those who disagreed with him and wanting to
  take all of the credit for himself.
• As a result
• He received fewer warnings about the superior
  Sioux numbers and ignored those warning he did
  receive, and,
• He attacked without waiting for reinforcements.
• The rest, as they say, is history

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Sycophant isnt a Dakota word.

• A sycophant is defined in the dictionary as a
  servile flatterer. We call these people
  yes-men -- or something worse.

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Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull chose to create a new order in
which the rights of the individual were balanced
by a commitment to the welfare of the overall
community. Where heroic leadership builds on
shared commitment, non-heroic leadership drives
toward personal glory. (Murphy Snell, p.
xxviii)
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Are you Custer or Sitting Bull?
No one likes to hear about problems, but
sometimes its necessary. What do you do when an
employee or co-worker points up an ethical
problem? What if it would interfere with your
plans to hire an employee or get grant money that
you think you need? What if it would cause
problems because one of the people involved has
political connections?
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What kind of leader are you?
Leadership starts with commitment the bonding
between leader and followers behind a common
purpose. (p. 4) Sitting Bull Led through
commitment, through service to
others, Custer Led through contempt, through
selfishness and exploitation. For each, their
vision set priorities for those under their
command (p. 4)
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Do You Use Your Position for Personal Gain?

• Have you hired relatives over others who were
  more qualified?
• Do you travel on tribal business and then spend
  your days shopping or sight-seeing?

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Three Acts of Personal Courage

• According to the The lessons of Sitting Bull
• . . . the first step on the path to leadership
  is a private one, in which a leader solves the
  great paradox that lies at the heart of
  leadership success that self-fulfillment comes
  from service to others. (p. 5)
• Recognize the need to change.
• Search for knowledge needed to accomplish change.
• 3. Share the struggle to make the change a new
  reality.

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You A courageous leader

• We congratulate you on taking this path. You are
  taking this course because you recognize the need
  for change and are willing to change.

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Community of Commitment
Sitting Bull saw seven distinct steps to infuse
commitment into a group of people. Step 1.
Establish a context within which people can
understand the cause. Step 2. Inspire hope in
the cause. Step 3. Build a consensus. Step 4.
Develop a plan for action. Step 5. Assemble and
prepare the team for action. Step 6. Implement
the plan. Step 7. Evaluate team performance for
improvement.
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Steps to Commitment

• 1. Establish a context this course discuses the
  loss of money and trust that comes from unethical
  behavior.
• Inspire hope in the cause. How often have you
  heard,
• Nothing will ever change.
• It wont make any difference.
• In this course, we want you to know, to believe,
  that you will make a difference.
• Step 3. Build a consensus. We see this happening
  on reservations now. More and more people are
  demanding change from the old unethical ways.

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Steps to Commitment
4. Develop a plan for action. This course ends
with an action plan. The remaining steps are for
you to take now. We will revisit these in our
future courses.
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Build Trust
All leaders must instill trust in their people.
Without trust, commitment will die and the
community will lose the constancy of purpose that
strengthens the group bond. (Murphy Snell, p.
24) Sitting Bull Built trust as part of a
strategy for revitalizing the Sioux. Sitting
Bulls people trusted him to guide them, to
serve their needs. Custer Custer cast
distrust throughout the ranks of his men they
did not like him.
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Build Trust
Are you a leader that your people trust? Do you
treat people in a fair manner so that your
employees and co-workers like you? If you think
you could use a little help in this area, please
see our section on Emotional Intelligence.
Also, read our section on Moral Collapse to see
the warning signs of mistrust.
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Live the Experienceof Your People
Sitting Bull knew that he must first seek to
understand his people before he could expect to
be understood by them. (p. 74) Sitting Bull He
lived among his people claiming no special
privileges. He ate what they ate, slept where
they slept, traveled among them, and shared the
responsibilities of daily life. Custer He
remained aloof from his people. He treated them
with the same contempt he treated his enemies.
Custer rode the best horses, ate the best food,
and slept apart from his men. He did not know
them.
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What kind of leader are you?

• Do you claim no special privileges? Do you come
  to work whenever you want, work however many
  hours you want, and then expect those you
  supervise or your co-workers to put in a
  forty-hour week?
• Do you stay in four-star hotels in Washington
  while your people dont have heat in their homes?

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Be a Healer
Sitting Bull Leaders bestow beneficence,
generosity and compassion upon their people.
They are responsible for their peoples
welfare. Custer was taught to be a
one-dimensional thinker. His goals were based
solely on his personal ambitions and the careers
of his benefactors. He was after personal
glory. For Custer, charity and compassion were
alien concepts, unmanly acts demanded by weak
underlings and provided by misguided leaders.
(p. 96)
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Be a Healer
Compassion in the workplace Yes, we need to
adhere to policies and procedures. However, do
you have the strength and courage to show
compassion? Rose was a tribal worker who had been
sober for two years. After the death of her son,
she was drunk for three days and missed work. The
tribe had a no tolerance policy and she should
have been fired. When she tearfully admitted her
reason for absence, her supervisor did not fire
her, but gave her a warning that she would be
fired if it happened again, citing Roses two
years of excellent work as a justification for
not terminating her.
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Communicate onMany Levels
Sitting Bull Sitting Bull gathered information
from all levels of his people other chiefs,
scouts, tribesmen, elderly, women, children, etc.
He was in touch with all locations of the
Sioux world. Custer Isolated himself so he
and his men entered the Battle of the Little
Bighorn deaf, dumb, and blind. He failed to
cooperate with superiors, ignoring orders he
failed to listen to advice, and he paid the price.
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Do you listen?

• Are you a leader who listens to advice, from
  whatever source?
• Do you listen to the concerns of youth, of
  elders, of community members served by your
  program?

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Communicate!

• The Tribal Leaders with Character project offers
  multiple means of communication
• Post on the Spirit Lake Forum
• (www.spiritlakeconsulting.com/forum/
• Send your opinion through the Your Turn forms
  on our website
• Write an article for Miniwakan News

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Communicate on many levels!

• If you feel the need to remain anonymous, we will
  respect your privacy. You never need to include
  your name or email on our Your turn forms.
• You can log in to the Spirit Lake Forum as
  anonymous. The password is tribaljoe .

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Think of the Future
Sitting Bull planned for the welfare of
generations Custer planned for one moment of
personal glory. When YOU make decisions, are
you planning for the future? Do you look at
giving a per capita payment so you can receive
more votes in the next election, or are you
looking at economic development, making the tribe
financially sound, investing in our schools and
early childhood programs?
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Redefine theRules of Battle
Creative leaders redefine the rules of battle to
turn their enemys strengths into a weakness.
(p. 200) Sitting Bull He questioned all the
standing assumptions. He encouraged team
learning, where people create new ways to tap
their potential. All for the good of the
team. Team learning depends on shifting peoples
focus from their own individual performance to
the way that performance fits into the whole
unfolding strategy. (p. 200) Custer Shunned
team learning. He held his men in disdain. He
cared little for team goals or team welfare.
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What kind of a leader are you?

• Do you share power? Do you support the decisions
  of those who work for you? Or do you allow others
  to ignore the chain of command? Do you overturn
  the decisions of your subordinates when asked for
  a favor by a relative or a council member?

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Welcome Crisis
A crisis is a decision point, when we choose
between two paths. This is an opportunity for us
to improve our situation. With this course, we
have had obstacles where individuals were afraid
to speak out publicly for fear of
retribution. We saw this as an opportunity to
create a forum, anonymous forms, places where
tribal members could speak freely and let others
know they are not alone in their ethical concerns.
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Measure the Results
Without clear leadership criteria, we will
continue to place our country in jeopardy of
being manipulated by individuals who, like
Custer, take advantage of the absence of such
standards to establish their own self-serving
criteria for what effective leadership
means. Could it be that in the 21st century we
are more like Custer than Sitting Bull in our
leadership styles? Measuring our leaders against
ethical criteria is one way to return to our
traditions.
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Learn even more ..
We highly recommend the following book, quoted
throughout this presentation Murphy, E. C.,
Snell, M. (1993). The Genius of Sitting Bull,
13 Heroic Strategies for Todays Business
Leaders. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall,
Inc.