GUIDELINES FOR LEADERS

Based on the Example ofSitting Bull

13 Heroic Strategiesfor Today’s Leaders

REFERENCES

“Heroic leaders are made, not born (p. xxx).”

Murphy, E. C., & Snell, M. (1993). The Genius of Sitting Bull, 13 Heroic Strategies for Today’s Business Leaders. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Brininstool, E. A. (1952). Troopers With Custer, Historic Incidents of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

THE LITTLE BIGHORN

“The tactics of the Indians resulted in their doing

to Custer exactly what Custer had planned

tactically to do to them. . . . 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 (Brininstool, p. 30)

NATIONAL STUPIDITY

“… what other words better describe the sorry

state of affairs in which we find ourselves in the

1990s? . . . we anguish over our violent and drug-

ravaged inner cities, a crippled educational

system, a poisoned and polluted environment, and

a crumbling health-care system.” (p. xxii)

THE CURE

“The cure for these symptoms of “national

stupidity” will be found only when we and our

leaders muster the courage to face them squarely

and the heroism to solve them fully. We may now

recognize the problems, but do we see among us

heroic leaders who can help us move toward

lasting solutions? Few of us can answer that

question with a resounding Yes.” (p. xxii)

A GREAT LEADER

“Sitting Bull, great spiritual leader and Chief of

the Sioux, facing the challenges of a beaten and

ravaged nation, the theft of his homeland, and

betrayal by his enemies, captured the power of 13

heroic leadership skills to rekindle greatness in his

people. The Little Bighorn campaign of 1876

encapsulates these crucial skills and provides a

blueprint for leadership action . . .” (p. xxiii)

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.” (p. xxviii)

SITTING BULL’S EXAMPLE

THE 13 STEPS OF HEROIC LEADERSHIP

CONSIST OF THREE PHASES OF ACTION

Phase OneAssembly and Integration of Forces

Phase TwoProjection and Application

Phase ThreeAdjustment and Reflection

A New Order

“[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, nonheroic leadership drives

toward personal glory.” (p. xxviii)

Phase One: Assembly and Integration of Forces (Steps 1-6)

Step 1. Create Commitment

Step 2. Build Trust

Step 3. Increase Power

Step 4. Live the Experience of Your People

Step 5. Be a Healer

Step 6. Communicate on Many Levels

Phase Two: Projection and Application (Steps 7-11)

Step 7. Think Strategically

Step 8. Respect Your Competition

Step 9. Redefine the Rules of Battle

Step 10. Know the Terrain

Step 11. Rightsize Your Forces

Phase Three: Adjustment and Reflection (Steps 12-13)

Step 12. Welcome Crisis

Step 13. Measure the Results

Step 1. Create Commitment

“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)

Three Acts of Personal Courage

Fact: “. . . 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)

1. Recognize the need to change.2. Search for knowledge needed to accomplish change.3. Share the struggle to make the change a new

reality.

Commitment and Freedom

Fact: “. . . Commitment to others represents an act of individual freedom. The desperation and finality of his commitment freed Sitting Bull from petty ambitions for control and glory.” (p. 11)

Sitting Bull: Fused his destiny with that of his people.

Custer: Unlike Sitting Bull, Custer and leaders like him look for leverage, for ways to advance their own careers, sometimes at the expense of their people.

Community of Commitment

There are 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.

True Commitment

“True commitment springs from deep-seated values and defines a vision of what could or should be. When commitment is true, it draws others to it like a magnet.” (p. 12)

“. . . A leader must possess a complete vision of what must happen before taking action to make things happen. Commitment offers that vision.” (p. 21)

Step 2. 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.” (p. 24)

Sitting Bull: Built trust as part of a strategy forrevitalizing the Sioux. Sitting Bull’speople trusted him to guide them, to serve their needs.

Custer: Custer cast distrust throughout theranks of his men; they did not like him.

Step 3. Increase Power

Practice Strategic Humility

“The first step to power involves denying it for yourself, subordinating the self-centered urge for personal gain to the collective benefit.” (p. 51)

“The greater the need for power, the more a leader must understand the need for strategic humility.” (p. 51)

Acquiring strategic humility is not something you are born with. It is a learned skill. It requires immense self-control over selfishness and arrogance.

Share Power to Increase Power

Sitting Bull: His people were able to channel their own power through him because they trusted him. Sitting Bull harnessed his people’s power by not competing with it. He subordinated personal ambition and showed others the need to do the same. He merged his needs with those of his people.

Custer: His arrogance undermined his ability to build trust and increase power through others. Custer drew power from his rank, and through fear he inspired in his men. Custer often harshly punished his men for the most minute infractions.

Step 4. 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.

Step 5. Be a Healer

Sitting Bull: Leaders bestow beneficence, generosity and compassion upon their people. They are responsible for their people’s 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)

Step 6. Communicate onMany Levels

“An extensive network of scouts and continuing intertribal contact give the Sioux minute-by-minute intelligence on Bluecoat activity.” (p. 119)

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.

Step 7. Think Strategically

“Sitting Bull planned for the welfare of generations; Custer planned for one moment of personal glory.” (p. 148)

When thinking strategically, you break down your challenge into manageable pieces. There are six distinct steps to strategic thinking.

Step 1. Commit to Thinking StrategicallyStep 2. Conduct a Self-AssessmentStep 3. Assess Your Strategic PositionStep 4. Identify Opportunities for ImprovementStep 5. Test the Usefulness of the OpportunitiesStep 6. Take Action

Step 8. Respect Your Competition

Sitting Bull: “Sitting Bull held nothing but contempt for the ruthless Bluecoats who had murdered his people. At the same time, however, he fully respected their potential to inflict harm.” (p. 174)

Custer: “His disdain for Indian values and skills clouded his judgment, leading him to underestimate their ability to mount an effective action. His own self-assurance, and his lack of respect for his competition, prevented him from learning.” (p. 175)

Step 9. Redefine theRules of Battle

“Creative leaders redefine the rules of battle to turn their enemy’s 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 people’s 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.

Step 10. Know the Terrain

Sitting Bull: Realized that knowing the terrain would give his people an advantage.

Custer: Did not scout the land before riding over it. He overestimated his ability to “tame” the wilderness without any knowledge of it.

Step 11. Rightsize Your Forces

Step 12. Welcome Crisis

Step 13. Measure the Results

The End

This Concludes our Presentation on Leadership.

Thank you for Coming!