GUIDELINES FOR LEADERS

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GUIDELINES FOR LEADERS
Based on the Example of Sitting Bull 13 Heroic
Strategies for Todays Leaders
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REFERENCES
Heroic leaders are made, not born (p.
xxx). Murphy, E. C., Snell, M. (1993). The
Genius of Sitting Bull, 13 Heroic Strategies for
Todays 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.
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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. (p. xxviii)
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SITTING BULLS EXAMPLE
THE 13 STEPS OF HEROIC LEADERSHIP CONSIST OF
THREE PHASES OF ACTION Phase One Assembly and
Integration of Forces Phase Two Projection and
Application Phase Three Adjustment and Reflection
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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)
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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
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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
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Phase Three Adjustment and Reflection (Steps
12-13)
Step 12. Welcome Crisis Step 13. Measure
the Results
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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)
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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)
• 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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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.
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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.
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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)
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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
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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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.
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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 peoples 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.
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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.
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Step 5. 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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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.
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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 Strategically Step 2. Conduct a
Self-Assessment Step 3. Assess Your Strategic
Position Step 4. Identify Opportunities for
Improvement Step 5. Test the Usefulness of the
Opportunities Step 6. Take Action
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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)
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Step 9. 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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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.
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Step 11. Rightsize Your Forces
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Step 12. Welcome Crisis
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Step 13. Measure the Results
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The End
This Concludes our Presentation on
Leadership. Thank you for Coming!