AnnMaria's Blog

On-the-job training at Spirit Lake

2011-11-01T06:45:18Z

Okay, admit it, as a new employee, those first few weeks or months on a new job, everyone is pretty useless. Find savings in the budget, heck, you can't even find the room where the coffee pot is!

Then, there is the problem of finding a job when you have no experience, because it is costing your employer to train you. They have to pay you a salary even while you are learning to operate the copy machine, do that track changes thing in Microsoft Word, operate the machine that cleans the floors, figure out what angle a ramp needs to be built so people in wheelchairs can use it, or whatever it is your job requires.

I'll be at Fort Totten next week meeting with the staff from Spirit Lake Vocational Rehabilitation to discuss, among other things, the on-the-job training program for tribal members with disabilities. It's a very helpful program that funds a large part of the salary of new employees. They even work with the tribal member to figure out what type of job he or she would like to do, find a job training opportunity and then help the employer pay for the salary on top of it.

If you are interested, call the Spirit Lake Vocational Rehabilitation office at
(701) 766-4446
or find them on Facebook

or email Rick Walter, Jr. or Marshall Longie

Everything is someone else's problem

2011-06-26T22:49:34Z

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"How many of you believe the government doesn't do enough to address environmental issues - air pollution, water pollution, saving the rain forests?"

Even in 1978, every student in my college economics class raised a hand.

"How many of you recycle at home, sorting your paper and cans, and putting them out to the curb?"

Only the professor's hand went up. The professor was Murray Wiedenbaum, served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Richard Nixon and was chair of Reagan's Council of Economic Advisors. Safe to say, he was a pretty conservative guy.

His point was that even though we were all the liberal tree-huggers berating the government for not doing more to save the environment, he was the only one who was taking those small personal steps to make a difference.

While I still don't agree with much of Dr. Wiedenbaum's political views, I do recycle everything I can in our household, from paper and cans, to taking used items to the Goodwill for re-sale. On the other hand, my even more liberal husband does not.

I see this same pattern everywhere.

Dr. Umair Haque, a Harvard Business School professor tweets and blogs a lot about the problems of a society where the highest value is buying as much stuff as possible for the lowest possible price. If that means we buy stuff made in China instead of by our neighbor, well, as my husband says, that's just the global economy and nothing we do will make any difference.

Following many people's responses to Dr. Haque, I'd say many educated, well-off people in America, like my husband and like my college classmates fast-forward 30 years agree that there's nothing we can do as individuals.

I disagree 100% . When I buy clothes, the first places I go are American Apparel, which sells clothes made in America, and Diviner Duds, a small company that makes children's clothing. When I needed a new desk for my office lately, I bought it at furniture store down the street instead of at Wal-Mart or Staples. Extra bonus, it was made in the U.S. When I needed a new couch (yes, I have a couch in my office, what of it?), I bought it at another local business.Yesterday, I went shopping at the Farmers Market and bought food for the next few days from local farmers. When I was at Disney World, I bought my granddaughter a few toys but mostly, I said, "No" because she didn't need any more useless plastic crap.

On the other hand, we went out to eat a lot, went swimming a lot, stayed at a nice hotel. My money mostly went to paying wages for people who waited on us in restaurants, cleaned the rooms.

I say, "No" to my 13-year-old daughter a lot, also. On the other hand, we went to the central library in Los Angeles, yesterday, which is gorgeous.

We're not living this deprived existence but I DO think with almost every choice I make if there is an alternative more in keeping with my values. I know what my values are. I want my children to have a cleaner environment, be literate, not value things above experiencing life, from physical activity like swimming to intellectual activity like reading.

Am I perfect in that respect? I am so far from it that the question is laughable. However, I do succeed in recycling about 15% of what goes out of this house. If everyone did this, it would make a rather huge dent in a lot of environmental problems. So, if you don't, why not? If you complain about rain forests being cut down for raising cattle, do you buy your meat at the farmers market, or, like three of my daughters (not me!) have you given up eating meat?

You do what you can. If you're not doing anything, then you're just another of those not-so-innocent bystanders that Dr. Longie talks about in his ethics courses. Want change the world? Change yourself or shut the hell up.

Crime and no punishment?

2011-05-22T03:49:39Z

The last couple of days, I've been blogging about the non-judgmental nature of the responses we have gotten in many of the ethics tests and surveys.

As I was reading over our material for the meeting with the North Dakota judges next week, I came across these notes from Erich:

A few points to consider of the environment in which people have grown up on the reservation are:
(and his very first point was ... )

1. A lack of law and order, including lack of consequences both in the community and in the courtroom.

"Looking the other way"

For example, there have in the last few years been indictments of tribal council members and high level administrators on reservations for embezzlements from the fuel assistance program, vocational rehabilitation and tribal funds. This wasn't limited to one reservation or one program. Tribal council members have been sent to jail. Project directors have been arrested.

In one incident, almost everyone on the reservation knew that funds were being misused but nothing was done. Perhaps if someone had intervened earlier - some bystander - only $30,000 would have been taken instead of the $100,000 that eventually was taken.

I found his comment, written weeks earlier, to be very interesting given the surveys I had just read. Like the real life incident Erich mentioned, in the case studies we gave to people on different reservations, time and again, most people simply did not want to make a judgment.

Now, being nonjudgmental is all well and good when it is not telling people that only Catholics are good or not believing that anyone who didn't vote Republican in the last election should be forced to move to Canada. However, there are times when you SHOULD be judgmental. Taking money from the tribe that was meant for economic development and spending it to take your wife on a trip with you IS unethical and people SHOULD judge you as an unethical person if you do it.

The Reservation Rush from Judgement

2011-05-20T05:23:41Z

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Over the last few years, we have asked people from reservations in the Great Plains thousands of questions on ethics. Most have been multiple choice questions like this:

Unqualified tribal workers who receive jobs because they have a relative in power:
A. Reduce unemployment on the reservation since they now have jobs
B. Hurt the reservation economy since they do work to bring in more money and jobs
C. Don't have any effect on the economy
D. Someone would have had the job one way or the other so it makes no difference

We've also asked several hundred questions related to case studies. In these, we give an example, often, as I said yesterday, one that I personally thought was of pretty obviously unethical behavior. For example:

Sam is a recently elected member of the tribal council. It is near the end of the fiscal year and there is $12,000 left in his travel budget. Sam attends the Tribal Economic Summit meeting in Albuquerque, at a cost of $6,200 in hotel room, airfare, conference fee and meals for himself and $1,200 in airfare and meals for his wife. Since they share a room, there is no extra cost for her room and since she doesn't attend the summit, there is no fee. At the end of the year, Sam has $3,600 left in his travel budget. If Sam was required to attend the meetings as chair of the Tribal Economic Development committee and attended every session, was there any ethical violation?

A. Yes, he spent $1,200 in tribal funds on his wife who did not need to be there.
B.No, he was travelling on tribal business, accomplished the business purpose and came in under budget for travel for the year.
C. Maybe, if the tribe had a written policy against using travel funds for family members, then it would be an ethical violation.

It surprised me that 21% - one out of every five people, saw nothing wrong with using tribal funds to take your family on a vacation. Another 10% said it was only wrong if there was a written policy against it.

On similar questions, where we gave "Not Sure" as an option, people selected that by a 2:1 margin.

Referring back to the example from yesterday --- in this case study one of the board members was in jail for assault, school records had been falsified and attendance problems and drug abuse overlooked for students who were good athletes. The one board member who disagreed,Alan, was mocked and threatened by the other members. When Phyllis, a board member who had been off the reservation for medical reasons returned she told Alan she didn't think they were doing anything wrong, they were just trying to use sports to bring some success to the reservation.

When we asked 36 people on one reservation if they agreed with Phyllis, less than one-fourth of them (eight people) said, "No".

We thought, that can't possibly be right. So, we went to another reservation and asked another 45 people. Same results, only 11 out of 45 people, again, less than one-fourth, said they disagreed.

Most people said they were not sure.

Even when people disagreed with "Phyllis" they weren't necessarily willing to go against the board. One of the people who disagreed added, "But I would go along with the majority of the board." -- so if the majority of the board voted it was okay to change students' test scores, or waive drug tests for successful athletes, he would agree.

Others asked for more information. What was Phyllis's motive in saying what she did? What was the written policy?

What we saw, time and time again, is that people just about bent over backwards to AVOID making a judgement. When asked, "What is your opinion about what the people in this scenario have done?" Over and over, the answer was "I don't know."

We'll be discussing this in North Dakota next week and also at the CANAR mid-year conference in Green Bay. Dr. Longie has his own ideas why this is so, but we'll be hoping to get some feedback from the audience as well.

I'm truly hoping they don't tell us they have no opinion!

What I learned about ethics from Sherlock Holmes

2011-05-19T16:39:37Z

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Scoring ethics tests we gave to tribal members from reservations throughout the Great Plains states reminded me a lot of grading math homework.... but, it's probably not in the way you are thinking Actually, I have no idea what you are thinking. I don't even know you.

Here's what I do know - I have looked at hundreds of ethics surveys/ tests in preparation for the talk Erich and I are giving next week for the North Dakota State Supreme Court and what I have found is - a lot of nothing. I mean that very literally. Like Sherlock Holmes in Silver Blaze, when he noted the curious incident of the dog doing nothing, I have found this "nothing" to be very intriguing.

Here is the first reason why, and as much as it pains me to admit it, it comes about in one of those times when I thought Dr. Longie was wrong and probably crazy to boot, but he has lived on the reservation his whole life, not me, so I went along with him and he turned out to be right.

We had a few case studies that we asked people to read and give their answers to one multiple choice question and a few short answer questions. I thought the answers to the questions were so obvious that everyone would answer the same way and, in fact, people would be insulted that we asked such obvious questions. Let me give you an example. Here is a very abbreviated version of the case study:

"The school board members overlooked drug abuse and poor attendance and falsified school records of students who were exceptional athletes. They hired their relatives and fired anyone who disagreed with them. One of the board members was jailed for assault. Other board members mocked and threatened Alan, the one board member who disagreed with them and wanted to enforce school policies and hire the best qualified people, regardless of their relatives. Phyllis was elected to the board but had been off the reservation for months due to medical issues. When she returned she told Alan she didn't see what the problem was, the other board members were just promoting sports because they wanted to see the reservation be known for a success and what is wrong with good publicity for the reservation?"

The multiple choice question was, "Do you agree with Phyllis?"
a) Yes
b) Not Sure
c) No

I thought there should be an option, "Are you #$%^ing KIDDING me? Of course I don't agree with Phyllis!"

By far, the most common answer was,

"Not sure"

What do you mean you're not sure? They committed fraud, overlooked drug abuse, hired unqualified people, one the board members was thrown in jail for beating someone so bad he was put in the hospital and you're NOT SURE there is a problem? Some people wrote in helpfully, "I would need more information." Like WHAT? Like whether the star quarterback died of a drug overdose? I just don't get it.

The next question was,

"Please explain why you agree, disagree or are not sure."

Most people left this question blank. In fact, most people left ALL of the case study questions blank, although they answered the multiple choice questions. Those who did answer gave very short answers and sometimes it was hard (for me) to understand how what they wrote was relevant to the question. For example, one person wrote,

"Well, what is her motive?"

Another simply said,

"Yes, a little."

How is this like math? I've taught math for a great many years at every level from middle school through doctoral students. I've found that when people are uncomfortable with the subject, unsure of their knowledge, they don't volunteer information because they're afraid of being wrong. Usually, the less people know about a topic, they less sure they are, the less they write and the more vague they are in their answers, hoping that they might be interpreted as being correct.

I don't really know WHY the responses are like this. One reason I think is that people just have not thought about ethical issues very much. This, too, is like math. Especially with graduate students, I teach a lot of people who haven't thought about math since they took Algebra twenty years ago.

Erich thinks the reason people are uncomfortable is not because they are ignorant about ethics but because they don't WANT to think about issues. To me, that is the same thing, being ignorant by choice.

He gives the analogy of alcoholics who go to treatment. They may still be drinking after that, but they can no longer lie to themselves that their drinking is not dysfunctional. Erich thinks this may be one of the reasons that people on some reservations don't want to think about ethics, because then they might feel as if they should do something about the ethical problems, starting with themselves, and that makes people really uncomfortable.

I think he might be right.

What's in a dream?

2011-04-18T21:15:01Z

Today, I was reading Questions of Character, a book by a Harvard Business School professor, Dr. Badaracco, who uses literature to teach leadership. It's not the sort of thing I usually read because I HATED English class and everything like it in school. That's why I grew up to be a statistician.

This book is different, though. He talks about the lessons to be learned from literature. One example he uses is "Death of a Salesman". Badaracco says that one of the problems Willy Loman (the salesman) has is that his dreams are not really his. They are the "mass-produced dreams" of being rich, famous and popular.

Even though Willy has some talents, like construction, he doesn't follow those, instead he becomes a salesman for a large company. Here is another place where Dr. Badaracco says it isn't Willy's dream - he doesn't enjoy what he is doing for a living, not any part of it, and so he is continually looking for shortcuts.

The third point the book makes is that Willy is not honest, not with himself, his family or friends. He spins stories about how successful he is, when they are barely paying the bills, and he has this vision that his big break - his sons' big break - is just around the corner, even when he is old and laid off from his job and his sons are middle-aged. It seems more important to Willy how people feel about him than how he feels about himself.

The saddest part, Badaracco says, is that Willy has accomplishments and talents - he is a good builder, his wife sincerely loves him, he has managed to pay off the mortgage on his house, own a car and provide for his family all through the Great Depression, when those things were far from easy to do.

I was trying to think how this applies to the people we work with regularly on the reservations. I was thinking about people just like Willy who have enough food for their children, a nice home and live in a beautiful place (I may hate the cold weather, but no one can deny walking through the woods, or watching the northern lights, or sitting out by the lake, etc. that the reservations where we work are some really nice places to be). Yet, I see some of those people who are pretty unethical - and for what, so they can buy their kids some expensive shoes, or buy a new truck or pick up some new furniture at Wal-Mart. I confess that I just don't get it.

Erich talks a lot about self-esteem being the root of a lot of problems on the reservation and probably elsewhere. This might be where it all fits together, being able to recognize the things that you do well, and that those are the key to your success, not what car you drive. Being a good parent means the values and knowledge you taught your children, not the brand of shoes you bought them. It's like one of my daughter's favorite sayings,

"You don't own your things. Your things own you."

The other place I think this fits in with the Tribal Leader Institute ethics is self-honesty. If you have limitations that keep you from achieving your dream, it could be, that as Badaracco says, you have the wrong dream. I think a lot of the Joe the Tribal Worker stories have to do with people who are unwilling to recognize that what they want out of life is out of whack with the amount of work they are willing to do to get it or their own abilities. If you find yourself in that situation, you need to either change your dreams or change the amount of work you're willing to do.

Why should you? Well, on the one hand, you end up like Willy and leave behind a family bitter, heart-broken and living with your unfulfilled dreams. On the other hand, you end up an unethical Joe the Tribal Worker who gets what you need through lying, manipulation and outright stealing. Now that I am getting older, I can see what happens to those Joes in the long run, and I can tell you, it isn't pretty.

Ethics Make Us Powerful

2011-04-09T04:24:56Z

Ethics make us powerful.

Several years ago, Susie Sainte, Sam and Joe the Tribal Worker were all on the same board. They had found out that the program director was misusing funds and had agreed to vote at the next meeting to have him removed. Before the meeting, the program director went to Joe and offered to give his son a job. He also offered to give Susie's company a contract to evaluate their program, and suggested that Sam that he attend a meeting for the project in Hawaii, paid with project funds.

Sam and Susie turned down these offers, but at the next meeting, were they ever surprised when Joe voted with two other board members to keep the project director. Sam and Susie resigned from the board the same week Joe's son started his new high-paying job. Both swore they would never have anything to do with Joe and his unethical behavior again.

Last week, Susie ran into Sam and he could not wait to tell her how unhappy he was that he had agreed to do the staff training for a program where Joe the Tribal Worker was now the training manager. Joe had great difficulty getting anyone to work with him because of his known unethical ways. He had one of his staff members, Sally, contact Sam and ask him to do the training.

Susie asked in surprise,

"Why would you do that? I thought you said after Joe completely lied about that board meeting and sold his vote to the program director for a job for his son that you would never work for him again."

Sam answered,

"Yes, but I'm not working with Joe, I'm working with Sally, who is a good person. I wouldn't do it for myself but I work with this youth sobriety group and she promised that their program would donate money to the youth group to pay their way to the state meeting. These are really good kids who have worked hard all year and they deserve to make this trip. You'd do the same, wouldn't you?"

Susie stared at Sam for a minute and then answered in the direct way that had made her not very popular,

"I wouldn't, because I don't have a price."

Then she walked away.

Here we have two people who have experienced lies and unethical behavior. One of them decides to forgive and forget - FOR A PRICE. These are the lies we tell to ourselves, that it is not selling out because it is "for the kids", "for a good cause".

The other one never works with that lying, unethical person again.

Sam will tell you that he can't help it. He is doing it to help the youth group, it is for a good cause. Yet, Sam is unhappy, doing something he doesn't want to do, working with someone he doesn't trust and even though he says he is working with Sally, he knows that Joe is her boss so he is even lying to himself saying he isn't working for Joe.

What about Susie? How does she get the power to not ever be roped into Joe's deceitful circle again? Simple. As she said, she has ethics that are not for sale at any price.

Of all of the ways I have seen good people (and not so good people) sell themselves, saying it is for the good cause is far and away the most common.

I can't count the number of times I have had people who wanted my vote, or wanted me to give a false, positive evaluation of their project suggest to me that they could get my company a contract for grants, evaluation or training. I have four children. It would be easy for me to sound very ethical saying that I value my family (I do), they are my first priority (they are) and so I have no choice to take that contract and work for Joe. That last part is a lie.

THE TRUTH is that I do have a choice. If my work is so mediocre that I need to sell out to get contracts, I should find something else to do.

I do think that in the long-run being ethical is better business, but EVEN IF IT ISN'T, I'm not going to sell out.

So, back to Susie. I asked her,

"What would you do if you were Sam?"

She answered,

"I'd go and find some other cause to work for or I'd find another way to raise funds for the youth group. Hell, I'll sell cookies like the Girl Scouts but there's no way I'm going to sell myself. "

The Golden Rule of Business

2011-03-03T16:12:12Z

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Have you ever read an article where you think the author was reading your mind because it said all of the things you have been thinking?

This happened to me lately in, of all places, the Harvard Business Review blog. The title of the article was "We are all Enron now", and it was about how our economy is run for the benefit of large corporations and no one seems to give a damn or think we can do anything about it but if we DON'T do something about it we are all going to hell in a handbasket.

Unemployment is up NOT because of illegal immigration but because of the millions and millions of jobs that have been outsourced to India and China so corporate executives and investors can buy another yacht and winter in Nice.

We have budget deficits not because union workers are getting pensions and a decent wage but because companies on Wall Street and incorporated in Delaware and small islands in the Caribbean for tax shelters aren't paying taxes on billions of dollars in income.

We all know this and yet it is often said we can't do anything about it. I disagree.

It starts with us. Spirit Lake Consulting has never outsourced and neither has my new company, The Julia Group. My partners and I decided we have so many times what the average person in this country makes it was unethical for us to move work off-shore and lay off our workers so we could get richer. We pay a living wage because we want to enable our employees to have good lives. We allow telecommuting and flexible hours because if we can't trust our employees, we shouldn't have hired them in the first place.

We buy from local businesses whenever they offer a service or product, because we're a small business and we like living in healthy communities where lots of people own small businesses and have a commitment. I don't shop at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club because I'd rather spend the money at the stores on Main Street (literally - it's a street five blocks from my office). Yes, this probably means we pay more for some things. I don't have a 22-room house in Malibu. I don't own a Porsche. I don't even fly first-class most of the time. BUT .... I have an exceedingly wonderful life and I just don't understand why I would accept higher unemployment, more poverty, poorer health in my country so I could have an extra $100,000 a year.

If all of us made small changes - buy goods and services from local companies, support businesses you value, don't lay off your employees and hire people who are paid less to work under worse conditions - it would make a big difference. Why would you do this? Because you'd want people to do it for you.

It's not hurting you, or is it?

2011-02-22T18:47:40Z

"How can people steal? I mean, they KNOW it doesn't belong to them. How can you just take something that someone else worked for and not feel like a terrible person?"
"Maybe they think it's unfair that you have it and they don't. They tell themselves that you have all of this stuff and they don't. They never think about why they don't have it. They are convinced that they're the victims and stealing only evens it out. I'm not saying it's right, but I know people who think that way. One thing I've learned is that there is no end to how far some people can go to convince themselves that whatever they do is right."

I thought about this conversation the last time Dr. Longie told me he thought many problems on the reservation could be boiled down to low self-esteem. I don't know how many times I've heard people say (on and off the reservation), in the same tone reserved for people who have broken into the neighbor's house next door,

Image by Baha'i Views / Flitzy Phoebie via Flickr

"She must think really highly of herself,"

or

"He thinks he's smart just because he is the director."

And I think to myself, well, so what. Maybe she does think really highly of herself. Good for her. Perhaps he does think he is smart because he's the director. I'm not talking about people here who got a job because they were someone's son-in-law. That's a whole separate issue. No, I mean the people who were hired as Head Start Director or tribal controller or some other position because they had education, experience and did well in their last job. Good for them. That took work, often coming from a background with not a great early education or support. Twice as good for them.

It's not just gossip. I actually see people working against employees who are very well-qualified. (There is a whole lot of discussion about this in the forum topic Joe the Tribal Worker and Susie Sainte )

It finally clicked for me why they would do that. I think it is just like my daughter explained about why some people justify stealing to themselves. The people who feel the need to tear down good, honest employees are jealous, but jealous in a very specific way. They are angry that Susie has high self-esteem. Why should she get to feel so good about her achievements? Just like the thief, they think it is unfair that she has something they don't, and so they try to take it from her.

None of us are immune from this. Next time you catch yourself thinking, "Susie thinks she's better than me-" really catch yourself and ask, "So what? What's it to you if she does?" If that bothers you, is it because you haven't achieved as much as you like? Then, what can you do about it? Can you take a class, try to learn a new skill, write a grant, apply for a new job, start a business? Focus on that and both you and Susie can be happier. Maybe a year from now, people will be looking at YOU and saying,

"That Joe, he must think really highly of himself"

Self-Honesty at Work: When Your Furniture is Employee of the Month

2010-12-04T23:22:59Z

I saw Erich was writing about how traditional ethics apply to tribal vocational rehabilitation. No, he is not suggesting riding people down and shooting them like a buffalo hunt (although, personally, I could understand how you'd want to do that with some people. I'm kind of lacking in that traditional quality of generosity).

In fact, a lot of his talk at CANAR next week is on the exact opposite of that - that being a traditional person doesn't mean sweats, give-aways and knowing a few words of Dakota - if you're in San Diego on Monday you can come here us talk (more exciting than it sounds).

Much of Erich's presentation is on the meaning of honesty, perseverance, generosity and courage in the modern workplace.

I'd go a bit further than Erich (he would say that I always do but that is just him being jealous).

Seriously, though, I do agree with him that it's stealing from the tribe if you are working five hours when you get paid for eight. If you come to work late, leave early and spend two hours in the middle of the day running around doing errands, picking up your mother-in-law's mail, buying snacks at Wal-Mart for the party this weekend and putting has in your car - then if you got paid for an eight hour day you are a thief, plain and simple.

Where I think Erich doesn't go far enough is that it is not enough to just show up. We all have our pet peeves, things that drive us crazy, and this is mine - people who are in no way qualified for a job but got it through connections, lying on their resume or just a crazed human resources clerk, who knows - come to work every day and do nothing productive. I have spoken to more than one person like this and asked how they justify having a job as say, an accountant, when they know nothing about budgets, spreadsheets, balance sheets or anything remotely to do with accounting. There answer is usually either that no one has taught them their job so it is not their fault, or, this is the one that gets me,
"I am here 40 hours a week."

Is that the best we can do for expectations? If that is all it takes then the best employees your organization has is the office furniture - after all, your desks and chairs are there 24/ 7.

Vote for Dr. Erich Longie, North Dakota House !

2010-10-31T22:18:33Z

November 2nd don't forget to vote for Dr. Erich Longie, who is a candidate for the North Dakota State House of Representatives, District 23.

He is president and co-founder of Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc., a technical services firm with headquarters on the Spirit Lake Nation, Fort Totten, ND.
He was the first enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota Sioux to earn a doctorate.
In addition to his experience as a small business owner, he has served as president of a tribal college - Cankdeska Cikana Community College, been president of the Four Winds School Board, and taught third grade. He was born and raised on the Spirit Lake reservation, served honorably in the U.S. Marine Corps. After attending Cankdeska Cikana (then named Little Hoop Community College), he continued
to the University of North Dakota for his bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees.

If you have not seen too much on our blogs lately, you know why. Erich has been on the campaign trail!

As for me, I have been doing the usual statistical and technical stuff. We just had a paper on Ethics for Tribal Workers accepted for presentation at the Consortia of Administrators of Native American Rehabilitation meeting to be held in San Diego in December.

As usual, we are working on getting new business - but that has been put on hold a little as Erich runs for election. Personally, I think it is exciting. I don't know how many Native Americans are in the North Dakota House of Representatives, but however many it is, it's not enough to provide the needed perspective on issues facing people on and off the reservations.

Why I Would Vote for Willie Davis

2010-10-05T00:53:13Z

I was impressed with Willie before I even met him. I was at a conference for CANAR (the Consortia of Administrators for Native American Rehabilitation) and some of the people from the Turtle Mountain Vocational Rehabilitation Project were talking about this counselor, Willie. The director of the Turtle Mountain project, Donna Thomas, had a reputation for running one of the best organized VR programs on any reservation and the staff were recognized as being extremely committed. I thought,

"If these are the kind of people who are impressed with him, this Davis guy must really be something."

Then, I met him. The funny thing is, no one had mentioned Willie used a wheelchair. His character - commitment, competence - stood out so much you kind of forgot the whole disability thing. It was really secondary.

But let's talk about that because it does reveal something about his character. When he was a teenager, Willie was a pretty good athlete, all set to go off to the University of North Dakota. Then, he was in a car accident which left him paraplegic (I think that's the correct term).

Correct term or not, the point is, many people in this situation would have used the excuse to feel sorry for themselves, blame other people or society for not being accessible, go on disability, stay home and that would be the end of it. I've seen the same story written that way many times.

Well, I guess Willie didn't like the ending of that story so he wrote his own. He went to the University of North Dakota anyway and graduated. He had the usual jobs people have when they graduate, worked in administration at the tribal college, for tribal housing for a while. Then, he found his real calling working for the vocational rehabilitation program, helping young people move from high school to work or college.

He became politically active, supporting getting his tribe to adopt the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Turtle Mountain Reservation implemented full inclusion of students in special education before it was required by law (thanks in large part to Gaylene Belgarde) and then the tribe followed a decade or so later by adopting ADA, in large part because of Willie Davis.

I've heard Willie say many times,

"It's about the cause, not the applause."

Whether it is for Native Americans or individuals with disabilities, Willie has always had that same ethic of working for the good of the people who is paid to serve and not to get more recognition or prestige for himself. When he received the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor of the Year award he told me that he was a little embarrassed because he felt the award should rightly go to the whole program and recognize all of the people who worked for the tribal members.

In years of working with Willie, he has always spoken with moral authority. He speaks the truth even when it might make people uncomfortable. His biggest issue has been getting people jobs - that's how he came to work with Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc., which has hired many people over the years on different reservations. One of his interests in getting us to come to TMCC was that we would pay stipends to participants who were project testers, pay for meals at the college cafeteria - in short, bring business on to the reservation.

Now, Willie is exploring business development opportunities for the reservation.

Gee, someone who is honest, respected, hard-working, focused on bringing jobs. I don't know if America is ready for a person like that to hold public office - but I'd like to find out!

I Only Hire Generous People

2010-10-03T19:37:07Z

"You keep saying that. I don't think that word means what you think it means."

That was my favorite line from the movie, The Princess Bride, and it fits my experience with teaching and learning about generosity in business. To be honest, at first, I wasn't sure what Erich was talking about. Over the years, I've slowly learned that generosity is just as important a value as the others. In the long run, I only work with generous people.

From day one, I totally understood how running a business takes courage - you have to step out from the safe job you have, quit being like everybody else drawing a paycheck and take the chance on failing. I see how courage is required.

Perseverance - sure, you have to work a lot of hours, not quit the first time (or the second time) you don't get a contract, you get blindsided by some expense you didn't expect, an employee you really counted on leaves.

But - generosity? Sure, it's good public relations if you donate to events in the local community. Being generous with your employees - in salary, in praise, in good working conditions - is a good way to attract and keep good people. If you come late, don't do your share of the work, spend your days on your cell phone while your co-workers pick up the slack, that's selfish. The opposite of generosity.

It really hit me today, though, as I was talking to someone about a new joint venture we were considering. In putting together the proposed staff, I thought about a young man I know who is very bright and talented. Let's call him Bob. I didn't even suggest Bob as a possibility. Why? Because any project is all about him, what will Bob get out of it in money, recognition, future contracts.

What's wrong with that? Isn't that what capitalism is about? Getting the most money you can? Isn't anything else being a sucker or just giving your work away?

Well, there you are back to generosity. I think it is okay to give your work away. I write a blog on statistics that has (sometimes!) useful information, and I do it for free. I present at conferences, not for free any more, but for less than my normal rate. I do that because I attend conferences where it is possible for me to learn from other people. I read lots of useful web pages. I don't believe in just taking and never giving.

Sometimes I do extra work for clients that is not in the contract because I think it will deliver a much better product. I'll create an on-line survey, too, even though they only paid for a mail survey. I'll test out different software for their website or put them in touch with a person I know who does newsletters who can do a great job for them. I can just hear Bob's voice asking me,

"Isn't it fair then, that if it benefits you, you'd pay me a little bit for the referral for the newsletter guy, and since he's getting business, he'd pay me a little bit, too. I wouldn't charge that much, so I make some money, so do you and the newsletter guy. Everyone wins!"

It sounds so logical, but it doesn't work that way. It is a waste of time. For an introduction that would take ten minutes to make, Bob needs to first be sure he gets an agreement from me to give him a cut, then he needs to get an agreement from the newsletter company. All of this extra effort from everyone is so that Bob's needs can be taken care of.

Then, there are those times when there is no benefit to be had. If my client only has a certain amount of money in the budget and I need to test out some new software anyway, why not test it creating a cool survey for them? Why not use it to do some analysis of their data?

Bob's answer would be that surely, they could find some way to pay for it. They could move money from customer service, classroom supplies, employee salaries or somewhere else so they could afford to pay him to do a better job for them.

The thought of doing a better job at no cost to them, since it isn't costing him, wouldn't even come up, because it's all about Bob.

It exhausts me even to think about having these conversations. Which is why, even though he is smart, educated and capable of doing great work, we're never hiring Bob.

The Small Business Emperor's New Clothes

2010-09-28T20:09:58Z

It really irritates me how few people providing advice to small businesses actually have ever run a small business. Take my word for it, there is a huge difference between being paid by some government agency or huge corporation to tell other people how to run a business and actually starting a business yourself.

Yesterday, Erich commented that we should do a workshop or provide consulting for people who want businesses. He added,

"But we should tell them how to do everything right from the very beginning. Get a CPA. Write a business plan. Decide whether to incorporate as an LLC or other type of corporation. There are so many things we should have done that we didn't"

And here is where I disagreed with him. Erich is a pretty smart guy and I got to thinking that if he was thinking this way maybe it is the same type of mistake a lot of other small business advisors make. It's kind of like that old children's story about the emperor's new clothes, where no one wanted to admit they couldn't see the clothes because they didn't want people to think they were stupid.

I reminded Erich that although the accounting firm we hired - Hamen & Remer in Grand Forks, by the way - has been immensely helpful to us in a lot of ways, the fact is we were in business for years before we hired a CPA. We made a few hundred thousand dollars before we incorporated.

Here's the truth- both Erich and I started as what they call "micro-entrepeneurs", back before the word existed. We did business using computers set up on our kitchen tables. Over time, we got more business. After several years of working as consultants and at corporate or university jobs, first one and then the other of us quit our "day jobs" and worked for the business full time.

We never got a small business loan, although we did at different points run up our credit cards or pay employees out of the salaries from our other jobs.

We sought advice from various organizations set up to help small businesses, and frankly, most of them were pretty useless. One place that DID help us was the Small Business Center at the University of North Dakota, especially the wonderful Steph Blair. They gave us a $1,500 Phase 0 grant, which freed up enough of our consulting time to write a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant, which we received, from USDA, for $75,000. It was also Steph that recommended our accountant, who has been a godsend.

We were in business for several years before we had a business plan. When our business started to grow, we did sit down and write one. It was a few pages long and it was useful early on when we needed to make decisions about whether we wanted to continue a contract, pursue a particular type of work. I don't believe no one can start a business without a business plan.

Yes, Erich is right that there are a lot of things we could have done differently. On the other hand, if I had to wait until I had done a business plan, marketing plan, SBA loan application and moved into a Business Incubator to start my company, I'd still be

Here is all of the business plan you need to begin:

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Article I

Yes, we have a kitchen table.

Article II

Our plan is to make money by XXXXXXX .

Article III

People will pay us money to do XXXXX because XXXXX.

Article IV

We are going to charge XXXXX.

Fill in the X's.

That's good enough. Get started

It takes so little courage ...

2010-08-10T04:00:47Z

It's amazing how many people go through life with so little courage. Catching up this week with two friends who had been through A LOT left me shaking my head yet again about the way some people live such petty lives just because they are afraid - of stuff that is really such nothing!

Recently, a gentleman I had known for years died. When his name came up, a friend of mine commented,

"We were in Manzanar together. I remember being just a little kid and he was always kind to me and looked out for me."

I thoug

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ht of the journey my friend had made in life from the Japanese internment camp to now, at nearly age 70, having been an international athlete, had a renowned career, a published author, the father of several adult children. In between those times, he had his wild days. There were a few years when every time I saw him, he was with a new woman. As he put it,

"I wasn't always a role model."

My second friend took a different path. We both received scholarships to the same university. I graduated. He dropped out the first semester and went back to the barrio. He was arrested twice for murder, which was reduced to manslaughter. Went to prison twice. He was nearly killed in a prison riot, but survived. He also has several adult children now and is retired on disability. He worked at some manual labor jobs for a while but the years of hard living took a toll on his body.

So ... here we all are now, three friends for 40 years, who started out in a very similar spot 40 years ago. None of us came from homes with money and privilege. We all made choices and, for better or for worse, now we live with them.

Speaking about the BP oil spill, comedian Bill Maher when asked how he would answer those people who said if off-shore oil drilling was restricted then they would lose their jobs responded,

"Fuck your job!"

So, other people's jobs may be lost through oil spills, several years from now, you may lose your own job for any reason, the environment may be hurt, thousands of animals will be killed, but all of that is okay because you are afraid to have to look for another job. You might even have to move to another state.

And I think of my friend and his family losing their home, everything they owned and being forced to move several hundred miles from home.

And I think of my other friend coming out of prison and after decades, turning his life around. As the Grateful Dead said,

"What a long, strange trip it's been."

When you look at the things my friends have been through, the lives they have led, it's hard to really convince yourself that you cannot speak out against fraud in the work place, provide written testimony to an investigation on sexual harassment or quit a job in an organization that is completely unethical. What is the worst that will happen? I doubt they'll put you in an internment camp or send you to prison.

Have some courage and do the right thing, for God's sake!