Here's A Surprising Story Revealing The Ultimate Leadership Lesson.

The saying goes, when it comes to breakfast the chicken is involved but the pig is committed.?How committed are you to your business??Are you all in??Is your commitment confirmed by sound business metrics, dedication to helping your employees bring their best game and lauded by customers who rave about you?

If not, there’s help.?First you’ve got to care, then become aware. ?This specifically means:

1.?Realize Plan B is a distraction.

2.?Water the seeds of fortitude and grit, the keys to success.

3.?Grasp that clarity of mission and purpose are DNA cornerstones, woven into every action.

On June 25, 1876 Lieutenant Colonel George Custer got what he had coming. Underestimating his enemy and their resolve to defend what Custer was stealing, the Battle The Little Big Horn is a storied event.?Five of the 12 companies forming Custer’s 7th Calvary were annihilated.?Custer, 2 of his brothers, a nephew and brother in law were killed in the crushing defeat. The rout was over in about the time it takes a hungry man to eat a meal, according to native accounts.

Archeologists studying the battle paint a picture not of an army surrounded, but one that was overwhelmed by a single charge.?A “buffalo run” in native terms.?Leading the swarm was Crazy Horse, a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band.

Born in about 1842, Chan Chan (Among the Trees) became Crazy Horse, a name bestowed upon him by his father, upon reaching maturity and showing his strength and leadership in visions.?He was the third in his lineage to bear the name.

Growing up in present day Wyoming, Crazy Horse became a Shirt Wearer, an honor reserved for fearless fighters.?Present at historically significant battles including Battle of Platte Bridge, Battle of Red Buttes, Battle of the Hundred in Hand, Wagon Box Fight and Battle of the Rosebud, Crazy Horse earned a reputation as a courageous, bold warrior.??

Contemporaries praised his audacious style of racing headlong into hailing bullets, defining him as one of the greatest fighters ever.?Water Man, an Arapaho fighter at Little Big Horn declared, “Crazy Horse was the bravest man I ever saw. He rode closest to the soldiers, yelling to his warriors. All the soldiers were shooting at him, but he was never hit.”

Multiple records from the Battle of Little Big Horn recall Crazy Horse exhorting his warriors before the fight with the battle cry, “Today is a good day to die!”. ?Not exactly motivational words ringing in today’s board rooms.?Think of the emotion and chaos with warriors on the backs of dancing, anxious horses in 1876 when Crazy Horse’s thundering words won the day.?

Crazy Horse’s purpose was clear.?As were his words.?His cohorts intuitively understood the mission.?With compelling clarity, a strategy so engaging it was worth paying the ultimate price. ?

We should all be so committed and inspire such a following.?What’s the trick to becoming such a leader, like Crazy Horse?

Crazy Horse’s legacy, as penned by Ian Frazer in his book Great Plains, “Even the most basic outline of his [Crazy Horse] life shows how great he was, because he remained himself from the moment of his birth to the moment he died; because [though] he may have surrendered, ... he was never defeated in battle; because, although he was killed, even the US Army admitted he was never captured. His dislike of the oncoming civilization was prophetic. Unlike many people all over the world, when he met white men he was not diminished by the encounter.”

Author Chris Hedges adds, "There are few resistance figures in American history as noble as Crazy Horse," while adding that "his ferocity of spirit remains a guiding light for all who seek lives of defiance.”

In short, you’re going to have to take a stand.?You need to define your purpose, defend it and promote it with exceptional vigor.?Crazy Horse is the concise embodiment of the best management books, but lived it in exemplary fashion 150 years ago.

Quit waffling about offending potential clients who don’t care about you anyway. Grow the greenest grass for the ones you want to attract. ?Whittle, clarify and convey exactly what your promise of salvation is.?Forget about the maybe customers, hug back the ones who love you. ?

The only way to win today is forging a message so cloudless that your authenticity is magnetic.?You don’t need everyone to love you, just the ones that matter.??

Your well told story becomes the path.?Make it clear and authentic, with such conviction that you stand out and win like Crazy Horse.