Lesson 3 - See Your Guides - Five Leadership Lessons from the Lewis and Clark Journey of Discovery (#4 in series)
Another great lesson we can learn from Lewis & Clark has to do with the guides they relied on. When you think about who is known for guiding the expedition, is there a name that comes to mind?
Who Was Sacagawea?
If you’re like most, the name you think of is Sacagawea.
In 1800, when she was about 12 years old, Sacagawea, a Shoshone Indian, was kidnapped by a war party of Hidatsa Indians -- enemies of her people. She was taken from her home in the Rocky Mountains, in today’s Idaho, to the Hidatsa-Mandan villages near modern Bismarck, North Dakota. Later, she was sold as a slave to Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trader who claimed Sacagawea and another Shoshone woman as his “wives.”
In November 1804, Lewis and Clark arrived at the Hidatsa-Mandan villages with the Corps of Discovery.
Horse Trading
In March 1805, Clark wrote that Toussaint was to be enlisted “as an interpreter through his wife.” Even though Sacagawea was six months pregnant at the time, Lewis and Clark thought she would be a useful interpreter because they anticipated trading with the Shoshone for horses to cross the Rockies.
The interesting thing here is that Toussaint spoke French and Hidatsa, Sacagawea spoke Hidatsa and Shoshone and a Private on the expedition, Francois Labiche, spoke French and English. So any interpretation and negotiation with the Shoshone would require Sacagawea to translate to Hidatsa, Toussaint to translate to French, and Labiche to then translate to English to communicate with Captains Lewis and Clark. (Reminds me of that "Telephone" or "Whisper-down-the-lane" game I used to play.)
In August of 1805, after crossing the Continental Divide, they found a group of Shoshones. Not only did they prove to be Sacagawea’s band, but their leader, Chief Cameahwait, turned out to be her brother. After five years of separation, Sacagawea and Cameahwait had an emotional reunion. Then, through their interpreting chain, the expedition was able to purchase the horses it needed.*
To make a long story short, the horses were an important factor in the Corps of Discovery finally making their way to the Columbia river and on to the Pacific, achieving one of the primary objectives of their mission.
?Finally Recognized as a Guide
You might be surprised, as I was, to learn that although Sacagawea was frequently useful, she was not really relied upon as a “guide” for the Corps of Discovery until the latter part of the return trip from the Pacific. As they passed eastward through her childhood homeland, Sacagawea remembered Shoshone trails, and Clark praised her as his “pilot.” She was instrumental in guiding Clark and his party through the modern day Bozeman pass to rendez-vous with Lewis and his party at the Yellowstone river.
See Your Guides
In retrospect, the story of Sacagawea brings up a one key thing for me; Sometimes we cannot, or we refuse to, see our guides!
Even though Sacagawea spent the better part of her childhood in the region the Corps of Discovery was rather blindly moving into on their Westward trek, her value as seen by Lewis and Clark was primarily constrained to that of interpreter.
I have wondered…
- Could the Westward journey have been improved if Sacagawea was recognized as a “guide” earlier?
- Could Sacagawea have corrected the bias they had about the size of the Rockies or the relative ease they anticipated for their portage across them?
- Could the Corps of Discovery have been better prepared or made better plans to avoid some of the suffering they walked into on their journey by consulting with Sacagawea?
It took well over a year for the actions of Sacagawea to chip away at the bias leaders of the expedition held - likely related to her age, gender, education, ethnicity and native tongue - before they would truly see her as a “guide”!
Who Are Your Guides?
As you consider the story of Sacagawea, I invite you to reflect on the following questions:
- What sort of guide do you need to help you reach your destination?
- Where do you look for your guides?
- Who are the guides around you that you’re not seeing yet?
- Do you have the patience to interpret ideas that come to you in words you don’t initially understand?
- What might you do to speed up the process of coming to trust a guide?
- Looking back, can you see guides who have significantly influenced you that you didn’t see as guides at the time?
- Who are you guiding? And do they see you as a guide yet?
"See Your Guides" is the third of Five Lessons about Courage that are as applicable for business leaders today as they were 200 years ago when they were first encountered and learned by the leaders of the Corps of Discovery. Here's a recap of the five lessons:
- Start with Why
- Beware your Bias
- See your Guides
- Prize the Power of Good Books
- Find your North Star
Watch for my next post where we’ll discuss lesson number four – The Courage to Prize the Power of Good Books.
Plus, if you’ll follow me through the series, I’ll reveal a surprising sixth lesson that ties all the other ones together!
*https://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/saca.html
Photo credit: Charles Fritz painting "Sacagawea Returned to her People - August 24, 1805" depicts her son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau riding in a cradle board. July 8, 2006 Billings Gazette.