Lewis and Clark lessons in leadership

I am in St. Louis at a meeting of Feeding America food bank CEO's from around the country.  I had a little free time my first day here and since the famous Gateway Arch is walking distance from our hotel, I headed over.  I didn't know that I could go up inside the arch, and I did so, which is definitely a story for another day for claustrophobic me!

But, more important, there is a wonderful museum about the opening of the west and a great movie about the Lewis and Clark expedition, which originated here in St. Louis.  I knew some of the story - who doesn't from US history class? - but the movie really drove home what an amazing feat this team accomplished.

Then, interestingly enough, our keynote speaker yesterday was Rex Ziak, an amateur historian who has studied Lewis and Clark extensively and even identified flaws in previous research about the expedition.

Ziak's theme was on the lessons of leadership we could take from the Lewis and Clark expedition ad he offered these insights:

• Celebrating milestones is important when you have a huge goal ahead of you.  Lewis and Clark stopped and celebrated every time they covered another 100 miles!  With a massive goal like solving hunger, we need to take time to celebrate the small successes along the way!
• Problem-solving by looking around at the resources you have and thinking how those resources might solve the problem at hand is important to success.  Lewis and Clark faced numerous challeges around food, other supplies, and shelter for the winter months and were very creative in their problem solving.
• A key to success in major undertakings is often about building relatioships and being generous in those relationships.  Lewis and Clark secured much help along the way from various Indian tribes by being generous and building relationships with the tribes.
• When something doesn't add up, no matter what the experts say, go back to it and puzzle it out.  Sometimes the experts are wrong!

I am intrigued and will be hunting down some books to learn more!