102.) The "corporate business management model" that the Band Councils of Canada and the BIA-Tribal nations of the U.S. use as the model for their "indian governments" does not work for Haudenosaunee People. And how this business model goes against the duties of a Haudenossunee Chief. And signs of poor management and a word about lawsuits. (18 min. read)

 To begin with, the "corporate business management model" completely opposes the Great Law of Peace that was given to the Haudenosaunee People by the Creator. 

The corporate business management model (cbmm) could not have been designed any better to destroy the Haudenosaunee people and the Confederacy. This is the same corporate business management model that is the basis of the Band Councils of Canada and the BIA -Tribal "governments" of the United States. It does not work for Haudenosaunee people and never will.

The corporate business management model is simply another mechanism, for indigenous people to "self-exterminate". That is why the Band Councils and the BIA Tribal "governments" use it. These are in fact not governments, but are corporate business management models masquerading as governments. All for self-extermination.

And isn't it interesting that these two "Indian governments" of Canada and the United States are not patterned after the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, as is the Constitution of the United States. The Confederacy is a democracy and was the model that the United States Constitution was closely patterned after. This was officially declared so by the United States in a U.S. Congressional Proclamation. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is considered by many historians to be the oldest, continuous democracy still in existence. The Confederacy is not "antiquated" as some BIA Representives have recently stated. 

Democracy is never "antiquated". Just ask the Canadian and U.S. governments. So why don't these two governments use the Haudenosaunee Confederacy as a basis to form these "Indian governments"? Because they know how strong the Confederacy is and after the Revolutionary War the U.S. made sure there was no place in New York State or in the United States where the Confederacy would exist as one enity. This is why each Haudenosaunee Nation is separated on its own, across New York State and the United States. This is a separate discussion on its own. Continue this discussion in your circle.

The corporate business management model is based on a hierarchy. The Confederacy is based on all being equal, where no one is above anyone else. There is no hierarchy. 

This is where a lot of confusion occurs as to what a Confederacy Chief is. The word Chief is misunderstood to mean king, lord or all the other hierarchy, patriarchal empire terms. This is not what a Chief is.

To give a greater understanding and reminder, here is an incomplete list of Haudenosaunee teachings of Chief. It is just the tip of the iceberg.

*A Chief must make sure that the people are taken care of first, before himself and even his own family. As an example, let us look at the condolence ceremony for installing a new Chief. After the ceremony is over, only the Chiefs are to hand out all the food to the people first, before the Chief himself, eats. The needs of the people are takien care of first. Before the needs of the Chief. Always.

*A Chief has to walk a line so narrow that each step must be taken slowly and carefully, heel to toe.

*A Chief can be immediately removed from his position of responsibility and service to the people, by committing murder, rape or theft. 

*All of the Chief titles follow the female line. The Confederacy is matriarchal. The women decide who will carry the Chief title.

*The real translation for "Chief" means "he serves the people".

*All the 50 Chiefs are equal, there is no "Chief among Chiefs", or "Chief of all the Chiefs". They are like the tree line of the forest, all of equal height.

*A Chief must have the skin thickness of seven spans of a hand. This is to protect him from the criticism he will endure.

*When a man becomes a Chief, his life is no longer his own.

*The Chief does not tell the people what to do, or not to do. Each person as an individual, has decided to accept the Great Law of Peace and it's teachings. This gives rise to the teaching of "a person comes to it, when they come to it".

*And let us remember what Corbett Sundown from the Tonawanda Seneca Nation said about Chiefs. Notice that it is the Creator who decided that there should be Chiefs and what their duties will be. This translation is written by an ethnologist: 

This is what our Creator decided: "they will simply continue to be grateful, those who move about on the Earth". And he decided, "the moiety partners who are called Chiefs will be present. They will be responsible for looking after the security of those who move about on the earth. And it will also be their responsibility to roll into one, the minds of the people". All that he gave them was good. "They will continue to look after the happiness of the people." That is what he did. "And it continues unchanged up to the present. It continues unchanged, they are standing there, the moiety partners who are called Chiefs. They have indeed carried out their responsibility. At all times he looks after the happiness of the old people as well as of the children, of those yet unborn. And indeed they also do the talking whatever people gather. They roll into one, as far as they are able, the minds of the people. They keep providing for their happiness". And this is what the Creator decided: "it will continue to be their responsibility to help the moiety partners called the Faithkeepers. The Faithkeeper will whisper to them, whatever is on his mind. The Chiefs are there. It will be the Chiefs responsibility to speak in public. And indeed we know that the form of the ceremonies continues unchanged. The Chiefs keep the whole thing straight, as the Four Rituals are performed. And indeed it continues unchanged". The whole thing goes as he intended it. "And now indeed again there is thanks for those who are called Chiefs who remain. And now we ask this: that it will continue in the same manner, that they might still remain for another year."

* The following needs much more of an explanation, so it is given here only as a starting point for discussion. It is something that you don't hear very often anymore. My uncle was the Secretary for the Confederacy for many years and he told me this old, almost forgotten teaching. I was undecided whether to include this or not, but I will. It can be a hurtful statement, but very true and absolutely necessary for all to hear and begin to understand what a Chief is:

"very few Chiefs will get to meet their maker"

*During the condolence ceremony, all the Chiefs and all involved, who have passed on since the very creation of the Confederacy are there.

Now let us look at the corporate business management model. Does any of the above seem to apply to this business management model?

Does it apply to a "Indian Act-Band Council elected chief or elected counselors ? 

Does it apply to a "Bureau of Indian Affairs apointed BIA Representative" ? 

The cbmm is created by the white, patriarchal empire. This corporate business management model opposes the Creator, the Great Law of Peace, the Confederacy, the Chiefs and the Haudenosaunee people in every way.

The corporate business management model can never be hybrided into the Confederacy. It will take over and reduce the Chiefs and Clanmothers to being nothing more than figureheads.

First off, the cbmm is about business, about making money. It has nothing to do with the Creator, peace, honesty or doing what's best for the people, the children or the coming generations. It's about making money. Getting as close to breaking the law as possible and at times breaking the law to make money. The cbmm is based on making money. The cbmm is designed to force the employees to be in fear of losing their jobs. It is based on money and fear, it's that simple. How can this be good for the Haudenosaunee people.

As an example, let's take a look at the Indian Act-Six Nations Band Council. Right now, over half the employees working for this Band Council are white people. This is because the Haudenoesaunee people will not participate or accept this type of hierarchy system. I heard a young person talk about when they had a band council job. They quit because they said: 

"when you work for band coucil, they expect you to bend over and then afterwards, say thank you". 

Does this sound like what the Creator wants indian people to follow and do to each other. This is not singling out the Six Nation Band Council. This goes for all band councils across Canada the BIA tribal nations across the United States.

And what happens in the cbmm is that there  are incompetent managers. Likewise in band councils and tribal governments. This hierarchy system is not based on hiring the best individual for the job and helping the people. It is based on hiring relatives and friends and who can screw the other person better and claw their way to the top. The belief of helping the indian people falls to the wayside and the people in the cbmm believe only in how they can promote themselves further up the chain of command. This system of hierarchy generates this type of motivation and thinking. It is designed to do this. 

This is exactly what happens to Indians when they get into this hierarchy system. It promotes and creates an "Indian dynasty mentality" in these cbmm Indian "governments". I've talked to numerous Indian people that tell their stories about negative and disastrous dealings with the Band Council system. One was a Indian language teacher. Someone who wanted her job went into the computer and switched her resume with someone else who wasn't qualified to be a teacher. Then this person went to a band councilors and said that this person is not qualified to be a teacher. Without any further investigation, the band councilor removed the language teacher and replaced her with the person who switched the resumes. Sadly, these types of terrible incidences are not unique.

Here are a few signs that indicate  poor management, or worse.

*When a manager feels that they no longer have control of the situation they usually fall back to the default mode of "I am the boss". Some manage will actually say this out loud. There are many ways a manager will show they feel they are no longer in control a situation.

*Signs to look for when a manager feels they have lost control of a situation is they will start talking over a subordinate, until the subordinate stops talking. And then may even laugh mockingly afterwards. This is just another way of telling the subordinate employee: "I am the boss".

*Or the manager will start mocking the subordinate when they're talking by waving their hands in the air and saying "yeah, yeah, yeah, unh-huh" when the subordinate employee is speaking. This is all done to get the employee to stop talking.

*Or a manager may dismiss an employee's suggestion through many phrases. Like saying that the employees suggestion is just "semantics". Or other such similar phrases to minimize the employees good ideas. Again, the manager is worried about the subordinate coming off as being more competent than themselves.

*You may hear a manager tell a subordinate employee that they're getting off track when that is not the case at all. These incompetent managers do not want anybody to hear what the subordinate employee is saying. Again, they fear the subordinate may come off as more competent than themselves. The manager feels their job may be in jeopardy. 

This is all completely unprofessional behavior. Yet in many Indian "governments" and organizations it can become standardize behavior.

One leading expert name on the corporate business management model is W. Edwards Deming. You can sesrch the word "management" and his name and you'll see all kinds of articles and books on good management, poor management and everything in between. Also look up "toxic work environment". Deming lists lots of good information on how to identify bad managers. And the truth about what the cbmm is all about- making money, and only making money.

What's being said here is not just for Band Councils or BIA Tribal "governments". It's for any indian organization that uses the hierarchy, corporate business management model. Whenever an Indian organization or "government" uses the cbmm, it will do damage to Indian people. These Indian organizations always have trouble hanging on to talented people and recruiting talented people to work for them. This snowballs into an atmosphere of incompetency. And a "toxic work environment" can begin to develop.

Incompetent managers do what it sometimes referred to as "picking someone's brain". They will seek out talented people, generally outside of the organization but sometimes inside. They get the correct and useful information they need from these competent, talented individuals and then brand it as their own idea. And the other incompetent mangers accept it, because they are doing the same thing. I have heard numerous talented indian people, not working for any Indian organization, who have described this exact scenario, that they have become a victim of. And these same talented Indian people will never be allowed to work in an Indian organization. The managers feel that if too many talented people come in, they may lose their jobs to them. This fear of the manager losing their jobs is primary and ever-present in the cbmm environment. This is how the cbmm is designed to work.

Next let us talk about the cbmm's Human Resources Department, also known as HR. To the unknowing employee, HR is portrayed to them as being there to help the employee, when they have a problem. This is not the true purpose of the Human Resources Department. HR is there to make sure that the company or organization does not get sued successfully by any employee. Yes, it is there to help employees. But it's primary purpose is to prevent any employee's lawsuit from being successful against the company or organization. 

And in Indian governments and organizations that are being run by this corporate business management model, HR really stands for "Hire Relatives", LOL. I say this with humor but it is really the sad truth. And the relatives are usually incompetent, or let's say not best qualified for the position they are filling. And this just increases the atmosphere of incompetency. Incompetency becomes the norm. Again, this usually leads to a toxic work environment. This is not to say that all employees working for the corporate business management model are bad people or incompetent. It's just that good people get locked into this incompetent system and can do nothing about it. This can leads to frustration and sickness. This is a major reason why the cbmm Indian run organizations can never keep talented people working for them.

In Indian "governments" that follow the cbmm, they can do anything they want, to anyone and there is no recourse for the employee. Remember they have "special sovereignty" as assigned to them by the state and federal courts. Read articles 53,54,55  and 56 about the BIA governments, the tribal courts and BIA Representatives.

All Indian organizations that follow the corporate business management model need to put in place a "whistleblower protection program". Whereby people who come forth to tell the truth about the corruption and incompetence of the organization or government, will be protected from losing their jobs. This whistleblower protection program must have real teeth to protect the employee from losing their jobs or retaliation. And it cannot be part of the Human Resource Department. It must be a separate entity. Perhaps someone would like to start this whistleblower action on social media sites. Giving the opportunity to express honest testimony of what indians and white employees have seen or been a victim of, in the cbmm indian "governments" and organizations. This action will not fix the cbmm. It will always be flawed  and never work for the Haudenosaunee People. But it can be a way to start finding out the truth and ending the cbmm as a model to follow.

And here is a side note about lawsuits. Anyone can file a lawsuit against anyone else. Lawsuits are only about one thing- can the lawsuit be won successfully. 

And if someone gets sued, they have the right to counter-sue. So if an individual is threatening to sue someone, they generally will not do it because that "opens the door" to the truth of what that individual is actually doing and then it can and will be legally exposed in court. The individual threatening the lawsuit does not want this. In fact this is the last thing that person would want. The person threatening to sue is using the threat as a way to stop the people from asking questions and finding out the truth. The person threatening to sue is generally relying on the legal naivety of the person(s) they are threatening with a lawsuit. In other words they're taking advantage of that person or organization to keep them from finding out the truth. The threat of a lawsuit is a bluff. And no real government should ever be in fear of any kind of threat.

The motto of any real government is: "bring it on".

The corporate business management model will never work for the Haudenosaunee People. Again as always, this is provided as only a starting point for a revealing, honest and positive discussion in your circle. Some may say: finally, someone has begun to addressing this situation.