Being selected to attend Harvard Business School, one of the top business schools on the planet, is a rare opportunity. Late last month, our very own William J. Stone Sr. and Stacy Stone (pictured above center right) participated in Harvard's Executive Education Program after being selected to attend the six-day Tribal Leaders Program in Boston, Mass.
“Many individuals submitted applications a few months ago to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)," said William, who serves as our Tribal Treasurer. "I had to do a summary response to questions tied to tribal community challenges and the struggles focused on social and economic differences with impacts on tribal leadership. It took about a month after applying to get a correspondence back congratulating us of our acceptance into the program."
The intensive certification program focused on all facets of Tribal Administration. Tribal Nations across the United States and Canada were represented. More than 70 tribal government officials and tribal executive leaders received scholarships to attend.
“The case study for each class was very intriguing and engaging," said Stacy, who serves many roles for our Tribe, including State of Emergency Program Analyst, Tribal Victim Services Director and Co-Interim Emergency Management Coordinator. "The professors were able to tie international and national corporate matters with micro and macro-economic similarities to the Tribes. Tribal officials were able to bring some of their community infrastructure issues and develop social and environmental strategy from the case studies being taught.”
William and Stacy were able to develop skills in the following areas: Leading People and Delivering Results, The Responsibilities of Power and Authority, Working With Your Board for Strategic Renewal, Leadership and Crisis, Leadership and Context, The Strategy of the Nation-State, Finding Opportunity in the Face of Climate Change, The Political Power of Weak Interests, Strategic Negotiation Fundamentals, Multi Party Negotiation, Leadership as Building the Capacity to Do the Work, Institutional Governance, System’s Thinking for Social Change, Place-Based Strategies for Systems Change, Corporate Governance, Self-Care and Leadership, and Strategic Trade-Offs.
The certification program was the first course offered to tribal leaders and representatives. It attracted the most tribal leaders Harvard has ever had on its campus at one time. The organizational efforts for this course was between NCAI, the San Manuel Tribe of California and Harvard University.
William and Stacy will be representing Lac du Flambeau in November at the 1st Harvard Alumni banquet for the Tribal Leaders Program at the annual NCAI conference.
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