Wellbriety and Economic Development
By Don Coyhis

  Economics and economic development is very, very significant for the wellness of communities, but I think we need to understand the natural order of things in considering this. I believe we always have to work with natural order. To me, the natural order or understanding is that we are spiritual beings trying to be human, we are not human beings trying to be spiritual. It’s really important to try and understand that, because if you want to be successful at economics you must first develop the inside and then work on the outside. In recovery it is spiritual first, then material. It’s never the other way.
   So, for example, if, with good intentions, you bring in economic development opportunities and entrepreneurship to a community, you are almost doomed to failure if part of the economic development plan omits developing oneself inside. In the business world, you put energy into a business, then you get a certain amount in return for doing so. For successful economic development, you have to have a plan, you have to have goals and objectives, you have to measure them, you have to have work ethics. You need to have work habits. You need to be willing to put in the time—nothing’s free.
   Water always flows down a mountain through the path of least resistance. Suppose water flows down the mountain and hits a tree or a blockage. It will go around that tree until it hits a stone. It will stay there a little while and then go around the stone. Eventually it finds the path of least resistance because that’s the nature of water. Business is the same way. It always follows the path of least resistance. Your goods or services must be easy to use. You’ve got to be faster, cheaper, better, quicker, or offer higher quality than any one else. But certain thought patterns have to be established inside a person before you can do that.
   Suppose I drink, I party, I go out with friends, I come in late, and I have an, “I don’t give a shit” attitude; is that going to affect my productivity or the outcome of any kind of a business I have? They say, “As within, so without.” If you are clogged up inside, you will clog up the business. If you are judgmental to yourself then you are going to judge your customers. If you hate yourself, you’ll hate your employees. If you are intolerant of yourself, you’ll be intolerant of everybody you run into. In an interconnected world, everyone will pick up on it. So it’s kind of a Catch-22. Which do you do first? Do you bring in the business and start that way? But if your thinking isn’t right, your business project is not going to work anyway.
   Most economic development plans, I believe, use the European model which only focuses on the outside. They proceed like this: “Here’s your goals, here’s your charts, here’s your spreadsheets, here’s your money, now go and do it.” In Indian Country, I think that in order to make a plan work you also have to come in with a personal development plan to show people how you must think if you are going to run that business. For example, businesses don’t start on Indian time. Indian time is a delusion anyway. Indian time is really about being responsible. It’s about being there when you say you are going to be there. That’s Indian time. It isn’t, “Set an agenda for eight o’clock and have everybody show up at 8:30 or a quarter to nine.” That’s an excuse for being irresponsible. Don’t say the meeting is going to be at eight, oversleep, come in late, have coffee, and say it’s Indian time and the Indian way. It’s not. Our traditional Indian way was to say what you are going to do, and do it.
   To sum up, in order for economic development to be successful in Indian Country, part of the training for business needs to include the thinking skills that go with it. What thought patterns would it take for me to run a business effectively? At the community level, what work habits does a potential work force need to develop? You must define what is excellence. What is mediocrity? What standards need to be in place if the project is to succeed? What is it you want? I really think you have to have that balance of both: the inside look and the outside look, simultaneously, so that you can both grow.

Don Coyhis, is president of White Bison, Inc., an American Indian non-profit organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Reprinted with permission from Well Nations Magazine, January-February 2001.