The Accomac business model

Editor's note: Earlier this year, the Alaska Federation of Natives sponsored Native Insight: Thoughts on Recession, Recovery & Opportunity, an essay contest that asked competitors to offer their perspectives on the current economic and political landscape, as well as thoughts and ideas related to economic renewal. Seven winners were recognized at AFN's annual convention in Anchorage in October, and they will share $60,000 in prize money. Alaska Dispatch is pleased to be able to publish the winning essays, which will appear over the course of this week. The following is Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel's winning essay, "The Accomac Business Model."

Our Native communities have survived long enough to see some of our ancient values -- like respect for women and Mother Earth -- fall in line with the ideals of the rest of the world. When I Googled the United Nations' web site, I found a section called "Women Watch," promoting the rights of women. Another header brought me to "The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs." It featured an indigenous people's discussion on the arctic, and related issues of climate change. Clearly, Respect for Women and the Protection of Mother Earth are ancient Native values which are now idealized by the modern global community.

In the business world, however, we have always been hesitant to assert our Native values. Deep down inside, we still assume that business is not our area of expertise. That is a mistake. Nowadays, the light of world opinion shines brightly on corporate greed, making this the perfect time to promote an alternative, Native, business paradigm.

Over the last few centuries, we have successfully adapted to new occupations and enterprises. In my tribe, we traditionally fed our families by working as hunters, fishermen, and planters of corn. We later became carpenters, housekeepers and stone masons. More recently, some tribal citizens have even been educated as lawyers, teachers, nurses and CEOs. What is amazing is not how much our livelihoods have changed, but that we still have people who choose to be hunters, fishermen and planters of corn. We did not lose all of our ancient ways. We only added new ones. That is the strength of Native societies. We do not sacrifice the old for the new. We know that we need old lessons, as well as new ones, to survive over the long term.

In my language we call this longer, broader view of things the Accomac perspective. Accomac literally translates to mean "the long view from across the water," or in more familiar terms, "seeing the forest from the trees." Success in business should depend on an Accomac view. In this essay, I call for a sustainable Native business plan using the Accomac Model in which we look at our businesses with Native eyes, focused on long term goals.

We, Natives, have more to offer in terms of business savvy than we think. We simply need to foster a business paradigm that reflects our culture. My tribe started to create such a model with a training program called "The Spirit of Aquai," but we still have a very long way to go. In it, we present employees with norms of tribal conduct, as our company's standard. One of those norms is the primacy of respect for all people. Many languages are spoken at our business and our Chairman leads by example, attempting to address many different language speakers in their Native tongue. As a typical Native community whose language was long forbidden in our local schools, we understand the importance of respecting people's native tongues.

This example of a Native corporate value shows that our ways do not have to be used to foster insularity. Rather, I believe that Native nations should share more, not less with one other and the world at large. We must not only share through blogs and meetings, but also through venues provided by non-Indian institutions. Take Dartmouth College's "Occum Scholars" program, in which Native students travel to different reservations to meet with traditional and business leaders. Those students share and absorb information about the cultures and economies of other tribes. I single out this program, because it shows that some of the best and brightest Indian youth are choosing to learn about tradition and business development, in tandem. Perhaps these young people will be the ones to create a successful, new Native business paradigm.