Dr. Bob’s Reads: The Legacy of Wilma Mankiller

March 13, 2020

Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller was recently named by Time Magazine as one of the  100 Most Influential Women.

“In 1985, Wilma Mankiller paved the way for female leadership in America when she became the first woman to be Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, the largest tribe in the U.S., a role she held for a decade, ushering in an era of prosperity, cultural revitalization and self-governance for Cherokee people.”

Meeting Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller and hearing her speak are some of my favorite and most inspirational professional experiences. From my perspective, she was a humble, no-nonsense servant leader who dedicated her life to the betterment of her tribe – the Cherokee Nation.

Principal Chief Mankiller shared and lived the Cherokee concept of “Gadugi” which inspired people to work as a “collective community toward a common goal.” When she began working for the Cherokee Nation, one of her first jobs was to bring water to a small Oklahoma town (the Bell Water Project ). She successfully organized an entire community to complete the ambitious task themselves as a self-help project. She identified the money for the materials and then worked alongside them. Principal Chief Mankiller felt the success of the project was symbolic of the revitalization of the entire Cherokee Nation.

Mankiller died in 2010, leaving a legacy of cultural pride and success. “I want to be remembered as the person who helped us restore faith in ourselves,” she once said. Indeed, her policies on health care, education and self-governance for the Cherokee Nation provided a model that would be followed by other tribal nations, and the U.S.”

Thank you Time Magazine for recognizing Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller – one of the most courageous and transformational leaders I have ever met and try to model.

Magic in the Room #201: Leading from Within

By Emma Holland • June 9, 2026
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Chris Province, Hannah Bratterud, and Luke Freeman reflect on six years of conversations and explore a foundational leadership question: why leadership is ultimately an inside game. Drawing on personal growth, facilitation experiences, and organizational leadership lessons, they argue that effective leadership cannot be reduced to frameworks, checklists, or techniques alone, but instead depends on the ongoing work of self-awareness, discernment, courage, and wisdom. They explore the relationship between courage and conviction, the importance of responding rather than reacting, and the role of personal development in creating positive impact for teams, organizations, and communities. The episode presents leadership as a lifelong practice of leading oneself first, emphasizing that meaningful change begins not with external systems, but with the internal work of becoming more intentional, hopeful, and aligned with one’s values.

Magic in the Room #200: How to Lead through Polarities

By Sarah Whitfield • May 5, 2026
In this episode of Magic in the Room, Luke and Hannah explore the concept of polarities. Tensions like purpose and performance, stability and change, or accountability and grace that are often mistaken for problems to solve rather than dynamics to manage. Drawing on insights from Barry Johnson’s work, they explain how these opposing forces are interdependent and must be balanced over time to achieve sustained success. Through practical examples and personal reflections, they show how over-relying on one side of a polarity leads to predictable “shadow sides” such as stagnation, chaos, inefficiency, or burnout, while effective leadership requires recognizing where you are on the cycle and intentionally recalibrating. The episode emphasizes that many recurring organizational frustrations are not failures, but signals of imbalance, and offers a more nuanced approach to leadership. One that replaces rigid either/or thinking with flexible both/and awareness to improve decision-making, team dynamics, and long-term performance.
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