Jeff Appelquist and Jack Uldrich are accomplished business guys with diverse experience whose careers partly focus on learning from history to navigate the future and applying the lessons to your enterprise.
Appelquist, a lawyer and former Target and Best Buy manager, and Uldrich, a business consultant and futurist who once was state planning commissioner, are also former military officers and award-winning writers. Their latest initiative helps business people anticipate change and learn leadership by studying the great journey into the northwest territories by Lewis and Clark in 1804-06.
This course is based on Uldrich's 2004 book, "Into the Unknown: Leadership Lessons from Lewis & Clark's Daring Westward Expedition."
That work distilled important aspects of Lewis and Clark's journey and challenges, from maintaining morale amid uncertainty and fear to dealing with diverse people, including a female American Indian guide.
Lewis and Clark failed their original objective to find a water passage to the Pacific. But they gave America more in terms of science, geography and how understanding and respect can lead to good relationships with Indians. We sure didn't heed those lessons later in the 19th century.
"They failed in their primary purpose to find the Northwest Passage," said Appelquist. "But they had a common purpose, and they were adaptable."
They mapped the great unknown territory of the West to the Pacific Ocean through a grueling monthslong sail that started on the Missouri River. They traversed by boat and foot 8,000 miles over 863 days, cataloging flora and fauna and encountering, mostly in peace, 70-plus Indian tribes.
"It was the 19th-century equivalent of putting a man on the moon," Appelquist said. "It was a metaphor for venturing into the unknown, what every business organization has to do, whether they like it or not."
