Subject: Career and Life Skills

Details:

Leadership
At one time or another, each person on the Expedition would have a chance to step forward and shine. The scholars who have researched Lewis and Clark’s leadership style are still amazed by their approach. Lewis apparently ""defied the Pentagon"" and his own President by not following standard military chain of command requirements. Because of their longstanding trust and friendship, he decided to share captain responsibilities equally with Clark so that the unique talents and gifts of each could be fully exploited. They soon encountered a different leadership pattern in the tribes they met where different chiefs with different gifts and talents ""take charge"" of certain functions, such as hunting.

Information Utilization
Before embarking, Lewis was tutored by national experts in the Philadelphia area. He and Clark carried several books and at least one summary map as references along the way. Today they would use Internet connectivity and hand-held GPS units for the same purpose.

Systems Thinking
Lewis and Clark were masters at seeing the big picture, processing all the data they could gather, and questioning and looking ahead at consequences of their decisions. Only occasionally did Lewis fail to approach a problem with this kind of rigor: his iron boat experiment is a notable example of how R&D; can help prevent costly problems later.

Safety/First Aid
Lewis had learned about herbal remedies from his mother and with Clark had acquired experience dealing with injury and illness as part of living in the frontier. Jefferson made sure Lewis studied the latest medical practices with one of the leading doctors of the period. He assembled an extensive medicine chest they carried the entire distance. One officer died early in the trip, apparently of a ruptured appendix which would likely have been fatal even in Philadelphia. Safety was a constant concern. Several bad judgments put individual men in jeopardy.

Interpersonal Skills (teamwork)
After recruiting men down the Ohio River Lewis and Clark set up a training camp and staging ground near St. Louis in the winter of 1803-04. It was here where the group began to shape into a manageable unit loosely modeling the military structure of the time. Journal records indicate that after the initial shake-down period and launch of the boats in May 1804, the captains only occasionally had to crack down on individual behavior. For most of the 28 months, the routine of daily life on the trail or winters in the forts must have been much easier because of the trust and respect each person felt for others; 33 adults, an infant and a pet dog living in close proximity in tents and confined spaces required considerable communication and tolerance. When occasional trappers, Indian chiefs and guides joined the group, they, too, must have felt this camaraderie.

Resource Utilization (planning)
Even after many hours thinking through the trip with Jefferson, Lewis spent several months ordering supplies and equipment and preparing for needs that could only be imagined. After the adventure was over, there were relatively few purchases that were off base: they needed more trade goods, but much less gunpowder in lead canisters or the distasteful ""portable soup"".

Cultural Awareness:
Just as in schools and workplaces today, the Expedition lived, worked and traded with persons much different from themselves. Most of the explorers were white European Americans, but several had a mixed heritage; Sacagawea and her husband Charbonneau came from two distinct cultures and races: Lemhi Shoshone and French Canadian. The Corps and the tribes they met learned to communicate with and respect each other, particulary during longer camps and winters at the two forts.

Problem Solving
Each day of the journey presented new problems to be solved. One of of the memorable decision points was which channel to take where the Missouri and Marias Rivers join. How the captains handled this problem is a case study in critical thinking and the application of observation skills and leadership.

Ethics/Integrity
Remembering Jefferson’s mandate, the Corps of Discovery demonstrated high standards of ethics and integrity. However, several journal entries describe instances where the captains made decisions they knew were shaky even though actions seemed justified at the time: two Blackfeet men were killed in an altercation on the return trip and a canoe was taken from the Clatsops on the rationale that it was a ""make up call"". Clark also pushed the edge of honesty by treating dozens of Indians for ""red eye"" in trade for food and other necessities; he knew his eye washes were probably of doubtful value.

Perserverance/Discipline
These two traits proved to be vital to the mission. After screening each person for skills they would bring, Lewis and Clark drew on their military background to make sure each man could maintain energy and level-headedness when times got tough. Even after months of training at Wood River, Illinois and the journey finally began, several men broke one or more rules and received harsh punishment. The captains themselves, despite occasional health problems of their own, seemed to model positive strengths of character and physical stamina that would carry the Corps through long months of challenge and uncertainty.

Self-Management: Cooking
In the early 1800s, men were apparently able to do more than make camp coffee. The journals speak of all men assisting with hunting, gathering and preparing food and often preserving it for later use. However, some men seemed to have a special knack and their contributions were popular. In at least one instance, the recipe is given for a special dish–deep fried buffalo sausage. There is no record that Sacagawea had any major cooking role, though her identification of edible plants and their use was credited.

Self-Management: Clothing
With a trip that was more than two years away from retail stores, once again the Expedition would have to depend on each other’s skills. At least one member was an experienced tailor, but we also learn that each person was busily engaged in leatherwork for moccasins and outergarments. Repair of clothing was also a constant need and a sewing kit carried by someone in the Corps is one of the few artifacts still remaining today. We must assume laundry was also an individual task, perhaps using handmade soaps of the time made from grease and lye.

Self-Management: Health/Nutrition
Diet on the trail was a constant challenge. Without knowledge of bacteria, fat percentages, and carbohydrate counts, the Expedition again relied on their experience as outdoorsmen to eat well. Lewis purchased more than enough ""portable soup"", a version of today’s instant soups, that was probably well-balanced nutritionally but foul-tasting in reality. The record shows this concoction was rarely used; indeed, we hear over and over that horse and dog meat became meals of choice in times of near starvation, even when fat salmon were nearby. The men suffered from many ailments, probably as the result of imbalances in diet: boils, diarehhea, lack of energy, upset stomachs. Some of their herbal remedies or naturally-occurring treatments (sulphur water, hot baths) were probably much more effective than the standard medical practices of the time: blood-letting and purgatives.

Occupational Skills
Lewis and Clark were multi-skilled professionals in their own right. Lewis recruited men (and others, like the Charbonneau family) because they also brought highly-specialized vocational skills to this workplace. In the parlance of School to Work Transition, the Lewis and Clark expeditionary force would need to recruit persons from the following career pathways today:

Business and Marketing Systems

• Bookkeeping (the expedition had spent 95% of its budget at the halfway point and was nearly out of trade goods and gifts)
  
• Buyer, Purchasing Agent
  
• Event Planner (peace ceremonies with tribal leaders)

• Drafter/Cartographer (sketching designs for vessels, structures, implements; finalizing maps)
  
• Manufacturing Technologist (metalworking, dugout canoe and boat building)
  
• Construction (designing and building shelters, temporary housing)
  
• Gunsmithing (repair)
  
• Loadmaster and Rigger
  
• Navigator
  
• Civil Engineer

• Botanist, Zoologist, Biologist
  
• Geologist, Meteorologist, Hydrologist
  
• Animal Husbandry, Hunter, Fisher
  
• Taxidermist, Hide Dresser/Leathermaker
  
• Wildlife, Range, and Conservation Management, Timber Cruiser

• Family and Consumer Science (cooking, meatcutting, making and mending clothing)
  
• Child Development (Jean Baptiste Charbonneau grew to be a healthy two-year old during the expedition--with Sacagawea carrying most of the responsibility, but with others on the Expedition probably helping out when she was ill.)
  
• Sports and Fitness (on long layovers, the journals describe occasional games or contests with local tribes)
  
• Political Scientist
  
• Ethnographer

• Desktop Publishing (quills, ink, rag paper and writing desks were the tools of Lewis and Clark with backup copies made by hand; the quill had to be sharpened with a pen knife)
  
• Illustrator
  
• Musician (at least one member was an accomplished fiddler)
  
• Dance (the men enjoyed their own ""sets and reels"" but also appreciated Indian performances)

• Emergency Medical Technician
  
• Pharamacy Assistant

Physical Fitness and Recreation
There were several stretches along the Missouri and Columbia and in the Bitterroots when Corpsmembers were pushed to the outer limits of physical endurance. Polling and pulling heavy boats against the strong Missouri spring current was the first major test, followed in turn by the portage at Great Falls, the crossing of endless mountains with sudden snow, and dangerous whitewater and more portages in the rivers west of the Bitterroots. At one time or another, all men–particularly Lewis–would hike many miles across rough terrain. Canoing is also an arduous task even with today’s sleek models. Physical training was part of the pre-launch agenda, but after they were underway, the Corps enjoyed music and dancing, either their own or their Indian hosts’, as a way to rejuvenate body and spirit.

Luck/Providence
Many times we read in the official journals and subsequent books that chance or luck were important factors in the Expedition’s success. While Lewis and Clark were apparently not overtly religious men, we know little of their faith histories or that of the other men. References are made to the celebration of Christmas and in a few entries the journalists thank Providence for their safety and good fortune. We leave it to journal readers to determine if their other stories of narrow escapes and unexplained occurrences were just serendipitous or the work of a higher power.

Child Care
Having a mother and baby on the journey may have been a psychological advantage Lewis and Clark did not anticipated. For mostly young and single sons, brothers and uncles who left family far behind, having these reminders of loved ones back home could have been an important morale booster. How did they react to infant cries and two-year-old needs we can only guess; however, we know Sagagawea was on at least one occasion too ill to take good care of herself , let alone her child.

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