Tales from an Ojibway Chief: Steve and Minogi
“Tales from an Ojibway Chief” is a long running series on Carl’s blog, focusing on the real adventures, conversations, and stories between Carl and Steve Fobister, an Ojibway chief, during Carl’s time as a fishing guide on Ojibway lands. Read Part 1 of the series and find out what Steve had to say about the Redskins Controversy, and be sure to follow Carl on Twitter @carlnordgren for the latest in this series.
A few years back as I was starting a new business that would package what I was learning to do in my Duke classrooms; I had figured out how to help students grow their creative capacities and develop their entrepreneurial instincts. I was considering developing a business around delivering my content to anyone interested in becoming more creatively entrepreneurial. It was just when Steve Fobister and I were getting involved in each others lives again, after decades apart.
One day I called him to talk about the business idea. And I wondered if there was an Ojibway word that came to mind that might serve as an interesting name for the business and without a moment of hesitation Steve said “I was already thinking of this. It’s Minogi.”
Steve explained that “Minogi means growing well, or growing better”. He said it was used to designate the special sort of knowledge or wisdom that leads you to a better life. The phrase he used that captivated me was “Minogi wisdom helps you live a graceful and respectful life.”
As we talked more about it we realized that when this word became, when it took shape to designate this meaning, when the meaning and the sound merged as language emerged, at that time all the people were in a primitive aboriginal state. And that the fundamental aboriginal wisdom we needed that could lead to both an individual and the clan growing well and living gracefully would be the ability to understand at an intuitive level the many varied and interwoven patterns of nature and especially those patterns that promise abundance, and to learn to live a life in harmony with them.
“Minogi means growing well, or growing better”
I tell my Duke students that Minogi wisdom is the most important wisdom for their business success and personal happiness. They need to learn how to see and understand and feel the patterns in the nature of their lives that offer the most opportunity and learn to gracefully develop them.