Embracing indigenous cultures for personal and leadership benefits
Bio for Dan Barker
Dan Barker is an award-winning leadership expert, Senior Human Resources Business Partner at Country Supplier, and the founder of IDA Leadership Lab, where he helps teams and businesses transform through innovative, results-oriented workshops. With 20 years of leadership, customer service, and business transformation expertise, Dan is a certified MBTI, Gallup Strengths, ATD Master Performance Consultant, and Change Management professional, offering organizations the tools for growth and success.
In addition to his leadership roles, Dan serves as the Chairman of the Bonneville Youth Development Coalition, where he focuses on youth empowerment and community development. He previously worked as a Leadership Development Manager at T-Mobile, where he chaired diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that highlighted and supported indigenous team members.
Dan’s passion for advocacy stems from his deep connection to his Native American roots as a member of the Bad River Band of the Ojibwe. He is dedicated to preserving his culture through education and advocacy, supporting indigenous rights and cultural awareness. His story, rooted in the White Crane clan and the legacy of Madeline Island, adds a unique perspective to his work as a leadership consultant and speaker.
Episode highlight
Dan shares his unique journey from growing up in Northern Wisconsin and dealing with cultural transitions to becoming a leading figure in leadership development and community advocacy. He highlights the importance of preserving his Native American roots as a member of the Bad River Band of the Ojibwe and integrating those values into his leadership practices. His focus on empathy, progression, and blending diverse cultures and heritages offers invaluable insights for fostering inclusive environments. Listen to learn more.
Links
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-barker-mhrm-79719340/
- Website: https://www.leadershipsolutionsid.com/
Quotes
- “I would suspect that almost every tribe, every nation, has some fight probably, from an environmental factor these days.”
- “True empathy comes from that ability to put yourself in someone’s shoes, not for me to just be able to tell you I understand what it’s like.”
Takeaways
Childhood Incidents
Dan was a naturally aggressive child. In seventh grade, after a friend suggested signing up for football, he joined despite knowing little about the sport beyond TV snippets. The physicality—clashing with teammates, grueling drills—overwhelmed him within weeks. Though drawn to the aggression of football, the reality of constant collisions and exhaustion wore him down. After quitting mid-practice, his dad recognized Dan’s underlying fear and urged him to see the “bigger picture,” framing the struggle as a chance to grow rather than retreat.
As an adult, Dan reflects on his move from Idaho Falls to Boise during junior high and recognizes how challenging it was to transition schools, especially in the cliquish late-’90s high school environment. Growing up in a tight-knit community, he attended Idaho Falls High School with just 18 peers he had known since kindergarten, fostering deep connections despite sometimes feeling like an outsider. Moving 300 miles to Boise for senior year meant entering a larger, unfamiliar school where building relationships was difficult, even without the same ingrained social hierarchies. The shift from a small, lifelong community to a sprawling new setting left him grappling with isolation during a pivotal time.
Influential Groups
Having grown up in Idaho, the religious-based culture influenced Dan’s view of culture and drew him closer to his indigenous culture. It also opened him up to realizing there’s an outsider factor there; you could certainly join in, and they’re open arms.
Cultural Influence
Dan reflects on his family’s heritage, recognizing the significance of both the Kadat and Balange family lines. His great-grandmother grew up on the Red Cliff Reservation near the Bad River Reservation on Lake Superior, and his family’s connection to their Indigenous roots remains strong. Dan’s mother often jokes that her grandmother, despite speaking Ojibwe fluently, didn’t pass it down—perhaps because she and her nine siblings spoke it daily on the phone, often gossiping. This led Dan’s grandmother to develop a slightly bitter view, believing much of the conversation was about their family.
Dan married a wife from a different culture, and reconciling the two cultures wasn’t easy. Over the years, they have managed to synchronize the two cultures and have come up with their own family identities.
Temperament and Personality
Dan believes that over the years, his empathy and compassion have evolved. He believes that when he was young, he lacked the social awareness to help him develop these two qualities.
Cultural Epiphanies
Dan recalls participating in Cub Scouts, which was organized and funded through the LDS Church. His parents allowed him to join, and meetings were usually held at someone’s house, though larger events took place in churches, always including a prayer. At one ceremony, his father attended and observed the LDS practice of folding arms during prayer. After noticing this, his father corrected him, explaining that their family prayed differently. As a young boy, Dan initially saw it as a distinction between “us and them,” but looking back as an adult, he recognizes it was also about acknowledging cultural differences—his family attended church, just not the LDS church.
Soapbox Moment
Dan’s principle is always to leave a place better than you found it. He believes if we do that, it sits well with our environmental factors and how we orient ourselves in the various work that we do and also with our families. He also encourages us to give back to our communities.
He invites us to connect with him through his website or LinkedIn for a moment to have a conversation.
Dan Barker EXTRO
Coming from a mixed Indigenous heritage with some Scottish/Irish mixed in, Dan Barker has found a variety of inroads into belonging while keeping his sense of culture and identity intact. I was particularly interested in how he negotiated his indigeneity with the conservative Latter Day Saints community he grew up in, even marrying into that religion. Dan’s openness to others and to being a part of groups that may have felt difficult to identify with is inspiring. Paradoxically, his story of learning to play football after his father insisted that fear was not a reason to drop out, set the standard for his life as an Indigenous rights and cultural awareness advocate.
Here are some takeaways I have from my interview with Dan:
- Cultural learning is always evolving and growing, just as culture everywhere grows and evolves.
- Adding the family names of your diverse lineage to various children’s names, sets the tone for remembering that we have many cultural roots and all are valuable.
- It is possible to love the place you came from, even if that place did not initially welcome you.
- Fishing is a great way to connect with environmental stewardship!
