What’s a tribe? How do tribal cultures develop? What does a tribal leader do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the book Tribal Leadership<\/em>, Dave Logan, Halee Fischer-Wright, and John King contend that organizations succeed or fail on the strength of their tribes\u2014groups of individuals with shared social norms<\/a> and ways of working. They argue that you can improve your organization by elevating the cultures of those tribes. If you implement their strategies, the authors say you\u2019ll improve both your bottom line and the happiness of your employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take a look at our overview of the book, and see what you can apply to your own organization and leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Logan, King, and Fischer-Wright bring diverse expertise to the table. Logan is a senior lecturer at the USC Marshall School of Business and a business consultant through his company, CultureSync<\/a>, while King coaches executives in leadership skills. Fischer-Wright is a licensed physician and former business consultant. The book Tribal Leadership<\/a> <\/em>synthesizes their shared expertise in business management, leadership, and cultural transformation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our overview begins by presenting the \u201ctribes\u201d framework\u2014what a tribe is, how tribal cultures develop through five stages, and what a tribal leader does. We\u2019ll take a look at what the stages are and how they work before detailing each of the five tribal stages\u2019 characteristics and how to level up to the next stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors explain that humans instinctively form tribes<\/strong>\u2014in other words, we\u2019ve evolved to organize ourselves in medium-sized groups of like-minded people. A tribe is a group of 20 to 150 people who readily recognize one another and generally get along. A tribe is a <\/strong>social <\/em><\/strong>network before it\u2019s a work group<\/strong>. For example, the people you instinctively reach out to in crises are part of your tribe. An organization can have multiple tribes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the authors, the strength of an organization\u2019s tribes determines the strength of the organization. In turn, the strength of a tribe depends on its culture\u2014<\/strong>how the members speak, relate to values, and form relationships. For example, if a tribe is made of ambitious, values-driven team players, it\u2019ll contribute positively to the organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: While the authors don\u2019t provide a source for this number, the upper bound of 150 matches \u201cDunbar\u2019s number,\u201d<\/a> a theoretical upper limit to the number of close relationships<\/a> that a human can maintain. Dunbar calculated this number by comparing primate brain sizes to group size, and for humans, he found hunter-gatherer communities were \u201calmost exactly 150\u201d members.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors say that tribes develop through five distinct stages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, the authors mention a fifth stage, at which teams perform \u201dworld-changing innovation,\u201d but they acknowledge that exploring it was beyond the scope of Tribal Leadership<\/em> at the time of publication. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSynopsis of Tribal Leadership<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Humans Coordinate in Tribes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Tribal Culture Develops Through Five Stages<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n