Review: “Tribal leadership”
I have finished reading the “Tribal Leadership” book. I really liked the framework about 5 different stages of tribes and how one can leverage this framework to build a culture capable to successfully execute on the strategy. Some of the examples felt a bit superficial and the book lost the moment towards the end however there was a good chapter at the end on how to set the goals and come up with a strategy to achieve them.
It is interesting that the authors came up with 5 stages in a similar way to the 5 levels of leadership.
Language defines the behavior so the book is focused on the language that is identified with each group and how one can change it.
Here are the stages:
1. “Life sucks” language— it is more relevant to the gangs and hostile individuals that consider that life is not fair and it is not going to change so you have to act accordingly and take what you can from it.
2. “My life sucks” language — There are successful people around but there is always something that pushes you back and makes your life miserable — either boss, a project, a company, an environment, etc. It is a very common stage and usually, this culture is very protective of its members — people at that stage avoid the change, innovation, and always skeptical of anything that is proposed to them because they don’t believe that their life would change.
3. “I am great but you are not” — You are very successful in the role and produce top results however everyone around you is not really good. You better prefer to do the project on your own because other people will screw it over. The language is always about “your” achievements and results. It is interesting that people at that stage 3 always consider themselves in the next stage in their own eyes and blame others for not getting better results.
4. “We are great” — This is when the tribe considers themselves the best and can produce high-quality great work. However, there is always an enemy to the group — “we are great but they are not”. You see it a lot between competing companies. This is the most stable stage of the tribe and any leader should strive to bring the tribe to that stage.
5. “Life is great” — This is where the book really lost its momentum. The tribes at this stage can’t stay long there but can produce the work that can change the life around us. They strive for a higher purpose — vanquish hunger, improve healthcare. It is not about competition anymore.
You can’t skip the stages of the tribes when you upgrade the culture but any tribe can fall back to the lower levels very quickly.
Overall, it is a good book and the vast majority of the material covering the first 3 stages. If you don’t have time, the cheatsheet at the end provides a very good summary of how to move the tribes through the stages and coaching tips.
Verdict: Recommend for entrepreneurs and managers that are building teams (though start with the cheatsheet and revise the chapters based on the interest)
