this is a review of Tribal Leadership. much of the content of this post is taken directly from the book

Birds flock, fish school, people “tribe.”

I just finished reading Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, an amazing book that teaches how to build a better organization in which the best people want to work and make an impact. The book is based on a 10-year research study with 24,000 people across two dozen organizations from around the world.

A tribe is a group of 20 to 150 people who know one another enough that, if they saw another walking down the street, would stop and say “hello.”

What makes the tribe more effective than others is its culture.

Culture is a product of the language people use (words create reality), and the behaviors that accompany those words. The words we use to describe ourselves, our work, and others, creates the world we live in.

Tribal Leaders are the people who focus their efforts on upgrading the tribal culture. (upgrading the words we use to describe our reality and the behaviors we practice that shape the direction of our lives)

They set the standard of performance in their industries, from productivity and profitability to employee retention, and attract talent. Most of all, they help bring groups to unity by recognizing their ‘tribalness’ – getting people to talk about the things they really care about, coming together around these common causes, and forming missions to make something great happen, and to live in greatness.

The goal of Tribal Leadership is to learn how to get people ‘unstuck’ – from unhelpful language and behaviors, so we can level up and transition into higher-performance, less stressful, and more fun states of Being. Continue reading →