It'safactoflife:birdsflock,fishschool,people"tribe."
Everycompany,indeedeveryorganization,isatribe,orifit'slargeenough,anetworkoftribes—groupsof20to150peopleinwhicheveryoneknowseveryoneelse,oratleastknowsofeveryoneelse.Tribesaremorepowerfulthanteams,companies,orevenCEOs,andyettheirkeyleveragepointshavenotbeenmapped—untilnow.InTribalLeadership,DaveLogan,JohnKing,andHaleeFischer-Wrightshowleadershowtoassesstheirorganization'stribalcultureonascalefromonetofiveandthenimplementspecifictoolstoelevatethestagetothenext.Theresultisunprecedentedsuccess.
Inarigorouseight-yearstudyofapproximately24,000peopleinovertwodozencorporations,Logan,King,andFischer-Wrightrefineanddefineacommontheme:thesuccessofacompanydependsonitstribes,thestrengthofitstribesisdeterminedbythetribalculture,andathrivingcorporateculturecanbeestablishedbyaneffectivetriballeader.TribalLeadershipwillshowleadershowtoemploytheircompanies'tribestomaximizeproductivityandprofit:theauthors'research,backedupwithinterviewsrangingfromBrianFrance(CEOofNASCAR)to"Dilbert"creatorScottAdams,showsthatoverthreequartersoftheorganizationsthey'vestudiedhavetribalculturesthataremerelyadequate,nobetterthanthethirdoffivetribalstages.
Leaders,managers,andorganizationsthatfailtounderstand,motivate,andgrowtheirtribeswillfinditimpossibletosucceedinanincreasinglyfragmentedworldofbusiness.TheoftencounterintuitivefindingsofTribalLeadershipwillhelpleadersattoday'smajorcorporations,smallbusinesses,andnonprofitslearnhowtotakethepeopleintheirorganizationfromadequatetooutstanding,todiscoverthesecretsthathaveledthehighest-leveltribes(liketheteamatApplethatdesignedtheiPod)toremarkableheights,andtofindnewwaystosucceedwhereothershavefailed.