What is Tribal Leadership?

written by Julian Bergquist, Director
Leadership Programs | CultureSync

Sometimes I get a little stumped trying to effectively explain to someone what is Tribal Leadership? I was recently asked to speak to a group about TL and was prepping up my notes.

There are so many things you could say about people, leadership, tribes, culture, values, greatness, creating results together, and triads.

The past week there has been a lively conversation on LinkedIn, answering the question "What is Tribal Leadership?"

There were 30 answers, all beautifully dancing around the answer. What I learned from the discussion is that Tribal Leadership is one of those rare, great ideas that can't be boxed in and reduced to a single definition.

Soon CultureSync, the creators of Tribal Leadership, will be sending out fresh materials simplifying the view of Tribal Leadership. I highly suggest you sign up for their blog.

In the meantime, I've included below my five favorite answers from the LinkedIn discussion.

Which is your favorite?

Top Answer to "What is Tribal Leadership?"

• "Tribal Leadership is the empowerment of a community for a noble cause with the mutual respect for core values." -- Nasar Aboubakare
• "Tribal Leadership occurs when a group of people evolve to a point in their communicative/social dynamic where they gel on collective values, share information laterally for the benefit of the group, and work together as a team to inspire, accomplish, strive and create. Tribal Leadership is less about the leader being the star of the show and more about the whole group's ability to perform. Through tribal leadership we can create effective organizations that are based on equality, integrity, competence, function, and joy." -- Kimberly Johnson
• "Tribal Leadership is the path that generates the the kind of workplace culture that most people long to be in, yet believe can never happen."-- Robert Cornish
• "Tribal Leadership is about surrendering yourself to the tribe. As the tribal will is embraced and carried out throughout the organization, the Tribal Leader fuels the development of the tribe who in turn fuel the development of the leader. Everyone evolves and builds value together, both individually and as a collective business." -- John Sedivy
• "Tribal Leadership is playing the game called creating partnership with anyone and everyone wherever they are at, getting good at it, and having a good time while doing it! It's simple and brilliant." --Brian McFadin

Click here to read the other answers or discuss on LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Question-What-is-Tribal-Leadership-2355813.S.40387041