Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright, published by Collins

The authors of this book are all from one USA consulting firm - CultureSync- which was previously unknown to me and again I tried not to be prejudiced by the Foreword from the ubiquitous Warren Bennis!


The book is structured around a five step framework for organisational transition; from the least desirable stage one - which is similar to gang warfare - to the ultimate utopia of stage five when everything is great for everybody. The message for leaders is that a key part of their role is too recognise the existing stage and move their tribe upwards. A tribe is defined as a group of between 20 and 150 people - effectively the number that can be personally known to each other - and the implication is that larger groups should be broken up or will naturally do so.

One of the attractions of the book is that the five stages are identified by catchy phrases that summarise the prevailing culture, ie:

• Stage one - Life sucks.
• Stage two - My life sucks.
• Stage three - I’m great.
• Stage four - We’re great.
• Stage five - Life’s great.

The point is made that the two extremes are unusual. Most leaders have tribes that are between stages two and four but should be trying to move them up and at least to stabilise around stage four. The identification of the stage should be based on observations of language and behaviour, not subjective and self-serving judgements.

The authors’ research and interviews show that good leaders often experience an ‘epiphany’ which drives them to make the all important move from three to four; from personal satisfaction to the well being of the tribe, from individual to tribal achievement. They realise that selfish ‘I’m great’ behaviour fails and that they need like minded people to move to the next stage.

Before moving on to the ultimate goal of stage five, the authors take a diversion into coverage of the importance of values and networking. These chapters do not provide much that is new and I was not too impressed with the emphasis on ‘dyads’ and ‘triads’. This seemed to be rather too contrived and theoretical for my liking (particularly when they adopted the American trend of making everything into a verb and talked about ‘world class trading!) I also found the chapter on strategy rather too prescriptive, suggesting that we should be ‘re-strategising’ every 90 days by asking some fundamental questions about values and behaviour.

The final chapter on the ultimate goal of stage five - with everyone loving life and working towards the same ‘noble cause’ - is interesting in that it clearly is a great leadership achievement if you can get your tribe to this state. Apparently only 2% make it but it was disappointing to see that most of the examples were relatively small organisations and in ‘not for profit’ environments. It was at this point that I began to wonder about the compatibility with growth and shareholder goals and how these elements can be reconciled. Are there occasions when the tribe’s love of life and noble causes is not in line with shareholder interests, even in the long-term?

It would have been good if these issues could have been explored further because, without this balance, I was left feeling that, while being a good read, the book is too theoretical and one dimensional to be the basis for a leader’s way of working. But the five stage framework is still a powerful basis for assessing where your tribe is now and where you want to be.