For years Eddie and I have had this fantasy. Imagine workplaces as environments where employees do meaningful work and customers get it. Even better, it taps into employees’ greatest potential, so high productivity and innovation are the norm. This trickles down to the customers who feel well served and a profitable experience for all. Even the families of those touched by this model are positively impacted. I hear Louis Armstrong in the background singing “It’s A Wonderful World” and life is good.

Call us dreamers (OK, now I hear John Lennon singing “Imagine.”). I know it’s crazy, but we all need a noble cause. Besides, reality is what you make it. It’s why we’ve devoted our careers to moving people to see the possibilities. Creating futures is much more energizing than simply solving problems.

But no one accomplishes anything great alone. That’s why we created MasterCoaches and began our journey to change the way people do business. After all, business moves the world (not politicians). Actually business moves them too.

Restless Natives by Smithco, Creative Commons

In our journey these past 13 years we found organizational change to be a bit daunting, so we shifted to creating change one leader at a time. While that has been rewarding and fruitful, we still yearned to do more. Meanwhile Dave Logan, John King and later Halee Fischer-Wright were busy doing the research that led to Tribal Leadership, and our dream was rekindled. Before you conjure up images of natives being worked into a frenzy, consider that tribes are just what humans gravitate into, like birds to flocks. They are naturally forming groups and we all belong to various tribes. You can easily recognize other tribe members. Think of the tribes you belong to.

Tribal Leadership is a phenomenon that is gaining traction around the world, and the book is a recent NY Times bestseller. The core of this work aligns with what we have always believed: that people are the heart of any organization and as they grow and evolve as human beings their capacity to produce greatness also grows. This is why so much of our work involves personal and professional development. As we are fond of saying, people hire us for what they want and they also get what they need.

MLK poster by Victoria Charko Creative Commons

What excites us to no end is that Tribal Leadership provides a methodology that moves organizations, via their cultures, to become the kinds of work environments we were dreaming about. Better yet, the authors walk their talk, making their material open source and fostering a movement.

When it gets right down to it, the culture, the people, will determine the success of a company more than any other single component, or as they say in Tribal Leadership “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”  This is where the leverage is. When people are connected around something meaningful, like core values, they are unstoppable.

lunch at Google by lifeandchaos creative common

Make no mistake about it, the data is there: moving tribal cultures up the developmental ladder has a direct and exponential impact on success in terms of profit, productivity, innovation and satisfaction. After all, healthy happy organizations are contagious. Wouldn’t you love to work at Google?

We believe the accessibility of Tribal Leadership can change the world, and the world needs changing. If you doubt that, look at the current impact of the predominant low-level cultures, like the businesses and governments that have dragged the world down. Only now we could use this power for good! Win-win globally. God knows the time is right!

I encourage you to go down the rabbit hole of Tribal Leadership starting with the links provided. There’s a lot there. Dive deep.

In the spirit of Tribal Leadership and what it represents, we have a request:

At MasterCoaches we’re looking for like-minded passionate people who want to partner with us in bringing this work into organizations. We want to talk with you if:

• You are in a position of authority, influence or leadership and want to raise up your organization’s culture, increasing performance, results and satisfaction.
• You have experience or skills in Tribal Leadership and want to contribute
• You have passion and commitment around Tribal Leadership and some other gifts to bring to the table

We know there’s an ever-growing community of Tribal Leadership followers out there, as well as leaders who get the possibilities. While we have much wisdom and experience to bring to the table, we can’t do this alone. Join us in a conversation and let’s see what we can create together.

imagine by eryn creative commons