Work Tribes: The Surprising Secret to Breakthrough Performance, Astonishing Results, and Keeping Teams Together
Shawn Murphy
HarperCollins Leadership (August 2019)
How and why our “human needs can transform the way we work and how we lead people”
As I worked my way through the Introduction and first few chapters of this book, I was again reminded of my favorite passage in Lao-tse’s Tao Te Chin:
“Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves.”
What is the “surprising secret”? Belonging. As Shawn Murphy explains, it is not diversity. “It has everything to do with university. The original Latin meaning of diversity focuses on separateness. That separateness is expressed by focusing on variety and differences. While there is nothing wrong with diversity, the original meaning of the word and how it is viewed, at least within the marketplace, is predominantly a focus on dissimilarities.”
“Opposite of diversity is university. Lets turn again to Latin for the definition of university. The word university shifts its focus to, well, the universe, or the whole, the original definition.”
Hence the relevance of the passage from Lao-tse’s Tao Te Chin. The most effective leaders understand how and why human needs really can transform the way people work, and one of those needs is “the reassuring feeling of place and identity.”
Whatever their size and nature may be, all organizations need effective leadership at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. Near the end of a film about a slave rebellion defeated by Roman legions, there is a moment when several gladiators proclaim, “I am Spartacus!” Theirs is not an assertion of authority; rather, an affirmation of shared values.
It is no coincidence that companies annually listed among those most highly admired and best to work for are also annually listed among those most profitable, with the greatest cap value in their industry segment. Most of their workers feel that they belong and are proud of it. You won’t hear them shouting “I am Southwest Airlines!” or “I am Container Store!” but you can be certain each is an employee evangelist.
I commend Shawn Murphy on the abundance of valuable information, insights, and counsel that he provides in abundance in Work Tribes. Of course, it remains for each person who reads this book to absorb and digest the material, then apply whatever is most relevant to their organization.
Also, I presume to suggest three questions to consider:
1. “How eager am I to get to work each day?”
2. “Do my associates and I think and act in terms of first-person PLURAL pronouns?”
3. “Do we brag about our company, about what we do, and about those we work with each day?”
Your answers will clearly indicate how urgent your need for this book is.