This book focuses on the insight that what and how gets done in organisations is driven by groups ('tribes') and their culture and relationships. The authors suggest that every company is a tribe, or in the case of very large organisations, a number of tribes; groups of 20 - 150 people where everybody knows or at least knows of everybody else.

In a rigorous ten-year study of approximately 24,000 people, the authors conclude that the success of a company depends on its tribes. The strength of its tribes is determined by the tribal culture and a thriving corporate culture can be established by an effective tribal leader.

Five tribal stages

The authors identify five successive stages of tribal evolution. These can be identified by the language and attitudes that prevail.

1. Stage 1- Tribes whose members are alienated, often aggressive and extremely negative, characterised by the phrase 'life sucks'.
2. Stage 2- The authors say this is the dominant culture for 25% of workplace tribes. Members tend to see themselves as victims of circumstance, without choice or power. They are apathetic or passively antagonistic, sceptical and highly resistant to new ideas or management initiatives. Characterised by the phrase 'my life sucks'.
3. Stage 3- Around 50% of workplace tribes are in this stage, marked by 'knowledge hoarders' who want to outwork and out-think others, even within their own team. They are individuals who not only want to win, but are keen to be seen as the best and brightest, even if this sabotages colleagues or team success. Characterised by the phrase 'I'm great'.
4. Stage 4- In this stage tribe members are excited to work together for the benefit of the entire company. Stable partnerships are attained as relationships are seen to be very important. A tribe member is successful only if all members are successful. Characterised by the phrase 'we're great'.
5. Stage 5- This stage is rare and tends to be impermanent. It is all about values and making a transcendent positive impact on the world - a 'Noble Cause'. Members feel inspired, motivated and operate at peak performance. Characterised by the phrase 'life is great'.

Leverage for transition between stages

According to the authors, effective tribal leaders do two things: listen for the culture that prevails within their tribe(s) and then upgrade those tribes using specific leverage points.

Some strategies for helping to move from 2 to 3:

• Identify individuals in Stage 2 who want to change and mentor them by helping them to see their own strengths, find projects where they can succeed and talk about their abilities with others so that their tribal reputation shifts.
• Find individuals who have recently shifted from Stage 2 to 3 and challenge them to mentor someone else who is at Stage 2 to shine too. This creates a virtuous cycle.

Interestingly, most organisations fail to achieve real success because they can't move beyond Stage 3, the culture of individual success, where one employee's gain is another's loss. The study indicates a significant productivity lift is achieved of at least 30% when a leader manages a sustainable cultural shift from Stage 3 to Stage 4.

Some strategies for helping to move from 3 to 4:

• Align people with shared core values, who find the same things important.
• Ask them what goal they could work towards that would bring that value to life.
• Have meetings to identify and review well-intended bureaucratic processes or procedures that block people making their highest contribution.
• Stop Stage 3 bullies by elevating the conversation from what Logan calls 'night of the living dead communication' when they use tactics of control and manipulation to push people back to Stage 2 (e.g. "Don't talk to me about teamwork, remember when you.....?", or "That's ironic when you don't even ....") Logan suggests doing this by getting agreement(in writing via email for particularly intractable cases) with the bully that when you've discussed it, it's then resolved and in the past, and reminding them if they bring it up again so as to stop the vicious cycle.
• Encourage triads - the most valuable relationships are made of three people because the third person will stabilise and grow the relationship between the other two.
• Point out that the next level of success cannot come from doing more of what created Stage 3 success - to elevate to the next stage means a different approach, one that includes others and transcends the individual.

Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.