Do you understand tribes?
I’m currently reading Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger, and I’m finding it to be fascinating. Here are some of the questions and assertions I’ve encountered in the book:
What’s the structure of a tribe? What makes a tribe a tribe? The survival of the tribe is always in the field of its members’ awareness, so they’ve developed sophisticated ways of sharing work and resources. As part of the tribe, you have to be willing to contribute.
One of the biggest crimes in a tribe would be one person using more resources than anyone else to such an extent that it could put the rest of the tribe at risk. Worldwide, tribes have developed formal and informal ways of making sure that doesn’t happen. Even in Stone Age paintings, you can see tribe members who have been communally executed for putting the tribe at risk.
Consider Wall Street. How would a tribe respond to executives making so much? What about the health care system? What about political leaders? Within a tribe there’s usually an expectation that you don’t speak negatively about your leaders in order to protect the tribe.
Platoons function as individual tribes. You can’t get away with not pulling your own weight. There’s an informal pressure, or unwritten code, to keep everyone in alignment for the sake of everyone in the group.
These are just a few examples. I like the way this book has given me another way to understand the use of the word tribes and the implication of what it means to identify with being a member of a tribe. According to Junger, some of our current problems with feeling alone or isolated result from the lack of tribal affiliation.
Do you agree?
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About Terry: Terry Hickey, M.S., is a Certified NLP Professional Coach, Business Trainer and Consultant, a Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the co-owner of NLP Advantage Group. Originator of the Belief Breakthrough Method™, Terry specializes in teaching coaches and entrepreneurs how to rapidly resolve limiting beliefs about wealth and success. His tips and strategies can help you launch yourself into the future you want… NOW. http://terryhickey.com/
