How to Build a Business Around Tribal Leadership w/John King

Money School Podcast

The prevailing culture in business is not focused on relationships, community and connection and that’s making us a lot less productive. What are the different levels of leadership and the kinds of company environments they create? What is Tribal Leadership, and why is it the key to unlocking more opportunity? How can we bring it into our own leadership?

On this episode, I’m joined by renowned keynote speaker, and author of one of the best leadership books of all time, John King. He shares why we are more effective when we work as community.

Virtue forms character, character unfolds destiny. -John King

Three Things We Learned

There are 3 types of relationship based on different things producing different results

Relationships of pleasure (shared interest), and relationships of utility (what’s in it for me) are the most common, but they are not sufficient to get you where you need to go. The highest is a relationship of character, which about ethics, contribution and connection.

Many successful, productive and fulfilling businesses have Tribal Leadership in common

The lower level of leadership is where someone feels ineffective because they aren’t connected to other people. The next level is where people feel useful but aren’t thinking about the community and are more focused on themselves. Most businesses are in this stage of leadership. The final stage is where people understand the common vision.

Management and leadership are two ends of the spectrum

Management is about efficiency but leadership is about effectiveness. In order to lead someone, you have to have their permission and that comes from actually having a relationship with them.

The truth about building businesses with strong cultures is that it’s all about relationship. Until we partner effectively on an equal basis by blending skills and communicating, it’s impossible to become a true team. If we can build a culture of stable and effective partnership, we will lift the productivity of the group by up to 300 to 500%. Ultimately, it’s about thinking as leaders, not as managers, which means providing a space where people can think and flourish. Without this, not only will you fail as a leader, the group fails too.