Will Your Tribe Change the world?

When I was doing some research today about the way people are communicating to create innovation, I came across this inspiring concept of a 'tummler', coined by Deb Shultz - who concentrates on the way people, technology and the media connect. She considers herself to be a content curator and human connector. Tummling invovles people who share content within the dynamic settings of an ever evolving group. I like this idea because it connects to the way people in the future will be working and communicating. If you arn't sharing/swaping/remixing/adapting/networking with ideas and people online and offline you essentially will be out of the loop.

The led me to find a webcast by David Logan on tribal leadership - a theory that I find totally fascinating.The theory goes that there are five ways people can behaviour/approach/lives their lives:

Dave Logan, on Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization:

1. At Stage One people believe “Life sucks” and they cluster together, expressing hostility, such as in a gang.
2. At Stage Two people believe “My life” sucks. They feel they are surrounded by people who have power, but they themselves do not.
3. Stage Three is “I’m great,” which implies “You’re not.” It’s a culture of loan warriors.
4. At Stage Four the “I” turns to “We” as those lone warriors group into value-based relationships.
5. Stage Five is “Life is Great” where there is no “they.” These are the history-making groups that have excelled beyond competition.

I found a way of applying these concepts to my life. In my time at university, I come across many different tribes; mostly in the Life Sucks category, and the I'm great category. Selfishly, I think I often communicate in a way that is I'm great - your not mentality. The key is to shift your own influence to a step up. So if I approach project work with a group, and try to influence the tribe to believe we are great and life is great; perhaps their will be a different outcome?

In my current internship I am working with people who have the life sucks mentality; or the I'm great mentality. There seems to be little fusion between the tribe - and nothing to encourage that individual talents are less imporant than the pride of the tribe as a whole.

See this link by TEDtalks to fully understand what I mean! Click here: David Logan on Tribal Leadership:

"To move a person from Stage Three (“I’m great”) to Stage Four (“We’re great”), the manager needs to assign projects that are bigger than he/she could ever do alone. That person needs to realize that what worked until now, will no longer be enough going forward. The manager can begin this process by forming “triads,” or three-person relationships based on shared projects and resonant values. That way the manager acts an anchor to the relationship of the two others."

So for me - my aim is to operate in an approach that says we're great & life is great. And maybe group work isn't so bad afterall; even when I work with people with the Life Sucks mentality! As a creative communicator I see this as concretly making steps to share ideas; exchange ideas; and connect with my tribe with a influence that is celebratory of everyone involved.hmm. I let you know how I go..
We all know peoples at work who want to share ideas/articles/music/concepts/and connect different people together in different ways. I see this as the future of truly innovative action and communication in the light of new media platforms and spaces.

The ideal workspace :
" the casual, non-threatening encounter."

-Malcolm Gladwell

When studying the development behind creative cities, I came across the writings of Jane Jacobs - who argued for the importance of urban planning that does not disconnect people from cultural experiences, relationships, and a connection with a diverse environment. Jane Jacobs', essentially hated on "squelches" who disabled this process... squelchers who are political business leaders who divert and say no to "new ideas" and community needs.


I stumbled on this when reading the highly controversial ideas of Richard Florida and the human capital theory, who argues that cities must be open to an atmosphere of tolerance, diversity, and creativity in order to enjoy higher rates of innovation; and to further avoid disconnectedness, sprawl, and intolerance. The theory basically shows that economic growth is dependent on highly educated and skilled people who produce innovative/creative ideas and products. And therefore cities and regions must invest in the education of people to enhance global competitiveness. He says that economic growth relies on the clustering of diverse and creative people with highly developed skills.

This is a concept that is alive in the relatively gentrified suburb that I live in; where highly skilled creative people are attracted to live here because of it's diversity and highly networked atmosphere. It is a place where the coffee shop turns into a working 'hub', and the street becomes a place for creatives to be seen, meet, and exchange ideas. In the 1980s the gay community moved in, and creative business people flocked to experience an area of diversity and progression. Which now has developed into a population of people who are less concerned about climbing the ladder - and in Florida's words, are more inclined to gain employment via horizontal networking and job changing within the creative industries.

The area has developed into a highly gentrified area that is diverse - yet also incredibly rich, in the sense that ideas and innovation is prime concern. And people who 'job hop' have no shame. A place where lots of creatives work in studios or at home; far away from a setting that is top-down, bureaucratic and scarily sterile. The 'front loaded career' and the 'defferred life' seems to be the norm - but the culture here in New Zealand resembles a slightly more tolerant  atmosphere in regards to the work-life-balance. And the key to innovation, creativity and happiness is often a case whereby people are working from home, or in a studio up the street. The people live where they work, work where they live, socialise where they work, and live where they socialise, contributing largely to a sense of home in a real physical space; allowing people to be themselves rather them compartmentalising their lives between: work=city, home = suburbs, friends = sprawled; and your life = disconnected.

Living here has only taught me the importance of place, and how innovation and creativity can be fuelled by living in an area that operates as a highly networked, relaxed, social space with highly skilled people who want to collaborate together. These external factors have allowed for conversations between people at work, at home, and in the street to move back and forth between talk about our lives, our opinons, our ideas, and our emotions - all in the one space. When people 'go to work' their social lives do not need to be shut down by management, and when they go to a coffee shop people don't stop working - sharing ideas between outsiders is often the best remedy for a creative lull. And that is when real conversations can breed, and innovation can begin. Peoples identities can be formed based on specialised skill, and via the suburb one lives, aesthetic taste, and the experiences within that area; rather then identity creation based on the one-job-for-life type. I am all for the portfolio life - and I think I've found the ideal external factors that will enable me to live it.

"When employees sit chained to their desks, quietly and industriously going about their business, an office is not functioning as it should. That's because innovation is fundamentally social... the best ideas in any workplace arise out of casual contacts among different groups within the same company."

-Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker Essay.

C R E A T O R

i'm not a big fan of personality testing. since taking tests when I was at school, I  have failed to fit into one option, and when i did the test again, it would tell me a different answer depending on my mood! but here is a good test I just did by Marcus Buckingham. it is for women, and I got an anwer that fits perfectly! My lead role  (a role you return to time and again), is  creator. Take the test here and tell me what you think!

"For a Creator, there's nothing quite as thrilling as finding a pattern beneath life's craziness, a core concept that can explain why things play out the way they do, or better yet, predict how things are going to play out. You are a thoughtful person, someone who needs time alone to mull and muse and percolate."
-Marcus Buckingham

2#

 "When you start relatively late, your own personality has developed further, and it is not so easy for your ideas to be over-run."

 -Peter Lindbergh

i found this quote when i needed it the most. i am turning 25 this august, and i have been feeling frustrated because it is taking me along time to figure out what i want to do for a career, and as i am studying i sometimes feel impatient because i just want to be able to work. not knowing why i am doing what i am doing reminds me of what Karl Largerfeld says, about heading into the unknown. since living in New Zealand was not what I expected when I was 18, or working at places that I love like Carriageworks where never things I ever planned; but the most interesting things have happened in my life from the unknown. i love to know everything though, i love to think that i know what i want, but i still don't know at all!

1#

"There is no fixed aim. In life only the road to an unknown destination is worth following." 

-Karl Largerfeld

urban

i like to visit the cafe, Good One, underneath my flat during the week - when it's quiet. when I open the secret door along the street, I like to order my coffee and then sit inside the roller door and look out onto the street. it's such a pleasure to live upstairs and come down whenever I want. living above a cafe is a real treat. since my flat has been on the market, I have been wishing that no one will ever take it away. if I could, I would take this little street with me, to every city I ever live.