who's in your tribe?
Do you have a Michigan Wolverines trash can or plastic helmet (you know, the blue wolverine that sits on your head)? I did …. until they met an ill fate at the hands of someone who just doesn’t understand what it means to sing Hail to the Victors until your heart pounds and tears well up.
Even though this week marks the 25th anniversary of my college graduation, time and space haven't changed how I feel about the institution (and its football team). I’m not the tattoo kind. But, if I were, my one and only one would read, Go Blue!. Yes, I’m forever part of the University of Michigan tribe. And, judging by our conversations over the years and at this milestone moment, my college friends are, too.
I’ve been posting on this kind of tribal affiliation lately and thinking about how it applies to the law, in general, and to law firm culture, in particular. Especially in these unsettled - and unsettling - times, law firms need to foster the connecting points between lawyer and non-lawyer employees at every level. But, as this thoughtful piece points out, it’s not a matter of manufacturing connections and building a tribe. The real question is: “Do [we] have a community and how can [we] harness it?”
If you’re a law firm leader and you’re not sure if you have a tribal community (or communities) to harness, you’ll find some good guidance in this slideshow based on Seth Godin’s latest book, Tribes. Godin sheds some more light on the matter in a recent Wired interview and in this blog post on tribe management.
