The Tribal Network Effect

Why collaboration beats competition

In The lone wolf dies, the squad thrives, I explained the power of squads and its rise and form in the digital jungles of today. It’s power is due to a strong underlying principle, that of network effects.

Network effects refer to the additional benefits participants receive by interacting in a particular network. There are many types — the Tribal Network Effect is one of the oldest.

We evolved by working in tribes.

Tribes made us better at surviving and more resilient as a species. We seek a tribe to belong to and contribute to. This behaviour goes way beyond homo sapiens and is seen in other species as well.

Homo sapiens evolved as a pack animal, trying to survive in a harsh environment of limited resources. The ones that built the best tribes survived and procreated, the ones that couldn’t, perished.

Those who weren’t good at building or joining tribes died off.

And so, we are all descendants of the best tribe builders. Our brains are wired to seek and form tribes.

Because of this, when we are not functioning healthily as part of a tribe we often experience negative mental health effects. It’s a way this evolutionary lesson has been encoded into our genes. When you’re not part of a tribe/community your brain secretes/ withholds chemicals that result in you feeling bad. This is so that you can alter your behavior and put in the effort to be part of one.

What is a strong tribe?

1 — The tribe is presented as an ingredient of a person’s identity, part of how that person is perceived by others. One might think: “It’s who I am.” This forms a self-concept.

2 — Members within the tribe are taught to be intentional about building the value of the tribe by:

• Adding value to other tribe members,
• Defending the tribe’s reputation,
• Receiving value from the tribe members, and
• Growing the tribe.

This intentional value creation and defense of a network is distinct from other types of network effects, where nodes largely contribute value and drive network effects unintentionally.

3 — In contrast to the in-group of the tribe, there is an out-group that the tribe is actively NOT. A different group, a rival, an enemy, a force to be fought.

4 — A perception of higher-status attributes of members of the tribe, creating prestige and pride. Evidence or reasoning that members of the tribe are more committed, more “right”, more justified, smarter, stronger, etc.

5 — Members of the tribe endure shared hardship or adversity, such as training for the marines, studying for tests in college, founding a company, or going through a boot camp of some kind.

6 — Tribe network members overcome a barrier to get into the tribe. There must be a believable reason for your inclusion, and some demonstration of your worth or “fitness” for inclusion. There is often a period of worrying you won’t “get in.” This creates exclusivity and belonging in the minds of the tribe members, reinforcing the other five attributes.

Not all tribes share all six of these characteristics, but the more they do, the more powerful the tribal self-identification becomes in the minds of the tribe members, and thus the stronger the Tribal network effect.

We each belong to many different tribes. The way humans form their self-concept is through many different “identity pegs.” We are complex and multi-layered.

Reflect: What tribes are you currently part of? Which ones do you most associate your identity with?

Using Tribal Network Effects in business

There are four ways to use the lens of Tribes in business.

1 — Building a tribe for your employees

This is about creating a great, unifying culture in your company. This should bring people together around a shared set of values, goals and principles.

2 — Treat your customers as a tribe

Interact with them on social media. Create events to bring them together, allowing socializing and exchanging of ideas. Create a community for them to hang in. Gamify/ reward the best contributors.

3 — Think of your investors and partners as a tribe

Behind the corporate names are the people behind the companies. These people have preferences, likes and dislikes. Certain investors and partners can open further doors in some areas but close doors in another. Look at the second and third order consequences of partnerships and investment with particular individuals.

4 — Looks at entire markets as tribes

Look at the larger tribes you are drawing your customers and employees from. Incentivize your current customers to leverage their tribal networks in order to lead to more customers

“Network Effects” is an extremely powerful lens. It is the driving factor behind some of the biggest companies in the world today, if not all of them.

Can you afford to not think about it?

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