All tagged Building tribes
Tribalism is an idea with which I have something of a love/hate relationship.
I mean, it certainly has plenty of value, delivering significant benefits if you happen to be a member. You’re with like-minded individuals who all have the same professed goal. You share a specific set of values. You speak the same language.
The problem is apathy.
When we’ve been burned long enough, when we’ve been ignored long enough, when we’ve been taken for granted, we might decide we don’t care. So, then, we ignore the issue or avoid it. We get on with other aspects of our lives, and deprioritize those things that have caused our problems.
If there’s one thing that social distancing has re-emphasized, it’s the power and value of social connection. That community matters - and not only does it matter but it’s, frankly, more important than it ever has been. We’re all experiencing that, regardless of whether or not we’d conceptually bought into the idea before.
In fact, I’ve been heartened by the virtual outreach that I’ve seen everywhere - from family to friends to celebrities, in real life and across social media.
We don’t work alone. We weren’t meant to. We’re not wired that way, we really don’t think that way and we certainly don’t get things done purely by ourselves in any practical sense.
It seems to me that if you want to develop a support base or a following for the long term - a group of people who buy into your vision of the future, a tribe, if you will - then there's no better time to lay the groundwork than now.
Because building tribes is not an easy process.
