Tribal Stages

I listened to a great TED talk today by David Logan who was answering the question, "How do we create world shattering innovation?".  He talked about tribes, not Seth Godin's Tribes, but actually tribal leadership and tribe stages.

He outlined 5 tribe stages:

1. Life Sucks - the lowest of these types of  tribes. These are the culture of gangs and prisons. In this tribe,  people just do bad things.
2. My Life Sucks - sounds like it could be worse than Life Sucks, however it's a step up.  Atleast you know there is a better life out there somewhere.   (I like his Boys Club example)
3. I'm Great ... and you're not - Here you compare your life and accomplishments to everyone else in a competitive nature.   This doesn't really promote growth.
4. We're Great - Here the tribe gels and they see how as a group how great they are.
5. Life is Great - Here is where real new ideas come.  His example of South Africa really encompasses the effect of Stage 5.

Now whether you agree on these stages or not, you can see how a greater focus outside of yourself can breed all sorts of creative innovation and results.  And you can't remained in Stage 5 the whole time but how you can aspire to reach it.  I also like David's comment about tribes can only see one stage above and below themselves.  I've heard this before and have seen in in action.

When working on your own social media, keep these in mind.  Within your company, aim for Stages 4 and 5 because that's where the real magic happens.  However, realize you need to work your way up.