Maintaining Individualism While Supporting the Tribe

Navigating the precarious “career ideaology” and loss of the individual trap.

Starting out in life, we learn to be part of the tribe.
Playground, pre-school, high school, college, and eventually our career.
We learn to play on a team and socialize with the tribe.
It may have been sports, academics, arts, or some other “group” we found ourselves.

Groups have rules. Rightfully so.
Teams expect loyalty. Appropriate, that is where trust is built.
Groups tend to become ossified.
Group identity tends to become more important than the individual.
This is where groups can go awry at the individuals expense.

Differentiate yourself from the tribe while still understanding how to behave within the tribe.
The competitive advantage of the group depends on it, even if it does not recognize that as a fact of its survival.
You need to preserve your individual identity beyond the group while still supporting the group.

Leadership that understands this will arrange their tribe to follow the call of Logo, Team, Self.

– Logo – the group matters. The team is as important as any individual.

– Team – the tribes that exist within the group are the mechanisms that in aggregate support the team.

– Self – this is the razors edge that fights the ossification of group think that comes at the expense of the survival of the Logo.

Follow the biology and sociology from the emerging tech startups to the large strategics.
Pick your team.