Tribal Business School: Lessons in Business Survival and Success from the Ultimate Survivors (Full Colour Hardback) [Hardcover]

“This is an entertaining read with many striking photos – altogether, good food for thought.” (People Management, Thursday 17th April 2008)

“…an unusual and thoroughly engaging book that emphasises the importance of simplicity and fundamentals…This book should be widely read.”  Professional Manager September 2008

“Fascinating!” Start Your Business June 2008

“…highly informative, wholly original and very entertaining.”E.Manager May 2008

“…a stunning book – the photos alone will lift your spirits…An enjoyable read with thought–provoking tales from around the world.”PersonnelToday.com Wednesday 28 May 2008

If you want to learn about survival and success, learn from people who have survived hundreds of years in the most hostile environments in the world. The indigenous people of the world cannot afford the modern corporate luxuries of complexity and confusion. For them, the penalty of failure is not to miss a bonus, the penalty is often death.

Once you strip away all of the corporate life support systems of HR, IT, Legal, Help Desks and manuals you discover the real rules of leading for survival and success, you discover the heart of management.

From his extensive research with tribes around the world, Jo Owen gives us insights in to the rules of success, survival and leadership, accompanied by colourful photographs.  Tribal Business School reveals the lessons of survival and success from traditional societies and shows how business can profit from rediscovering the essence of leadership and the basics of what makes some organisations survive and others fail. Structured around seven simple lessons, with one tribe representing one lesson, this book is a rare combination of credible and highly topical – forget the high–brow theory; this is the ultimate primer in business survival.

"This unusual and engaging book is a clarion call to simplicity and fundamental organisations. It is full of great stories, sharp observations and acute parallels between the lives of tribes and businesses. Tremendous fun."
—Nigel Nicholson

"An entertaining and highly original perspective on the art of leadership."
—Heath Monk

"Jo Owen′s unique insights into business success and survival are practical and inspiring."
—Juliet Hope

"Tribal Business School shows that the challenges of modern business leaders are in essence similar to the challenges of leaders of any other tribe. What is a real eye opener, is how much corporate leaders can learn from centuries of accumulated wisdom of those who have been through it before."
—Brett Wigdortz

Tribal Business School is a series of journeys in search of the ultimate business secret: the secret of survival and success. From some of the best, and one or two of the worst, organisations on our planet, to tribes in Papua New Guinea, Tuareg in the Sahara, Saami in the Arctic and nomads in Mongolia.

The journeys show why tribes survive in extremely harsh conditions for generations, while business empires rise and fall steadily. In the last 25 years, over 80% of the top companies in the USA and the UK have either been over taken or taken over: perhaps we can learn something from the ultimate survivors.

Tribal Business School unpicks every element of business survival and success, including:

• The art of unfair competition: how to kill a lion and your competition
• Leadership: from charisma and inspiration to courage, contribution and responsibility
• Organisation and the end of excellence: the search for fit and focus
• Culture and values: respect for the individual or respect for the community?
• Information Technology: trust the messenger, not the message.

Tribal Business School is highly informative, wholly original and is at severe risk of being entertaining.

"An entertaining and highly original perspective on the art of leadership."
—Heath Monk, CEO of Future Leaders

JO OWEN is a successful business leader, social entrepreneur and speaker. He is a co–founder of three charities: Teach First, which is now one of the UK’s top graduate recruiters, Future Leaders which develops head teachers for urban schools and StartUp which helps offenders start their own businesses on release from prison.
As a business leader, Jo led a business in Japan for three years; he was a partner at Accenture and was the architect of what is now HBOS business banking. He was also the best nappy salesman in Birmingham and put the blue speckle in Daz.
He has written extensively for the business press and his books include How to Lead and How to Manage (both Pearson). He is in demand as a speaker on leadership, change, organisation, strategy and the corporate tribe. He can be contacted at jo.owen@leadershippartnership.com