Tribal gatherings are a learning aid
Like many others at the beginning of this year, I took a long look at the previous 12 months and decided to make some changes to my life.
Apart from the usual health and fitness promises (some of which, believe it or not, are still being kept), one of the real challenges was being able to make the time to spend with people I find interesting, stimulating and can really add something special to my life.
Like everyone else, life had just become too busy to take even a few hours off regularly to catch up with those brilliant individuals who encourage and motivate you to better things.
So after talking this through with two close friends – Gareth Jones of Town Square and David Williams of the Youth Development Agency – we decided to each identify a small number of people we would like to invite for a regular night out of great food, good wine and brilliant conversations.
As a result, we had our first “supper club” at Casanova in Cardiff in February and since then, have continued to bring people together every month to just talk about their businesses, share their personal and entrepreneurial journeys and, more importantly, make new friends.
Of course, the development of such “tribes” is not new in the business community, but often many business networks are used by members to sell their services to other members.
That is not what I wanted to achieve with our group and certainly, I have begun recently to feel out of place at many networking events which seem all about swapping business cards.
But it is not only about meeting up for a great night out with wonderful people, although that is clearly an important part of it. Indeed, some of the reasons for establishing the supper club were articulated brilliantly by Gianpiero Petriglieri in the Harvard Business Review last month.
His article – To Take Charge of Your Career, Start by Building Your Tribe – examines how establishing a tight close-knit community of like-minded people can help individuals and businesses.
First of all, such groups are strong spaces, not just safe spaces – they give courage as well as comfort. Certainly, we have had some open conversations in our group that would not normally have taken place in other settings. The honesty and empathy of the people around the table has been one of the best experiences I have had in recent times.
In fact, one of the most important aspects of developing a “tribe” is that they are about appreciating learning and not just performance. While we have only had four suppers to date, it is clear people want to be part of the group to learn from each other.
Indeed, what is potentially one of the biggest benefits of developing this group over the coming months is that we will act as a sounding board for each other and become a pool of friendly advice when needed.
Many find such communities also help address one of the issues that very few will talk about – the loneliness of the entrepreneur. That is not to say all founders are stuck in their home offices on their own, but they are often required to make decisions with little support from others. Being able to share experiences with others going through the same process can often not only be helpful but can reaffirm that the right decisions are being made – and that they are not only one in that situation.
To be frank, I have no idea how our supper club will evolve over the next few months, although as we now have 25 people involved, we will probably need a bigger restaurant.
What is important is that a group of businesspeople – many of whom did not previously know each other – have the opportunity to meet regularly to share stories in a convivial setting. Creating a tribe of like-minded people who can discuss their entrepreneurial experiences has certainly worked for us, and I would encourage others to do the same within their networks and communities.