Your Tribe is the Strategy

The spreadsheet on my desk showed everything that should have mattered in my daughter's college choice — rankings, financials, programs, outcomes. But she was lost in Instagram, studying something else entirely.

That's when I saw it: the pattern that changes everything about how we drive transformation.

While I spoke the language of metrics and ROI, she was decoding the subtle signals of tribal belonging. The way students gathered. Their shared rituals. Their unspoken norms. She wasn't weighing benefits — she was imagining herself as part of their story.

"Dad," she said finally, "I know the other school has better numbers. But here... I see myself."

This pattern extends far beyond college choice. When organizations push for transformation, they typically lead with logic — better processes, clearer metrics, proven frameworks. But just like my daughter, people aren't primarily seeking better features.

They're seeking their tribe.

Whether we're choosing colleges, adopting new technologies, or transforming organizations, the core question isn't "Is this better?" but rather "Are these my people?"

I wonder what might shift if we stopped leading transformation with frameworks and started asking: What story of belonging are we really offering?

Because in the end, the most powerful change happens when people don't just see the benefits.

They see themselves.