Nikki Bush in conversation with Zanele Njapha: the Unlearning Lady, as they take a refreshing look at modern tribalism. This goes beyond race, gender and religion and digs deeper into the tribes with which we associate ourselves, and why it is important to change that up from time to time. How does tribalism help or hinder us in our quest to win @ work and life? Zanele is a Transitions and Future of Work speaker and is a contributor to Forbes & the Thought Leader section of the Mail & Guardian. She was voted #45 on Avance Media’s list of Top 100 Most Influential Young South Africans in 2019. For more information visit www.nikkibush.com and www.zanelenjapha.com

This conversation covers:

  • Modern tribalism
  • The impact of our association with various ‘tribes’
  • The upside and downside of ‘tribes’
  • How we contribute to upholding destructive tribalism
  • The echo-chamber effect, and why we need to guard against it
  • Consciously connecting with new and different ‘tribes’
  • How ‘tribes’ contribute to diversity within organisations in a different way

“Each and every human being is rich in excuses to protect their prejudices, their instincts and     their opinions.”

Egyptian Proverb

“Tribalism, in its definition, is the arranging of ourselves into different groups or into tribes, where there is a shared sort of consensus; a shared characteristic or trait. But modern tribalism is going outside of those parameters, outside of the religious cultural parameters, and just associating with people that are very much similar to you in one way or another”

Zanele Njapha, the Unlearning Lady

“What am I becoming? What do I want to become? What am I moving towards?  This really shifts the conversation to: What am I building? What am I working on, rather than what am I trying to detangle or to rewire?”

Zanele Njapha, the Unlearning Lady

“Cross-functional collaboration and cross-industry collaboration is one of the most exciting things that the pandemic has given organisations, and us as individual professionals and entrepreneurs.”

Zanele Njapha, the Unlearning Lady

“It’s important to understand that tribalism does not necessarily have to be restricted to ethnicity, religion, race, and other such categories, but it’s all about the different boxes that we put ourselves in. It’s the different categories that we group ourselves in and say “These are my people; these are the people that I relate to.” If those things raise our awareness, action and build a great perspective of honouring ourselves, groups and honouring others that fall within other tribes; then let’s keep it up.  We do this by consistently shifting our networks to bring in people who are not as dominant in our networks, but also to just be very careful about whether or not we are living in an echo chamber, because in an echo chamber, all you ever get is an echo. It’s your voice. Your voice, your voice, your voice, and then you wonder why you’re not changing perspective, why you’re not innovating, why you’re not being creative, and why you’re not being challenged to grow.”

Zanele Njapha, the Unlearning Lady