TRIBE is a new Mozilla leadership program currently being built by Mozilla’s People team. The purpose of TRIBE is to transform the Mozilla culture by developing leadership skills across the project. (Modest, I know.) The focus of the initial session is on you – knowing your strengths, identifying your reactive tendencies, and understanding the ways in which you listen.

I completed TRIBE session 1 this week in Toronto. I have previously taken a good chunk of the IBM leadership and soft skills training course catalog. That is to say, I have a pretty good understanding of how this type of course is typically structured and delivered. (IBM courses are delivered by a number of different vendors.) TRIBE session 1 was something different. After the last two days I am left blown away by the extremely well put together material and delivery of this newly developed course.

The initial TRIBE session is a group experience but an individual journey. What I mean by that is that all of the members of this session participate in the same discussions and exercises and all have access to the same course materials. However, as this session focuses on you, your journey will be very personal and not one that will be replicated by anyone else in the program. Your takeaway thoughts and actions will be specific to you. You will succeed by building trusted allies in your course mates, who will equally rely on you for their own success. So, while I cannot tell you exactly what you will get out of this course, judging from the reactions of the people with whom I shared the last two days, I can tell you that this time looking inward will serve you well.

I have three suggestions for anyone who has signed up for TRIBE session 1:

1. The strength finder assessment that you will complete before the course may not make sense to you initially. Don’t judge the strength finder assessment until after you have completed the initial TRIBE session.
2. Before attending the session spend a few minutes thinking about the where you would like your career to be in 2-5 years.
3. Before attending the session jot down the names of a few people who you admire and think would be valuable to you as mentors.

When something is well done acknowledgement and thanks are in order. As such, I want to thank Debbie and the People team for developing a truly excellent course offering. I also want to thank Kate Roeske (Red Carrot Leadership) and Athena Katsaros (IdeaTr!be) for doing a wonderful job facilitating our session this week.

As the purpose of TRIBE is to transform the Mozilla culture, TRIBE is open to all Mozillians. Course schedule and registration details can be found on the TRIBE wiki page.