A few weeks ago I was asked to contribute some thoughts to an article for Fast Company about new jobs that might exist in 2025. One of the occupations I suggested was the Professional Triber: “a freelance professional manager that specializes in putting teams together for very specific projects.” Since the article appeared I’ve received a number of emails from people asking how they could prepare themselves for this new occupation. So, here are some of my ideas about why we’ll see the growth of this new occupation and what it will take to be successful as a professional triber.
Until now, most companies have worked under the assumption that it is fine to outsource the “hands” but that they still needed to keep the “brand brains” (managers) onboard. In the coming years this assumption will be challenged on three fronts. First, just as technology has eliminated so many skilled jobs it will soon begin to eliminate the need for managers. As we enter a world of DACs (distributed autonomous corporations) where AI agents can effectively manage tactical details, the role of the traditional manager will become less and less important. Second, as the power of big company brands continues to erode, the need to have a seasoned brand hand on the tiller will become less and less important. In fact, as brands try to reinvent themselves at an even faster pace, such “old hands” will prove to be a drag on innovation. Finally, for those permanent managers that remain, their increased isolation from the hands doing the real work will rob them of their ability to offer meaningful evaluation of individual abilities. They will be left trying to guess which task rabbits or e-lancers are the best, a task that the software systems will be able to do faster and better.
As many of these experienced managers find themselves joining the contingent workforce they will attempt to find roles doing what they did inside the company. For most this will fail, simply because those well honed management skills will no longer be necessary. They will be replaced by professional tribers, whose skills will include:
They will be natural connectors. Every since Malcolm Gladwell told the world that ideas spread in social networks because of the special abilities of a select few he called “connectors” we’ve been looking for them everywhere. In a world where finding the right people at the right moment for the right job is your calling card then you are going to need a deep bank of potential collaborators. The real connectors will have a significant advantage over others in this race. Social media platforms will be their natural playgrounds, but their real skill will be the ability to make and maintain long lasting relationships with individuals from many diverse backgrounds.
They will be creative critical thinkers. In the near future, any task that can be routinized can be better accomplished by a machine or software than by a human. The jobs that will require human input will be the ones that are novel. Humans will still drive innovation, new product and service development, and be called upon to do crisis intervention. All of these endeavors require individuals that possess the ability to think creativity, imagine the new and unknown, and can also see how to break the solution into discrete units of action that can be assigned to the rest of the tribe. These are, for the most part, skill sets that are not favored in the selection of current day managers. In fact, we’ve spent most of the past century breeding these skills out of our managers. Just another reason they are likely to become an endangered species in a world of tribes.
They will be servant leaders. Professional Tribers will not be looking to climb the corporate ladder. For them, a successful career will require being able to fluidity surf from project to project Many projects will be assigned by software not humans, so those that want to schmooze their way to success will have limited opportunities. On the other hand, their futures will be directly connected to the success of the teams they put together. They will realize instinctively that the best way to achieve success is to reflect all success back on the tribe. They will not be interested in building personal brands. In fact, the brands of the future will be owned by the tribes, not the leaders.
One final note about those tribes they will be serving. The term has been used to refer to many different groups, often brought together by the power of social networks. While technology will expand the diversity of worker tribes int he future, the basic model is actually not technology dependent.The movie industry has been working with the tribe model for many years. Whenever a studio green lights a project, staffing actually takes place through an elaborate network of collaborations and partnerships. While the producer is the employer of record for a movie, departmental teams are usually put together through a system of deep relationships built over the years and across multiple projects. The classic line producer in television or production manager on a movie project are perfect examples of tribers with their extensive knowledge of the skills, temperaments and even personalities that can come together to create that perfect Hollywood moment. So, for all you aspiring young professional tribers maybe the best possible advice I can give you is “Go West, Young Woman.”