India Inc’s paradox: Tribal instincts dominate globalized businesses

At a recent high-powered board meeting, a CEO joked that between LinkedIn, family WhatsApp groups, golf circles and London holidays, there were barely any outsiders left in the room. Everyone laughed. The truth is, in India Inc, the lines between professional networks and personal affiliations are blurrier than ever.

The more populated and connected the world becomes, the more our behaviour resembles that of ancient tribes huddled around campfires. We have satellites in the sky, but still whisper in closed circles. Social media boasts of billions of users, yet we function in cliques tighter than village gossip chains. Globalization may have turned geography into history, at least online, but in many ways, it has amplified our instincts for hierarchy, kinship and belonging.

Also Read: Root for the complete unknown so that merit can overcome nepotism and cronyism

I find myself increasingly puzzled by this paradox. Over the past three decades, my career has wandered across industries, geographies and generations. The number of people I’ve worked with, advised, partnered, competed against and occasionally dodged at conferences could fill a small stadium. Yet, the world feels like a surprisingly small cohort. Everyone is somehow connected. An investor in Singapore knows your schoolmate from Pune. A client in London seems to have had dinner last week with your old colleague from Dubai. This is not six degrees of separation. It’s two, even on a bad day.

The more layered our social hierarchies grow—with roles, ranks and reputations multiplying—the more our behaviour seems to circle back to something ancient, with tribal codes in play. Despite the tech-fuelled illusion of flat networks, our interactions still carry the weight of familiarity, allegiance and inherited trust. 

We have created a globally stratified web of contacts—spanning continents, industries and institutions—but scratch beneath the surface, and it feels oddly intimate. The network may look modern, but the instinct is medieval.

And the tribal code is hard to rewrite. Just look at how we introduce people. “He’s from our batch." “She worked with us at XYZ." “He’s a buddy of Raghav, my cool bro-like friend." We wear affiliations like crests. What should be credentials become kinship. It’s no wonder that in corporate India, even in its most globalized avatar, relationships continue to outweigh résumés.

Also Read: Gendered social networks are in the way of women’s career paths

This tribal instinct isn’t just a cultural quirk—it actively shapes how businesses function. It influences who companies trust with leadership roles, who they fund, who they promote and even who they forgive. Many Indian boards often resemble a trusted dinner table more than a fiduciary oversight mechanism. That comfort might feel reassuring, but in high-velocity business environments, it’s dangerous.

According to LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report, employee referrals are still ranked as the most important source of hiring by talent-acquisition teams. That’s not inherently wrong, but it tells us exactly where the real gates to opportunity lie. And who is still being quietly excluded.

We may speak of scalability and innovation, but decisions still play out like local credit relationships. You get the project because someone knows someone who “vouches for you." That word ‘vouch’ is both charming and damning. It implies trust, but also insider privilege.

For younger professionals, this can feel like navigating a maze with invisible rules. You’ve got the merit, but not the nod. You have the skills, but not the surname. And in an age in which we loudly promote diversity and inclusion, it’s worth asking: Who are we still not letting in?

We are building businesses and institutions meant to last across generations and geographies. That calls for a mental upgrade from tribalism to trust-based professionalism. It means learning to work with people we don’t instinctively ‘get,’ trusting those who didn’t come recommended by a mutual acquaintance and being fair even when there is no reputational consequence if we are not. In short, it means treating strangers with the same integrity we reserve for our tribe.

Also Read: Social networks aren’t social any longer, nor even networks really

Of course, there is humour in all of this. That moment when you enter a new boardroom and someone says, “We’ve actually met before, at that off-site in 2014," and your entire strategy presentation takes a back seat to shared nostalgia. Or when a supposedly global team feels more like an alumni gathering of three business schools and a handful of surnames. In India, we say it lightly, but seriously too—everything is either family or future in-laws.

Here’s the real irony. The world has never been more connected, yet never more divided by invisible lines of ‘who knows who.’ The challenge for the next generation of professionals and institutions is to break out of this comfort grid. Not to forget where we came from, but to ensure it doesn’t decide where we’re going.

If we want to build world-class organizations, we must first unlearn old-world habits. It’s a reminder to expand the circle. To move from comfort to capability. From familiar names to fresh perspectives.

So yes, the world is getting smaller. But if we play it right, perhaps we can make it not just smaller, but smarter. Less tribal, more trusted. Less kinship-driven, more capability-led. That’s not just good ethics. It’s good economics.

The author is a corporate advisor and author of ‘Family and Dhanda’.