A corporate term used to describe a common trait of upper executives in a company used to distinguish them from those below them in the management hierarchy. It originally comes from companies who's upper management was only Jewish and followed such customs. The term has evolved to mean anything in common such as alumni of a particular school or league of schools, a sports team fan base, a recreation, religion (which is illegal concerning most labor laws), non-profit charity,
political party faction, former employee of an another company, membership in a private social scene (
country club, boating club, etc.) or even geographic place of birth. To climb a
corporate ladder, finding The Tribe of the company's management is key to get favors from above your immediate boss.
Entry Level Employee: "Everyone in the department loves my work. Why the hell was my yearly review so lousy and this other guy gets the promotion?"
More Experienced Employee: "I'm only here for the pay. To really climb in this place, you need to be a member of that
Country Club all the execs golf at in the middle of the week. That guy that got the promotion works at the
Country Club part time for a discount membership. He's in The Tribe to the executives and
you are not. That's why."