Bob Cummins

How did you come to Tribe?

I think I was the first to move into Tribe. I was here when the phase one building work was still in progress. I remember the dust but also the excitement about being out of the house and into my own space. I’ve watched it grow from an idea to a really remarkable place with amazing people. I’ve witnessed stress and excitement, love and tears. I really am very proud to be married to Tribe’s founder, Dani. That makes this place even more special for me.

What makes you smile?

People make me smile. I can’t help smiling when I walk past most people. I used to find it awkward and only half-smile, it probably looked like a grimace. I’ve been practising bigger more confident smiles recently. Like, “Hey, I’m definitely smiling so you should smile back too” sort of smile!

What do you like about Tribe most?

I must admit, the thing I like about Tribe most is my office. It used to be Earthy’s office when they were here, it was like stepping back into the ’90s. When we took it over we put a lot of work into making it look different from a stereotypical office. Work should be a place you enjoy, that’s inspiring and somewhere you are happy to spend lots of your time. The Sodak office hits the mark and it’s within a place that does all that too. That’s what makes Tribe so special. I don’t think my office would feel the way it does if it were not part of Tribe.  Although the office is tucked away, it’s great to pop downstairs or through to the hub and see who’s in and practice more of those smiles!

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I’m working on Sodak 3.0. 2019 was a rocky year for us and we had to shrink a fair bit and streamline our focus. That said, we also developed and launched one of our best product yet which was ironically born out of the need to survive and create an intermediary service that clients would buy. It’s a Behavioural Analysis and Design toolkit that helps you understand why someone did something and how you can design an environment that gets you more of the behaviour you want. It really works well and we are working out how we can get it to more people.