In the last couple of weeks there had been murmurings within the VMUG Leadership Group that Nutanix was about to be banned from sponsoring events worldwide. This was confirmed this week and in addition to that ban, no current Nutanix employee can be a Leader of a VMUG chapter, though I’m not sure if this carries through to the steering committee. There has been mixed reaction online depending on which side of the fence you sit and while the action undertaken is drastic it should come as no surprise…I don’t mean that to suggest that the constant back and forth between Nutanix and VMware that has been ongoing for a number of years now was to blame, because without question that contributed to the decision. What I mean by saying that we should build a bridge is that it’s human nature to form tribes and when we form tribes we have division.

We all root for our respective teams, whether that be sporting, political or in business…and more importantly, we will always side with the team or tribe that benefits us the most. With that in mind it shouldn’t come as a shock when we see such passionate debates specifically in the IT Vendor world. It’s been going on since the inception of the industry however we have seen an amplification since social media has made it both easier for one to show their true colours and for arguments to be played out in public forums.

Being part of a tribe is human nature…we can’t change the way we are programmed and tribes will form in every aspect of life. Even within smaller social circles micro-tribes form and divisions are played out. There is a great TED talk around tribal leadership in business and it’s worth a watch as it made me realize that there can’t be respectful common ground when it comes to tribes being at war.

I have seen the calls for us in the IT community to be respectful and not enter into tit for tat insults and FUD propagation however our industry by definition is disruptive…our industry also has a lot of money behind it with startups and established vendors promising lucrative incentive based payouts if or when a company goes public or is acquired. When you have money involved with tribalism the effect is magnified because not only are people rooting for their own teams, but they are playing all in for possible financial success…Because of that there is very little chance of impartiality…No matter what anyone says to the contrary.

So while we all get annoyed from time to time when we witness vendor bias or arrogance or more specifically in the case of the VMUG ban, the Nutanix vs VMware tribal battles we should accept that it’s a way of life. Things will not change and nor should you believe that mutual respect will be reached…we will always have a favorite and we will always show bias towards one brand, one vendor…one tribe.

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