Tribes by Seth Godin.

Tribes by Seth Godin.

This is a small book and could read in a single stretch. Author says, we can be a leader of a tribe. It is an interesting one.

His thesis:
1. For the first time ever, everyone in an organization – not just the boss – is expected to lead
2. The very structure of today’s workplace means that it’s easier than ever to change things and that individuals have more leverage than ever before
3. The marketplace is rewarding organizations and individuals who change things and create remarkable products and services.
4. It’s engaging, thrilling, profitable and fun.
5. Most of all, there is a tribe of fellow employees or customers or investors or believers or hobbyists or readers just waiting for you to connect them to one another and lead them where they want to go.

Change is frightening and to many people who would be leaders, it seems more of a threat than a promise. That’s too bad, because the future belongs to our leaders, regardless of where they work or what they do.

From royalty we learned how to build corporations. And from royalty we learned how to build nonprofits and other organizations.

Managers manage by using the authority the factory gives them . A manager can’t make changes because that’s not manager’s job.

Leaders on the other hand, don’t care very much for organizational structure or the official blessing of whatever factory they work for. They use passion and ideas to lead people. Leadership does not always start from top, but it always manages to effect at the top. In fact most organizations are waiting for someone like you to lead them.

There are 2 things to turn a group of people into a tribe.

1. A shared interest
2. A way to communicate

Leaders do
1. Transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and desire for change
2. Providing tools to allow members to tighten their communications and
3. Leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members.


Anatomy of a Movement.

Senator Bill Bradley defines a movement as having 3 elements
1. A narrative that tells a story about who we are and the future we are trying to build
2. A connection between and among the leader and the tribe
3. Something to do – the fewer limits, the better

Crowds and Tribes

1. A crowd is a tribe without a leader
2. A crowd is a tribe without communication

Crowds are interesting and they can create all sorts of worthwhile artifacts and market effects. But tribes are longer lasting and more effective.


Continues…