Tribes turns you from a sheepwalker into a heretic, by giving you the tools to start your own tribe, explaining why they’re the future of business and showing you that you too, can be a leader.
If you could base your entire efforts at business on just one author’s books, I’d suggest you pick Seth Godin. Not only because 18 of his books are bestsellers, or because he’s really good at predicting the future, but because the way he does business is based entirely on honesty, hard work, and a positive spirit with a drive to change the world.
Tribes is no different. Published almost a decade after Permission Marketing, this book explains how the internet has made it possible for an ancient phenomenon – the development and growth of tribes – to take place anywhere in the world, all the time.
We’re all parts of plenty of tribes already. There’s our work tribe, our family tribe, our carpooling tribe, our soccer tribe and our karaoke tribe. But now, there’s also the disc golf Facebook group tribe, the Barack Obama email newsletter tribe and the inspirational quotes Instagram tribe.
Starting a tribe is now something anyone can do, and Seth really thinks you should. Here are 3 lessons to help you get started:
Assemble these 3 elements to start a movement.
Just tighten the connections in your tribe, don’t worry about growth.
Are you a heretic, or a sheepwalker?
Time to build a tribe, don’t you think? Let’s go!
Lesson 1: Combine these 3 elements to make a movement.
It doesn’t take much to keep a group moving. 1000 true fans are enough. But how do you get them?
According to Seth, you have to bringt 3 things to the table:
A narrative, that tells a story of the future you’re trying to build.
A way to connect the leader with the tribe and the tribe members among each other.
Something to do, an activity to participate in.
By the way, “I want to be a millionaire” isn’t a good narrative. Maybe pick something less focused on money. For example, with Four Minute Books, I imagine a world where everyone can learn from the world’s best books – for free. They might not be able to read the entire book, but they can learn something that might change their life, without having to pay.
Connecting is easy. On Four Minute Books alone, you have a ton of options. You can comment on the summaries, suggest a book, and of course join the conversation on my email list.
Our shared activity is reading, of course, and I’m already thinking of a way to help our tribe’s members to connect each other, stay tuned 😉
Lesson 2: Forget growth, just focus on strengthening your tribe’s connections.
The bigger the tribe, the better, right? Well, those are the old ways. New product, let’s shove it down peoples’ throats with a ton of TV ads until everyone sees how great it is. But nope, not anymore!
Initially, don’t even worry about the growth of your tribe. Its biggest advantage is that there are multiple connections.
The leader can talk to the tribe.
The tribe can talk to the leader.
The tribe members can talk to each other.
The tribe members can talk to outsiders.
The most important of these is number 3, because this is how a tribe becomes a tight-knit community, which is why it’s so important to turn that shared interest (in this site’s case: reading) into a passionate goal the entire tribe can strive for (sharing our knowledge of the world’s best books with the world, for free).
By knowing that they’re an insider, part of a small group which excludes the rest of the world, and forming strong bonds with one another, your tribe’s first members will build the foundation on which you can build a powerful movement.
Lesson 3: Which one are you, heretic or sheepwalker?
That said, anyone can lead a tribe, but not everyone. The world is split into heretics and sheepwalkers.
A sheepwalker is someone who’s been conditioned and trained by school and through society to keep their head down, not cause any trouble, and obediently follow the rules. They’re the people who give you a ticket for the slightest violation of parking rules, or wire $10,000 for a deal they know will never work out, just because their boss told them to.
Heretics on the other hand, are fed up with exactly that. They want to abandon stupid rules, which don’t make any sense and think the status quo isn’t quite good enough. That’s why they take action, even without asking permission first. Using a skunk works methodology, they round up a bunch of amazing people and give them the freedom to do what they need, whatever it might be that’s necessary to move forward.
The media tells us being a heretic is dangerous. But today it’s really not. The only question is: Which one are you?
My personal take-aways
This is the first time in a while that I’ve taken notes while reading a set of blinks. It made me think a lot about the mission behind Four Minute Books, and how I can improve our tribe – I’ve got plenty of ideas now, so stay tuned 😉 As I said in the intro, the values on which Seth builds his businesses and ideas are great, and I really think he’s the one to follow when it comes to (online) business philosophy, there’s nothing about this book I can’t recommend
The Book in Three Sentences
“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.”
“A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”
“Tribes need leadership. Sometimes one person leads, sometimes more. People want connection and growth and something new. They want change.”
The Five Big Ideas
“You can’t have a tribe without a leader—and you can’t be a leader without a tribe.”
“Human beings can’t help it: we need to belong.”
“The market needs you (we need you) and the tools are there, just waiting. All that’s missing is you, and your vision and your passion.”
“Generous and authentic leadership will always defeat the selfish efforts of someone doing it just because she can.”
“Do you believe in what you do? Every day? It turns out that belief happens to be a brilliant strategy.”
Tribes Summary
“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.”
“A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”
“Tribes need leadership. Sometimes one person leads, sometimes more. People want connection and growth and something new. They want change.”
“You can’t have a tribe without a leader—and you can’t be a leader without a tribe.”
“Human beings can’t help it: we need to belong.”
“One of the most powerful of our survival mechanisms is to be part of a tribe, to contribute to (and take from) a group of like-minded people. We are drawn to leaders and to their ideas, and we can’t resist the rush of belonging and the thrill of the new.”
“We want to belong not to just one tribe, it turns out, but to many.”
“The market needs you (we need you) and the tools are there, just waiting. All that’s missing is you, and your vision and your passion.”
“Generous and authentic leadership will always defeat the selfish efforts of someone doing it just because she can.”
“Tribes are about faith—about belief in an idea and in a community. And they are grounded in respect and admiration for the leader of the tribe and for the other members as well.”
“Do you believe in what you do? Every day? It turns out that belief happens to be a brilliant strategy.”
“Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements.”
“Leadership, on the other hand, is about creating change that you believe in.”
“Marketing is the act of telling stories about the things we make—stories that sell and stories that spread.”
“If you want to grow, you need to find customers who are willing to join you or believe in you or donate to you or support you.”
“Leaders make a ruckus.”
“A leader can help increase the effectiveness of the tribe and its members by • transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and desire for change; • providing tools to allow members to tighten their communications; and • leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members.”
“Senator Bill Bradley defines a movement as having three elements: 1. A narrative that tells a story about who we are and the future we’re trying to build 2. A connection between and among the leader and the tribe 3. Something to do—the fewer limits, the better.”
“A crowd is a tribe without a leader. A crowd is a tribe without communication. Most organizations spend their time marketing to the crowd. Smart organizations assemble the tribe.”
“An individual artist needs only a thousand true fans in her tribe.”
“Whatever the status quo is, changing it gives you the opportunity to be remarkable.”
“In a battle between two ideas, the best one doesn’t necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it.”
“The essence of leadership is being aware of your fear (and seeing it in the people you wish to lead). No, it won’t go away, but awareness is the key to making progress.”
“What people are afraid of isn’t failure. It’s blame. Criticism.”
“We choose not to be remarkable because we’re worried about criticism.”
We hesitate to create innovative movies, launch new human resource initiatives, design a menu that makes diners take notice, or give an audacious sermon because we’re worried, deep down, that someone will hate it and call us on it.”
“One bad review doesn’t ruin my day because I realize what a badge of honor it is to get a bit of criticism at all. It means that I confounded expectations—that I didn’t deliver the sequel or the simple, practical guide that some expected. It means that, in fact, I did something worth remarking on.”
“The products and services that get talked about are the ones that are worth talking about.”
“So the challenge, as you contemplate your next opportunity to be boring or remarkable, is to answer these two questions: 1. ‘If I get criticized for this, will I suffer any measurable impact? 2. Will I lose my job, get hit upside the head with a softball bat, or lose important friendships?’”
“How can I create something that critics will criticize?”
“I think you know the answer—great leaders focus on the tribe and only the tribe.”
“Great leaders don’t want the attention, but they use it. They use it to unite the tribe and to reinforce its sense of purpose.”
“The first thing a leader can focus on is the act of tightening the tribe.”
“A tribe that communicates more quickly, with alacrity and emotion, is a tribe that thrives.”
“Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.”
“The one path that never works is the most common one: doing nothing at all.”
“You’re not going to be able to grow your career or your business or feed the tribe by going after most people.”
“Change isn’t made by asking permission. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later.”
“Leaders who set out to give are more productive than leaders who seek to get.”
“The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond. But the hardest thing is to initiate.”
“Reacting is intuitive and instinctive and usually dangerous.”
“Responding is a much better alternative.”
“This isn’t about having a great idea (it almost never is). The great ideas are out there, for free, on your neighborhood blog. Nope, this is about taking initiative and making things happen”.
“I define sheepwalking as the outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them brain-dead jobs and enough fear to keep them in line.”
“You can always claim the career you deserve merely by refusing to walk down the same path as everyone else just because everyone else is already doing it.”
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”
“The only thing that makes people and organizations great is their willingness to be not great along the way.”
“The desire to fail on the way to reaching a bigger goal is the untold secret of success.”
“Growth doesn’t come from persuading the most loyal members of other tribes to join you.”
“Change almost never fails because it’s too early. It almost always fails because it’s too late.”
“Caring is the key emotion at the center of the tribe. Tribe members care what happens, to their goals and to one another.”
“Tribes grow when people recruit other people. That’s how ideas spread as well.”
“If your organization requires success before commitment, it will never have either.”
“Part of leadership (a big part of it, actually) is the ability to stick with the dream for a long time. Long enough that the critics realize that you’re going to get there one way or another… so they follow.”
“What leaders do: they give people stories they can tell themselves. Stories about the future and about change.”
“Waiting doesn’t pay. Saying yes does.”
Other Books by Seth Godin
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
Recommended Reading
If you like Tribes, you might also enjoy the following books:
Do The Work by Steven Pressfield
Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Johan Berger
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
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