Book Review: Tribes

 Tribes by Seth Godin 

The book Tribes by Seth Godin is one of the more interesting leadership books I have read this year. The central message of the book is that whatever you position, profession or place in the world there is a tribe waiting for your leadership. All that is required is your decision to lead… The discussed the leadership of tribes which Seth defines as “a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea”.

The book is an engaging read, it has no chapters, but is rather a collection of inspiring ideas on how to go about creating and leading a tribe. Some of the ideas that caught my attention included the following:

• “Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements. The marketplace new rewards (and embraces) the heretics.”
• “Leaders lead when they take positions, when they connect with their tribes, and when they help the tribe connect to itself.”
• “People yearn for change, they relish being part of a movement, and they talk about things that are remarkable, not boring.”
• “If leadership is that ability to create change your tribe believes in, and the market demands change, then the market demands leaders.”
• “There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of ideas. ordinary folks can dream up remarkable stuff fairly easily. What’s missing is the will to make the ideas happen. in the 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.”
• “Great leaders are able to reflect the light onto their teams, their tribes. Great leaders don’t want attention, but they use it. They use it to unite and to reinforce its sense of purpose. When you abuse the attention, you are taking something from the tribe… When a CEO takes the spoils of royalty and stars acting like a selfish monarch, he’s no longer leading. He’s taking.”
• In fact, in nearly every case, trying to lead everyone results in leading no one in particular… So great leaders don’t try to please everyone. Great leaders don’t water down their message in order to make the tribe a bit bigger.”
• “Generous and authentic leadership will always defeat the selfish efforts of someone doing it just because they can.”
• “No one anoints you as leader.”
• “Organizations that destroy the status quo win.”
• “Boring ideas don’t spread.  Boring organizations don’t grow.”
• “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.”
• “The art of leadership is understanding what you can’t compromise on.”
• “The secret of leadership is simple:  Do what you believe in.  Paint a picture of the future.  Go there.  People will follow.”
• “The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond. But the hardest thing is to initiate.”

And lastly…

“… leaders have nothing in common. They don’t share gender or income level or geography. There’s no gene, no schooling, no parentage, no profession. In other words, leader’s aren’t born. I’m sure of it. Actually, they do have one thing in common. Every tribe leader I’ve ever met shares on thing: the decision to lead.”

This book is filled with great ideas for building and leading a tribe. I found the book provides a fresh take of the topic of leadership in this increasingly connected world.

P.S.

Mixergy.com has an exclusive post “Seth Godin On How To Build And Lead Your Tribe” containing a video by Christel Hyden of Seth Godin’s live presentation of the ideas in his new book, Tribes. You You can watch the video on Mixergy, or download the audio of it and listen on your iPod/iPhone/etc. at the bottom of this post.

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