Last week I wrapped up Seth Godin’s most recent book called Tribes. I loved it. It’s a small, powerful book about leadership. People don’t normally think of marketers as being leaders, but Seth makes a strong case for the need for leaders to build tribes to accomplish a vision.
Here are some of the highlights from my reading:
- “The real power of tribes has nothing to do with the Internet and everything to do with people. You don’t need a keyboard to lead…you only need the desire to make something happen.”
- “Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements.”
- “For the first time ever, everyone in an organization—not just the boss—is expected to lead.”
- “Managers make widgets. Leaders make change.”
- “Marketing is the act of telling stories about the things we make—stories that sell and stories that spread.”
- “Marketing used to be about advertising, and advertising is expensive. Today, marketing is about engaging with the tribe and delivering products and services with stories that spread.”
- “People yearn for change, they relish being part of a movement, and they talk about things that are remarkable, not boring.”
- “Leaders make a ruckus.”
- “There’s a difference between telling people what to do and inciting a movement. The movement happens when people talk to one another, when ideas spread within the community, and most of all, when peer support leads people to do what they always knew was the right thing.”
- “Ideas that spread, win. Boring ideas don’t spread. Boring organizations don’t grow.”
- “Fear of criticism is a powerful deterrent because the criticism doesn’t actually have to occur for the fear to set in.”
- “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.”
- “When you fall in love with the system, you lose the ability to grow.”
- “When you hire amazing people and give them freedom, they do amazing stuff.”
- “The religion gets in the way of the faith. Static gets in the way of motion. Rules get in the way of principle.”
- “The safer you play your plans for the future, the riskier it actually is.”
- “The organizations that need innovation the most are the ones that do the most to stop it from happening.”
- “Growth doesn’t come from persuading the most loyal members of other tribes to join you. They will be the last to come around. Instead, you’ll find more fertile ground among seekers, among people who desire the feeling they get when they’re part of a vibrant, growing tribe, but who are still looking for that feeling.”
- “The largest enemy of change and leadership isn’t a ‘no.’ It’s a ‘not yet.’ ‘Not yet’ is the safest, easiest way to forestall change.”
- “If it’s about your mission, about spreading the faith, about seeing something happen, not only do you not care about credit, you actually want other people to take credit.”
Like all of Seth’s book, this is a quick, easy read, but it’s packed with rich insight. It’s one of those books you should engage with your team.
For those who have already read the book, how did it impact you and your leadership?
It was a great read. The format was perfect for me. Like KC, it was good to read it in bursts and not all at once because there was so much to take in and chew on.
It really reinforced the fact that today’s greatest leaders aren’t looking for credit or recognition. Their leadership is birthed out of passion and they are successful by empowering others around them.
Seth G has always had a way of making you (the reader) feel important and capable. Tribes is good at removing excuses for passive people who are supposed to be leading.
This was a great book. I came away with a sense of encouragement and empowerment from quotes such as this one: “Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements.” Like your post from a few weeks ago, Tony, I often think “The New Traditional Church” may be less “heretical” than is needed to reach a large portion of the unchurched today, but I wrestle with what can be done to address this need to break any religiosity that may be present, to make a “ruckus.” Jesus was a pretty powerful ruckus-maker, and I think that should empower us to seek what God is looking for from our churches and ministries in our own particular contexts. He may want to push us to make a ruckus that only makes sense in our given time with the given audience that we have been gifted to reach. I wonder how often I haven’t done what God was asking me to do because it would go against the grain too much. People are ready to be led but am I ready to lead, regardless of how much the status quo has to be shaken? Just a few of my takeaways from a short book with powerful ideas.
[...] Tribes [...]
I just got my first copy of this last week(for free from Catalyst).So far It’s an easy read. I do find that I’ll need to go back and re-read it. It’s definitely a great book to buy and give away.
I read that book after seeing Seth Godin at the Catalyst Conference. Since then, I’ve read Purple Cow, and now I’m reading The Big Moo.
His insight on leadership is just as REMARKABLE as all of his rants about marketing.
Great book!
I don’t think I’ve evangelized a book any more than how I have “Tribes.” I keep it on my desk and typically end up integrating it into my conversations.
More than anything, it has challenged me to evaluate how I can create stronger modes of side-to-side communication along with how I communicate with those I serve.
The whole Squidoo.com thing has me thinking a lot, too. I’m asking God to show me where and how I can make a difference outside of what I do for and with the church. Sort of my “secret mission…”