Seth Godin’s recipe for thought provocation is well served in Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us, his 2008 diatribe on management and leadership. It describes the affects social media and technology have on the nature of leadership, management, relationships and change — and challenges readers to take an active role.
Godin inspires marketers, often against their will, with his series of short, insightful books, e-books, blog postings articles and appearances. He has a knack for embedding deep thoughts in bubble gum wrappers. In 150 swift-flowing pages, Tribes describes a phenomenon that surrounds us: a leadership void fueled by inactivity and waiting.
In recent years, it’s become increasingly difficult for leaders to emerge from the mass media. Why? The rules have changed. Leadership now belongs to the masses. Many just don’t realize it.
The Book
As Godin intends, this book challenges the way readers interpret words like ‘management’ and ‘leadership’. The concept of tribes is simple. A tribe is group of people, connected to one another, connected to a leader and connected to an idea. By working in tribes, rather than factories, Godin argues that individuals will be happier, workplaces will be more effective, and society will be more connected. His thesis, put forward in the first 20 pages of the book and detailed throughout, include these five principles:
- Everyone has leadership responsibilities, not just a single ‘leader.’
- It’s easier today, than ever for every individual to contribute leadership.
- The marketplace rewards individuals who contribute change.
- People who contribute leadership are happier than those who are only followers.
- Tribe members are waiting for virtually any time you want to participate in.
“Leadership isn’t difficult, but you’ve been trained for years to avoid it,” Godin said. “I want you to realize that you already have all the skill you need to make a huge difference, and I want to sell you on doing it.”
Although the case studies in Tribes aren’t always the strongest, or most detailed examples of tribe methodology, they don’t have to be — Seth sells it. And, why not? Most readers will bring to mind personal examples that are far more relevant to them. In this way, Seth’s case studies serve the role of ‘idea starters.’
For anyone working in communication, the concepts of tribes explains the role and prevalence of social media technologies. It also helps explain why time-tested paradigms for journalism and marketing are failing around us.
“Marketing used to be about advertising and advertising is expensive,” Godin said. “Today, marketing is about engaging with the tribe and delivering products and services with stories that spread.” This could be good news for companies that don’t have budgets to compete with industry leaders. It’s certainly a challenge to leading brands who cannot buy success solely through large advertsing budgets.
At less than $15 and 15o pages, Tribes is a book well worth the minutes you invest as a reader. The greater investment is putting principles of the book into action and testing their impact on your daily life.
Seth’s Blog
Seth’s blog (SethGodin.com) is much like his books. Entries are short, but insightful. Since he averages an entry a day, it’s an easy blog to integrate into your daily (over coffee) or weekly (over coffee on Sunday am) routine. A few, short examples:
A entry entitled, It’s harder to hire great people in a tough economy:
“The reason is pretty simple: it’s noisy. Lots of organizations have used the downturn as an excuse to trim people who weren’t producing. So, if you need cheap bodies, this is your moment. But if you need amazing people, be prepared to work hard to find them.”
An entry entitled Snarky versus earnest:
“In the ongoing battle between dismissive irony and well-intentioned trustworthiness, the early rounds always seem to go to those that sell snark. Snark is clever and funny and easy to spread. Snark protects us from confronting the truth of the situation, and snark is incredibly easy to do. Snark is fun, but it doesn’t look good on you. In the long run, though, it’s those with right intention, a long term view and consistent persistence that manage to win. Good thing, too.”
Given Seth’s reputation, popularity and prevalence, everyone working in communications should be reading this blog. It’s a staple in virtually every “top marketing blogs” list I’ve seen — and for good reason. Seth’s an gifted “hunter/gatherer” and interpreter of the information age.
The more I read his blog, the more I feel like his books read like a collection of related blog entries. I don’t it’s a bad thing, though.
It’s Seth’s never-ending story.
Seth on Twitter?
Not yet. He’s not a Twitter or Facebook user. He’s got a Twitter account (@sethgodin) that’s currently unused. Perhaps this is because he views 140 characters as the beginning to a good blog post, and not an end in itself.
Two Tribes
Travel back. The year: 1983. Seth and I were there. The band: Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The song: Two tribes. Yes, this song has a never-ending instrumental dance track intro. Welcome to the late ’80s.
About Troy Janisch
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