Tribes by Seth Godin

In Tribes, Seth Godin links the idea that modern day leadership (and the process of effecting change) is highly dependent on how successful you are at finding your ideal Tribe of followers – traditionally thought of as customers. Except this concept is deeper than just finding a set of customers. It is about enabling your followers to communicate, lead themselves and ultimately innovate, share and provide value between them.

“Tribes, though, aren’t about stuff. They’re about connection”
~ Seth Godin, Tribes

Seth shares his approach to creating a platform which will allow a community to develop between those people who are reliant on your business, product or service to solve a particular problem.

This was my first book by the globally recognized marketing guru. I’ve been a fan of his blog, lectures and concepts for years now and I’m actually not sure why it’s taken me this long to crack open some of his longer form work. It’s a fascinating take on the idea and, as his usual blog posts go, it lit a fire under my ass to take action. As my first book of 2020 it was perfect. I’ve since found my tribe made up of different people across areas and teams, and we’ve been driving change in our organization pretty effectively 🙂

To be honest, it reads like a series of blog posts and that’s probably why it’s so hard to put down. You find yourself ploughing through it one section at a time and just hungry for more. I started reading Tribes at 3pm one Saturday and ended up finishing it around 10am the next day – it just sucks you in and you devour every word.

It’s a book I recommend you keep in your collection so that you can go back to check on those nuggets of wisdom you’ve bookmarked.

Whether it be the right audience to offer your products or services to; or whether it be people from your network that help you deliver change, your Tribe is out there waiting for you to lead them.

“Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead”
~ Seth Godin, Tribes

Format used for review: eBook

Originally Published: 2008

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