Seth Godin, Tribes: we need you to lead us (New York: Portfolio, 2008)

ISBN 978-1-59184-233-0 Hardback, 151 pages

Reviewed by Darren Cronshaw

It is in our nature to gather in tribes. Seth Godin describes a tribe as a group of people connected to one another, a leader and an idea. Implied by this definition is that tribes have a shared interest and a means to communicate. These days the means for communication is often web-based. Tribes can connect through blogs and social networking sites, overriding barriers of geography, cost and time. So we can search online and readily see tribes of people who interact and help one another because of shared interests in iPhones, justice campaigns, computer software, ways of praying, timing exercise or diagnosing medical problems. In the past few years Google, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, Basecamp and Godin’s own Squidoo.com <http://www.Squidoo.com> have sprouted and mushroomed in their growth and influence around the world. Seth Godin is the most popular business blogger in the world (see http://www.SethGodin.com ) and so as a tribal leader, without many employees but with worldwide influence and business, marketing and broader fields, he is well positioned to help us grapple new realities for leadership and influence.

The internet can help, but the key is an individual prepared to connect with other people, and connect people together. In the old business paradigm permission, authority and resources were all-important. But marketing and the internet has changed everything. What’s needed, and what’s rewarded, is not safe management but innovative leadership. What holds us back is fear and avoidance of discomfort. We fear failure and especially fear blame and criticism. But really criticism should be a badge of honour, indicating we are trying and achieving change somewhere. And discomfort goes with the territory of putting your flag in the ground, standing up, working hard, challenging the status quo, refusing to settle and proposing an idea that might fail. Godin’s advice is to get used to it, put fear and discomfort into perspective, and do it anyway. Tribes is an empowering and permission-giving book. Actually it says you don’t need permission to form and lead a tribe. In the past leadership may have been left to CEOs and on the top of the hierarchy, but in today’s networked world anyone can offer leadership from wherever they are.

Godin counsels:

§ Foster curiosity and look for change you can believe in.

§ Accept you will be wrong sometimes.

§ Be prepared to break rules and move beyond the status quo.

§ Exercise “over-the-top underdog bravery”.

§ Don’t hesitate to be remarkable and crazy; even a heretic from the current system’s perspective

§ Beware of compliant, obedient “sheepwalking” that lacks initiative

§ Make change rather than widgets, a ruckus rather than stability.

§ Lead with passion and ideas, rather than manage with threats and bureaucracy.

§ Don’t try to connect with or please everybody, don’t water down your message, just pick your tribe and lead.

§ Begin with recruiting some passionate individuals looking for a cause.

§ When presented with an opportunity, avoid “not yet” or inaction. Seize the day.

§ Be generous and empower others.

The book offers a load of stories of ordinary, or often unusual, people who develop an interest and offer ideas, inspiration and leadership to others. An animal rights activist, a classical violinist, a small business networker, a microfinance advocate and others demonstrate the potential of grassroots and focused leadership. Godin shows that people want an adventurous journey, and they want to belong, help and serve. Leadership is not what others do but what any of us can do: “The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.” (p.108)

Two contrasting stories particularly interested me and prompted me to question how the tribal aspects of church might change.

The first story is Scott Beale’s party. Scott is known as leading a diverse and innovative company. At a conference he got sick of lining up to get into a Google party, and so walked down street, found an empty bar and used twitter through his mobile phone to announce “Alta Vista Party at Ginger Man”. Fifty people turned up in a short time. Twitter allowed the communication but Scott’s tribal connections and initiative, with an imagination-grabbing good idea, brought the tribe together. It leads me to think what tribal church events are we inviting people together for? And how are we inviting them? How flexible and adaptable are our means of communication and our meeting points?

The second story is of the music industry. Godin analyses why this hyperprofitable industry caved in. Music labels neglected to change with the times and forgot to listen to heretics announcing change and embrace their tribe. They had made money from baby boomers, piles of it, and built huge systems. They promoted on radio, musicians needed music labels to produce their music and it was all sold at high margin on nonreproducible media (LPs). But then all this changed. Music could be distributed digitally on the internet. But instead of getting in on the act early and serving customers, relying on concerts and souvenirs and special events, record companies wanted to sue the tribe for accessing music and expected everyone to continue buying CDs. How much is the church like the ailing music industry? We have built our huge systems and long for how “it ought to be” in Christendom, rather than getting in early with changed times and serving in diverse ways from the margins.

We need change in our world and in our neighbourhoods, in our workplaces, businesses, charities and churches. Tribes is a useful, inspirational little book to get us thinking about leading one another at work and in our hobbies and amongst our networks and readers. It is useful reading for those who are connected well with their tribe and want encouragement to make the most of their connections, and for those who want to understand the potential of their leadership and web-based communication media.

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• Tribes: we need you to lead us

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