Seth Godin is a powerful voice in the field of marketing.  The contribution Godin has made to the field over the past decade is substantial.  In particularly Godin has been a leader in thinking about the implications of the web and social media on marketing.  His previous books include Permission Marketing, Purple Cow,  The Dip and Meatball Sundae.  Each of these books brought to light an important concept for marketing or entrepreneurship.

In his most recent book “Tribes”, Godin adds to our understanding of the world today by explaining that the world needs tribes. He says,

“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea….  A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”

Naturally today’s increasingly flat world and the technology that makes it run allow tribes to form and function more easily than ever before.  What is missing, Godin argues, is leadership.

That is the crux of this book.  Unlike his previous books, the focus of Tribes is not marketing or entrepreneurship.  The focus is on leadership. The book would fit much better into the “leadership” category of the bookstore than the “marketing” category.  Of course both marketing and entrepreneurship involve leadership, and as such people with both types of interest would benefit.  However, because leadership is a broader target, the number of people who should read this book increases.

Within the umbrella of leadership Godin touches on topics such as:

• why the fear of failure is overrated
• a brief history of the factory
• the connection and difference between faith, fear and religion
• watching the music industry die
• what is sheepwalking

Who should read this book?  Everyone who wants to make a difference in the world! People who want to make a difference in the world need to lead, and leading today is different than leading yesterday.  Yesterday was made up of local tribes, today while tribes may start local, but they all have the potential for global reach.

“Before the Internet, coordinating and leading a tribe was difficult.  It was difficult to get the word out, difficult to coordinate action, difficult to grow quickly.  Today, of course, instant communication makes things taut, not squishy.”

If you want to make a difference in the world, you need to become a leader – even if you don’t think you want to.  “Tribes” will encourage you, challenge you, and teach you how to make a difference and to lead a tribe.

“Tribes” is also about breaking out of the mold that we are put into, whether it is by our boss or our habits. It is about working against the grain:

“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 now rewards (and embraces) the heretics.  It’s clearly more fun to make the rules than to follow them, and for the first time, it’s also profitable, powerful and productive to do just that.”

As all of Godin’s books, “Tribes” is easy to read.  It is short and filled with section after section of advice.  The book is filled with examples of how tribes are formed and how they are making a difference around the world.  The book is encouraging because it is through and through a call to action: a call to lead a tribe.

I’ll leave you with some other quotes from “Tribes”:

“The market wants you to be remarkable. The most important tribes are bored with yesterday and demand tomorrow.”

“Life’s too short to fight the forces of change.  Life’s too short to hate what you do all day.  Life’s way to short to make mediocre stuff.  And almost everything that’s standard is now viewed as mediocre.”

“If the only side effect of the criticism is that you will feel bad about the criticism, then you have to compare that bad feeling with the benefits you’ll get from actually doing something worth doing.  Being remarkable is exciting, fun, profitable and great for your career.  Feeling bad wears off.”

“Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.”

“Change isn’t made by asking permission.  Change is made by asking forgiveness, later.”

“Leadership almost always involves thinking and acting like the underdog.  That’s because leaders work to change things, and the people who are winning rarely do.”

Review Written by:  Danny Gamache – The Success Professor

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Tags: Leadership, Seth Godin, success, Tribes

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