What is this book about?
The author tries to persuade the reader of a certain point of view, he wants us to start leading and
gives us the proper tools to do it. For example: he gives us hope by giving examples of people who
have made a difference before and lists qualities of a good leader.
A tribe:
A tribe is a group of people who are connected to one another, a leader and an idea
Central idea = human beings can’t help it, they need to belong to a tribe. Tribes are about faith,
about belief in an idea and in a community.
Two things needed:
A shared interest
A way to communicate the communication consists of 4 elements
Leader to tribe
Tribe to leader
Tribe member to tribe member
Tribe member to outsider
Long, strange trip
Jerry Gracia and the grateful dead
We need to belong, one of our most powerful of our survival mechanisms is to be part of a tribe
Being in a tribe is a big part of how we see ourselves
We want to belong to many tribes tribes make our lives better and leading a tribe us the best
life of all
Tribes used to be local
Jacqueline Novogratz
Geography used to be important a tribe might be everyone in a village, organizations have
always created their own tribes
Now the internet eliminates the geography tribes are bigger, there are now more tribes
(horizontal tribes, tribes you travel with, … )
Now there are more tools to connect groups or people BUT it’s worthless if you don’t decide to
lead there are many tribes and tools waiting for you
In search of a movement
Some tribes are stuck they drown out any tribe member who dares to question authority and the
accepted order. They create little of value and they’re boring
A movement is thrilling, it’s the work of many people. The tools of the net make it easier now to
create a movement all of that is missing in leadership
Tribes aren’t so squishy anymore
Before the internet coordinating and leading a tribe was difficult. Today direct communication makes
things taut and not squishy. The new technologies are designed to connect tribes and to amplify
(versterken) their work.
you don’t need a keyboard to lead, you need the desire (verlangen) to make something happen. If
you don’t have the desire don’t panic, sometimes you need to let someone else speak up and show
you the way. If you want to lead then lead but if it isn’t the right moment or cause then hold off.
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,The opportunity
There are tribes everywhere now and they need leadership and connection it’s your opportunity
to lead a tribe. The question isn’t can I lead a tribe but will you choose to do it?
without leaders there are no followers
Something to believe in
Three things have happened, pretty much at the same time:
Doing work you believe in is more satisfying then just getting a paycheck and waiting to get fired
factory-centric model isn’t profitable anymore
consumers spend their money on things that aren’t factory produced, they don’t spend their time
anymore on off the shelf ideas they spend their time and money on fashion, stories and thing
they believe in
we are embracing a factory instead of a tribe ( stuck acting like managers/employees instead of
the leaders we could become )
The marketplaces now rewards the heretics, it’s more fun to make the rules then to follow them.
Heretics are the key to our success. Tribes give you leverage, we have more leverage than ever
before.
Why lead and lead now?
Tribes are flourishing everywhere, there’s a vast shortage of leaders. We need you. Godin’s thesis:
Everyone in an organization is expected to lead
It’s easier than ever to change things
The marketplace is rewarding ppl and organizations who change things
It’s engaging, thrilling, profitable and fun.
Most of all: there’s a tribe waiting for you to connect them to one another and lead them where
they want to go.
leadership isn’t difficult, you can start right now
Management VS Leadership
Management Leadership
Management is about manipulating resources Leadership is about creating change that you
to get a known job done believe in
Managers have employees Leaders have followers
Managers make widgets Leaders make change
Managers manage by using the authority the Leaders don't care very much for organizational
factory gives them. You listen to your manager structure or the official blessing of whatever
or you lose your job. A manager can't make factory they work for. They use passion and
change because that's not his job. His job is ideas to lead people, as opposed to using
assigned to him by someone else in the factory threats and bureaucracy to manage them.
Leaders must become aware of how the
organization works, because this awareness
allows them to change it. Leadership doesn't
always start at the top, but it always manages
to affect the ppl at the top.
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, It’s good to be King:
A king always works to maintain stability because that’s the best to stay king Marketing
Kings have taught us about power and about influence and about getting things done. A king
assembles his own geographically based tribe
The closer you’re to be a king / CEO the more influence and power you have
Marketing :
Changed everything, marketing changed the status quo if a tribe doesn’t like the king they are
free to go
M is an act of telling stories about what we make
M decides if the CEO stays or goes
M influence markets
Marketing Now VS then:
It used to be about advertising but today marketing is about engaging with the tribe and delivering
products and services with stories that spread.
Stability is an illusion - Partisans
It’s human nature to assume that the world is a stable place. Example: we still assume the polar ice
caps won't be melted in a couple of years.
However, marketing changed that! some ppl admire the new and stylish far more than they
respect the proven state of affairs. these fad-focused early adaptors are the people who buy
and talk Result new jobs, ways, faces become more important
Making a ruckus
The old rule: the best way to grow an organization was to be reliable and consistent and trusted
and bit by bit gain market share. A lot of charities haven’t changed because they didn’t want to take
risks (tribes, groups who enjoyed the status quo) Ex: Renault
New rule: if you want to grow, you need to find customers who are willing to join you or believe in
you or donate to you or support you (these are only customers that are looking for something new)
Ex: Telsa
Leading from the bottom
Thomas Barnett he changed the pentagon, he had no status, no rank. He led a tribe that was
passionate about change, he inspired & connected them through his idea skill and attitude are
essential (authority not)
Spinnaker: he got a job starting a new brand (he needed to turn fiction stories into literary adventure
games) he had three programmers but he needed a lot more. So he started a newsletter (it
highlighted the work that every person on his products has done). The newsletter connected the
tribe members, he turned a disparate group of career engineers into a working community. Soon
every person was assigned to his project the engineers switched for the journey
The Grateful Dead and Jack It’s a rock band.
They understood that tribes go much further than permission marketing because in addition the
messages that go from the marketer or the leader to the tribe, there are also messages that go
sideways, from member to member and back to the leader as well. Ex: the grateful dead, they
created concerts to allow people not just to hear their music but to hear it together.
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