Tribes: We need you to lead us

by Seth Godin

A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate. Joel provides both. He runs a profitable job board that

All of it is worthless if you don’t decide to lead. All of it goes to waste if your leadership is compromised, if you settle, if you don’t commit.

The question isn’t, Is it possible for me to do that? Now, the question is, Will I choose to do it?

Without leaders, there are no followers. You’re a leader. We need you.

Tribes are about faith—about belief in an idea and in a community. And they are grounded in respect and admiration for the leader of the tribe and for the other members as well.

Leadership, on the other hand, is about creating change that you believe in.

Marketing is the act of telling stories about the things we make—stories that sell and stories that spread. Marketing elects presidents, and marketing raises money for charity. Marketing also determines if the CEO stays or goes (Carly Fiorina learned this the hard way). Most of all, marketing influences markets.

Marketing used to be about advertising, and advertising is expensive. Today, marketing is about engaging with the tribe and delivering products and services with stories that spread.

Here’s what’s changed: some people admire the new and the stylish far more than they respect the proven state of affairs. And more often than not, these fad-focused early adopters are the people who buy and the people who talk.

Today, the market wants change.

If you’re a middle-of-the-roader, you don’t bother joining a tribe.

Leaders lead when they take positions, when they connect with their tribes, and when they help the tribe connect to itself.

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. And guess what? The only customers willing to do that are looking for something new. The growth comes from change and light and noise.

marketers must earn the right to deliver anticipated, personal, and relevant messages to people who want to get them.

in addition to the messages that go from the marketer or the leader to the tribe, there are the messages that go sideways, from member to member, and back to the leader as well.