Reviewing Seth Godin’s Book “Tribes”

By: David Licosati, Service Strategies

I had some time recently to read the book Tribes by Seth Godin. The book’s premise is that with the internet and web 2.0 tools the traditional way of joining affinity groups/tribes has changed. It use to be either a local approach or one of mass marketing and pushing of ads/ideas out to the world and letting the people that the message has meaning to raise their hand and join. This traditional way has been changed and now we are in the age of very focused, sometimes smaller and almost always more directed connections with people to a common idea(s). Tribes as he refers to these groups can be assembled without regard for borders.

Traditionally in a town you may only have a few people interested in a particular hobby/idea that would assemble on a monthly basis to discuss their interest but now you can have hundreds or even thousands communicating on the subject around the world and clock. Tribes is about much more than the enabling technology but focuses in on the fact that leadership in this new world is more important than ever and leaders are desperately needed in this new environment. The web can do amazing things but it can’t provide leadership. Leadership is critical and the traditional path to leadership has been transformed from the classic model of needing permission to lead to one in which anyone can decide to lead. The key is to decide. The new leaders need to take the initiative to challenge the status quo and connect likeminded individuals who have a passion for the subject matter and drive the “tribe” in a direction that inspires and is what you as the leader believe in.

The book is a very easy and engaging read with no chapters but rather broken into a collection of ideas with headlines. There have been many books written about leading and leadership but this is the first of its kind suggesting leaders don’t share any common traits other than making the decision to lead. I recommend this book to leaders and those that want to lead and make change happen.

Reading time 2-3 hours. Enjoy!