Tribes Outline

I reviewed this book as well.

Title: Tribes

Author: Seth Godin

Length: 160 pages

Published: 2008

ISBN-10: 1591842336

ISBN-13: 978-1591842330

Joel Spolsky “A tribe is a group of people connected to one other, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.” Tribes need leadership - sometimes one person, sometimes more Can’t find a tribe without a leader, or a leader without a tribe

Jerry Garcia Dead succeeded by creating and leading a tribe Drawn to leaders and their ideas - rush of belonging and new ideas Being in a tribe is a large part of seeing ourselves Leading a tribe is the best life of all

Jackie - changing face of philanthropy Internet eliminates geography More smaller tribes, and tribes that could not have existed All of the new ways to communicate mean nothing without leadership

IN SEARCH OF A MOVEMENT Tribes that are stuck - movement waiting to happen Movement is thrilling, many people interacting, make things happen, get things done All that’s missing is leadership

TRIBES AREN’T SO SQUISHY ANYMORE Before internet it was difficult to manage tribes Internet is just a tool, the real power of tribes has everything to do with people If you want to, need to, must lead, then you can. If it isn’t the right cause, hold off. Don’t be selfish, be passionate

Wine library tv Doesn’t market or manage, an act of generosity

THE TRIBE INSIDE Mitch Matthews - Microsoft marketer (tribe leader inside MS)

THE OPPORTUNITY There are tribes everywhere now, public private non-profit for-profit Opportunity for you to find or assemble a tribe and lead it Question is: will I choose to do it? Everyone is now a marketer Everyone is now a leader

SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN Tribes are about faith, belief in an idea and community Grounded in respect of leader and community You must believe in what you are trying to lead

  1. many people are starting to realize that working on something you believe in is more rewarding
  2. organizations are discovering that the factory model of producing is not as profitable
  3. people are not buying factory-produced objects, nor are they buying factory-produced ideas
    • instead, they are spending time and money on stories and things they believe in

In these remarkable times, people still are remarkably good at getting stuck Stuck being managers or employees instead of the leaders that we can become All this fear used to be useful, but now it’s our enemy

How is your day is a lot more important than it seems? People who like their job and feel like they make a difference do the best Heretics are the new leaders (marketplace embraces them) More fun and profitable to make the rules than to follow them

Why should you lead, and why now? Vast shortage of leaders, and we need you Everyone in the organization is expected to lead, not just the boss The very structure of the workplace makes it easier to change things and individuals have even more leverage than ever before The marketplace is rewarding businesses and individuals who create new opportunities It’s engaging, thrilling, rewarding It’s a tribe just waiting for you to connect them to one another

Leadership isn’t difficult, but you’ve been trained for years to avoid it You don’t need to wait until you’ve got the right experience or job, you can do it right now

LEADERSHIP IS NOT MANAGEMENT Lucy and Ethel candy story Management is manipulating resources to get a known job done Leadership is creating change that you believe in Movements have leaders and movements make things happen Compares and contrasts leaders and managers

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE KING Lots of perks, not a lot of hassles Current world is not the same as monarchy The goal of the corporation was the same as the monarchy - keep the king in control Then, marketing changed everything AJP - Century ago? Marketing is about engaging in a tribe with stories

STABILITY IS AN ILLUSION People are restless in the face of stability No one watches the same YouTube video twice Early adopters are people who buy and people who talk Marketing changed the market Market is less impressed with average stuff, loud flashy Market demands change

PARTISANS All tribes are made up of partisans

MAKING A RUCKUS Top 50 charities haven’t changed much in the last 40 years People talk about things that are remarkable, not boring The only customers that you want that are going to support you is if you are doing something new Tesla Roadster, Prius What do you make for a living? Leaders make a ruckus

LEADING FROM THE BOTTOM People for some reason think that they need to be ordained to lead Thomas Barnett changed Pentagon Authority can get in the way

THE GREATFUL DEAD AND JACK Messages go sideways as well as up and down Dead had concerts to allow people to talk to one another Restaurant that serves only 20 times a year Place to hang out with other tribe members

THE MARKET REQUIRES CHANGE AND THAT REQUIRES LEADERSHIP Market demands leaders - transitive property Manager can’t make change - his job is to complete tasks assignd by someone else Leaders don’t care about org structure blessing - they use passion and ideas to lead people instead of threats and bureaucracy to manage them Most organizations are waiting for someone like you to lead them

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO CREATE A MOVEMENT Nobel prize winners (microfinance / global warming) Both problems and solutions were around 30 years ago There is a difference between telling people what to do, and inciting a movement Skype Fall of Berlin Wall gradual growth of tribe until it couldn’t be stopped

IMPROVING A TRIBE Only two things are needed for a movement: shared interest, and way to communicate

Communication methods:

  • leader to tribe
  • tribe to leader
  • tribe member to tribe member
  • tribe member to outsider

Tribe leader can make tribe more effective:

  • transforming shared interest into passionate goal and desire for change
  • provide tools for members to tighten communication
  • leveraging tribe to grow and gain new members

First two tactics have more impact, but are harder You need to figure out which element to increase NRA, TED - well connected, passionate mission

WHAT TRIBES LEAVE BEHIND Tribes are about connection, not stuff Connections AJP - I like how he sells leadership and makes it personal, then talks about everything else Great ideas spread

ANATOMY OF A MOVEMENT Narrative Connection between and among the leader and the tribe Something to do - the fewer limits the better

WIKIPEDIA Attracted a small group of people and engaged them with a vision He didn’t manage, he led the movement Gave tribe a platform they could use Motivate, connect, leverage

LEADING FROM THE BOTTOM Newsletter to highlight contributions of members on his team Twice a week he talked about everything Turned group into community Switched for the journey, to be part of something that mattered - people still talk about it 20 years later

CROWDS AND TRIBES Crowd is a tribe without a leader, or communication Smart organizations assemble their tribes

MARKETING CHANGES EVERYTHING BUT MOSTLY CHANGES THE MARKET Need to be novel, remarkable For a time, safe was good, but now the marketplace has changed Novelty, style, stuff that is great If you want us to follow you, don’t be boring Be great

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AVERAGE AND MEDIOCRE Status quo - stability Marketing of push For tribes, average = mediocre Life is too short to fight the forces of change, to hate what you do all day, to make average stuff Defending mediocrity is exhausting AJP - I can see where he is going with having a vision, it can definitely inspire people (TET)

HOW MANY FANS DO YOU HAVE? A true fan will cross the street to buy from you There is a number of true fans that you need, and it’s often lower than you think

TWITTER AND TRUST AND TRIBES AND TRUE FANS Converts of twitter know it’s deceptively simple Like IM, but broadcasts Consistently touch people with generosity and insight, and you earn the right to lead The technology doesn’t matter much, but the essential is that every day it becomes easier to tighten the relationship you have with the people that follow you

THE STATUS QUO Destroy it to win Beware of what everyone knows! Changing it gives you the opportunity to be remarkable

INITIATIVE = HAPPINESS Every marketplace rewards innovation, even churches (books, tax shelter, products, services) Can’t manage your way to initiative

CROWBARS With enough leverage, you can change your company, your industry, and the world Internet provides leverage One person can make a video that reaches 50 million viewers YOU have everything to build something far bigger than yourself, and people are ready to follow if you are ready to lead

SCOTT BEALE’S PARTY Impresario - lead an eclectic tribe Energy and connection of the tribe is palpable Tribes are just waiting to be turned into movements, or to have a beer together Party didn’t take 4 minutes to organize, it took 4 years

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FACTORY Factories are efficient Part of us wants stability, lack of responsibility Factories seemed like a great idea In India, the perfect job would be a government bureaucrat - they want stability It’s there because it pays and because it’s steady What you won’t find is a tribe of employees or a tribe of customers

Factory advantage begins to fade when people keep changing Safe isn’t safe when change is changing It’s more important to have control of your work

SO, IS IT REALLY A FREE AGENT NATION? Organizations are more important than ever before Provide muscle and consistency, and scale to care for large tribes Not the same as factories Organizations need leadership though Create change and engage the organizations

THE ‘F’ WORD Why doesn’t everyone do it? Because of fear There isn’t a shortage of ideas - people can dream them up What’s missing is the will to make things happen Between two ideas, the one that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it

THINKING YOUR WAY OUT OF THE FEAR The fear is still there, but overshadowed by their drive and desire to create something great Game plan is that the world is demanding that we change *THE ONLY THING HOLDING YOU BACK IS YOUR OWN FEAR*

THE FEAR PRINCIPLE Peter principle: “Every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence.” Seth’s take: “Everyone rises until they are paralyzed with fear.”

WHEN IT ALL FALLS APART People who struggle for years but never seem to get anywhere Small businesses, non-profits, large corporations All pain, no gain = following but not leading = Hiding from fear

WORTH CRITICIZING Purple cows are worth mentioning Why haven’t you and your team launched more purple cows? Fear of failure is overrated as an excuse If you work for someone, the cost of failure is absorbed by the whole company People are more fearful of blame or criticism Deeply worried that someone will call us on it Sometimes we get into analysis paralysis because we are too worried about someone finding holes in our statements Criticism doesn’t have to happen for the fear to set in Criticism without helpful information has just injured, and is being a coward Constructive criticism is helpful Most products are ignored, so even a bad review is good because you got criticism - confounded expectations - did something worth remarking on

HOW WAS YOUR DAY? If your answer is fine, then you are likely not leading

Answer:

  • if I get criticized for this, will I suffer any measurable impact?
  • then, how can I create something that critics will criticize

THE CULT OF THE HERETIC Takes commitment You must believe, to challenge the status quo Can you imagine Steve Jobs showing up for the paycheck?

SHOULD THEY BUILD A STATUE FOR YOU? How much ego is involved in being a leader? Great leaders focus on the tribe, and only the tribe The best way to lead is by being statue-worthy - be brave and out in the front Great leaders don’t want the attention, but they use it

THE WORLD’S BEST COACH Megan - there isn’t a right way to lead Deciding to lead and not manage is the critical choice

TIGHTER Leaders focus on tightening the tribe Increasing size pales to tight tribe More likely to hear the leader and coordinate passionate ideas amongst themselves Apple - Steve Jobs Rumor sites fuel passion Introduce people, make connections, then get out of the way

TACTICS AND TOOLS FOR TIGHTNESS Internet allows all sorts of tribes to form Blogs for spreading ideas, twitter, facebook, basecamp

DISCOMFORT Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort that leaderhip takes This effort makes leadership valuable If everyone could do it, it wouldn’t be worth much If you’re not somewhat uncomfortable, you’re not reaching your potential as a leader

FOLLOWER Not just mindless sheep Actually interact and engage because they want something to improveg Evangelism requires leadership

LEANING IN, BACKING OFF, DOING NOTHING Cocktail party in its early stages There are no tribes here Leaders step into the vacuums and create motion to transform a group into a tribe But not all leadership gets in the face of the tribe, there are other times when you need to back off Doing nothing at all will never work

PARTICIPATING ISN’T LEADING Joining a group does not matter - dumb ways to lead a tribe Showing up isn’t sufficient Friending X people on facebook has no real value besides ego boost Crossfit and patientslikeme.com, different approaches, but same effect

THREE HUNGRY MEN AND A TRIBE msg150.com Insiders and outsiders

CURIOSITY A fundamentalist asks whether an idea agrees with worldview before exploring it A curious person explores the idea before seeing if it can be reconciled with his/her worldview Curious embraces the tension Nothing to do with income, education, organized religion Has everything to do with pushing the envelope Curious people count The safest thing you can do feels risky, and the riskiest thing is safer Feeling never goes away Might be what separates greatness from the mediocrity that stares us in the face. Fundamentalism has nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with an outlook

THE PLURALITY MYTH In order to lead a tribe, you don’t need a majority vote You don’t need to get the support of everyone Trying to lead everyone results in leading no one in particular The group you lead has a certain worldview People are lead where they want to go

THE SCHOOLTEACHER EXPERIMENT The smaller class will always do better Attitude of the tribe matter though - almost everything is voluntary Great leaders realize that a motivated and connected tribe in the midst of a movement is important

THE VIRTUAL CYCLE VERSUS THE EXCLUSIVE TRIAL Bigger is better, sometimes smaller allows a tribe to thrive

MOST PEOPLE DON’T MATTER SO MUCH You’re not what most people are Most people are really good at ignoring new trends Growth comes when you aren’t like most people

DOES THE STATUS QUO RUIN YOUR DAY, EVERY DAY? Being a heretic makes your day better It used to be a bad thing to be a heretic Now that is obsolete

THE WRONG QUESTIONS How do I do this? How do I get my boss to let me do this? What’s the risk-free way to get into the system so I get approval to make change? Surely there’s a method to make change without getting burned at the stake The key is belief Change is made by asing forgiveness not permisison

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW IS TWO THINGS

  1. Individuals have more power than ever before
  2. The only thing holding you back is lack of faith

THE BALLOON FACTORY AND THE UNICORN

LEADERS ARE GENEROUS Ego is not really good for a leader Must seek to give instead of seek to get Get compensation from watching the tribe thrive

DON’T FORGET THE BIG MAC AND THE MICROWAVE OVEN Led the entire corporation in a new direction Rare stories Leverage came from cash and organizational committment There is no bottom Bare Naked

CLIMBING ROCKS Chris Sharma - the dyno One person with a persistent vision can make results

WHO SETTLES? Managers settle all the time because there are too many competing interests Heretics do not settle The art of leadershp is understanding what you can’t compromise on

FEAR, FAITH, AND RELIGION Faith is underrated - religion is overrated Religion represents a set of rules on top of faith - supports status quo Countless religions in our life, not just spiritual Religion works great when it amplifies faith Religion sometimes reinforces the status quo and hence goes against faith Challenge religion, and people wonder if you are challenging their faith Faith is cornerstone that keeps humanity together Religion is very different from faith - is just a set of invented protocols You must challenge the status quo of the religions in your life Successful heretics create their own religions

SWITCHING RELIGIONS WITHOUT GIVING UP FAITH 1/3 of all Americans have left the religion that you grew up with They have just changed the sytem, not the faith Faith is what you do

OVER THE TOP UNDERDOG BRAVERY Leadership involves thinking like an underdog Others think they are winning, so you need to slip in If you’re not over the top, you have no chance of making things happen

THE EASIEST THING React, respond are easy Initiating is difficult That’s what leaders do They cause the events that others have to react or respond to

TAKE THE FOLLOW When you cannot fully commit, you shouldn’t be leading

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO YOU AND THINGS THAT YOU DO Leaders don’t have things happen to them, they do things Realtors mentality split Leaders see opportunity in the face of change

PERMEABILITY It used to be that executives had secretaries that had secretaries, and sent a memo only to your boss The system used to be rigid The problem is that it doesn’t respond well to a changing world Top management now wants leaders who make change before change happens The age of leverage changes this, although the fear might remain

LEADERS GO FIRST Everyone is wrong Unless you believe that things can change, you are right (and not everyone)

WATCHING THE MUSIC BUSINESS DIE

It took about a decade

  1. Music industry execs didn’t have a heretic
  2. Forgot to embrace their tribe

If you need the alternative to be better than the status quo, then you will be too late Past performance is no guarantee of future success Every industry changes and eventually fades Music created top-heavy systems Why did it deserve to last forever? It didn’t for music, and it won’t for you

Five pillars of music industry:

  1. free radio promotion
  2. limited # of competing music labels
  3. high cost of production for musicians
  4. top-40 based focus
  5. high quality non-reproducible technology

The music business is in trouble because none of these still exist The best time to change your business is while you still have momentum and assets

DON’T PANIC WHEN THE NEW BUSINESS MODEL ISN’T AS CLEAN AS THE OLD ONE Get over it, it’s the only option Everyone else will lose everything Industries die because they don’t have leadership to see the future and build the coalitions necessary to get there The ideas are there for free, but taking initiative is hard

SHEEPWALKING The outcome of hiring people who were raised to be obedient and giving them brain-dead jobs and using fear to keep them in line Sheepwalking is on the rise because we have to rely on humans for much more now because machines do a lot now Graduate a huge amount of sheep What happens when you build an organization that is flat and open and trusts people and gives them freedom? Over and over we see that this is a great model People who just sit around all day and do nothing Means that you don’t get good at solving important problems First step is defining the problem: sheepwalking You can always stop sheepwalking Embrace non-sheep behavior If you believe, then sheepwalking isn’t harsh enough, you need to wake up

HOW WAS YOUR DAY? Vacation - avoiding stuff you have to do for 50 weeks a year He was excited to be able to do what he loved Maintaining a system in the face of change will grind you down Life’s too short - cannot be unhappy and mediocre Should set up a life that you don’t need to escape from

THE THERMOMETER AND THE THERMOSTAT Former indicates that something is broken There are plenty of human thermometers Thermostat has the ability to change environment in sync with the outside world Every organization needs at least one thermostat

YOUR MICROMOVEMENT This is the heart of the matter: every leader supports a movement Today you can have a tiny or narrow movement The web connects people People can ignite a micromovement and then be propelled by the energy of the movement

5 things to do

  1. publish a manifesto - give it away
  2. make it easy for followers to connect with you
  3. make it easy for followers to connect with one another
  4. realize that money is not the point of a movement
  5. track your progress

6 principles

  1. transparency really is your only option
  2. your movement needs to be bigger than you
  3. movements that grow, thrive
  4. movements are made mostly against the status quo
  5. exclude outsiders
  6. tearing others down is never as helpful as building your followers up

THAT BUILDING DOWN THE STREET There is a tribe working overtime somewhere maintaining the status quo Nothing changes precisely because the ritual Sad to watch, and common Leadership is the antidote

EVERY TRIBE IS A MEDIA CHANNEL Google realized that every search is a media channel Tribes are the most effective media channels ever because they are not for sale

HOW TO BE WRONG John Zobsby - pollster You can’t be right without having some wrong ideas Must be willing to be fail in order to succeed There isn’t an easy way They appear to risk everything, but the risk is small Do what you believe in, paint a picture, and then go there

THE TIMING OF LEADERSHIP Great leadership comes when the tribe least expects it

THE REACTIONARY TRIBE Tribes get stuck - Wikipedia The best way is to create a new tribe out of the people from the tribe that want to change

POSSIBILITY OF RISK Radio person talking about risk People are so afraid of risk that they can’t use the word Risk is all about probability It’s a certainty that there is risk somewhere The safer you play your cards, the riskier things actually are

WHEN TRIBES REPLACE WHAT YOU ARE USED TO Transaction costs in working in a market Start organizations when tribes are more expensive

INITIATIVE It’s an astonishingly effective action because it is so rare Sofa story

STUCK ON STUPID Don’t use old strategies in new worlds

MARC ROGNER - NONPROFIT HERETIC Online debate of direct mail funding Most of the top 50 charities are not changing quickly enough The internet is bigger than direct mail The big win is in turning donors into patrons, from onlookers to participants Do you have to abandon the old ways today? No, but find and empower heretics

THE POSTURE OF A LEADER It’s my failure, not yours

SWITCHING TRIBES Hard to switch people’s tribes Would be admitting that we made a mistake Most loyal fans will be last to convert Instead, court seekers of a movement Talk to passionate people at work

NOT NOW, NOT YET The largest enemy of change is the “not yet” Change almost never fails because it’s too early, but because it’s too late Small price to being early, large for being too late

UNDERSTANDING THE TRICK Magician like leadership It has nothing to do with knowing the trick, everything with the art of doing it Magic only happens in the spectator’s mind; everything else is a distraction

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED Leadership starts where we least expected Criticizing hope is easy, but cynicism is a poor strategy Leadership takes hope and vision as well as a plan and a concrete way to get there People won’t follow if they don’t think that you can get there

THE NAKED VIOLINIST Tasmin - spreading classical music Only her focus and drive and committment made it work

WRITING SONGS THAT SPREAD Unicef posters for child vaccination Female literacy < 70% Songs were more important to that culture Your tribe communicates, so speak or sing in their language

THE X-PRIZE Prize encourages innovation Organizing the tribe is what counts

WHO CARES? Tribe members care - but many organizations cannot answer the question If no one cares, then you have no tribe If you don’t care, then you can’t lead

THE ELEMENTS OF LEADERSHIP

Leaders:

  • challenge the status quo
  • create a culture around their goal
  • have an extraordinary amount of curiousity about the world they are trying to change
  • use charisma in a variety of forms to attract and motivate followers
  • communicate their vision of the future
  • make a commitment to a vision, and make decisions based on that commitment
  • connect their followers to one another

UNDERSTANDING CHARISMA Being charismatic does not make you a leader, being a leader makes you charismatic Most people are not born charismatic

RONALD REAGAN’S SECRET We want someone who listens It’s easy to confuse listening to going with the crowd Most people want you to be average, so it’s hard to listen Reagan valued what he heard, but contradicting what he heard People care less about what you do than if you have heard them

THE FORCES OF MEDIOCRITY Remarkable visions and insight are always met with resistance Even when you make progress, you will have more resistance You must never back down

HOW TO SELL A BOOK OR ANY NEW IDEA Sell one. Find one person who trusts you and sell them it Tribes grow when people recruit other people Give people a platform to spread ideas

HARD JUST GOT EASY, AND VICE VERSA Technology allows us to do some things that were very hard It’s hard to be a heretic and to change Philadelphia Philharmonic - needed a leader to bring the organization to a new audience in a new way

WHICH WOULD YOU PREFER, TRIAL OR ERROR Big ideas do not happen in a flash Actually happen incrementally Pundits will always disagree “If your organization requires success before commitment, you will never have either one.”

POSITIVE DEVIANCE Senior management should find them and enable them Managers don’t like deviants Leaders understand a different calculus Desperately need more leaders Good leaders search for other deviants Find leaders and then amplify them to encourage others to follow their lead

THE OBLIGATION Don’t settle, you have so many opportunities to excel that other people will never have Never use the word opportunity, it’s an obligation You have the obligation to break the rules and excel

WHERE CREDIT IS DUE Real leaders don’t care if they get credit Real leaders want other people to take credit 37signals, MLK, Ghandi Credit isn’t the point, change is

THE BIG YES

versus the little no

  • safe
  • distraction

Leadership and apparent risk Mostly about leverage Available to every person lucky enough to take it

IMAGINATION Einstein - more important than knowledge Leaders need vision to create things that have never existed

FIERCE PROTECTION Simpsons product placement Compromise can kill a project

BELIEF

People:

  • don’t believe what you tell them
  • rarely believe what you show them
  • often believe what their friends tell them
  • always believe what they tell themselves

Leaders give people a story to tell others and themselves about their future and change

WHY NOT YOU, WHY NOT NOW? Without a barrier, why not begin? Can publish a book all by yourself Leadership is like this - you can just do it When? Do you have what you need? When will you have enough to start leading? Leaders don’t need to wait

THE 'PERFECT’ FALLACY Quality is not necessary, and is sometimes undesirable More fashion requires less need for quality Six Sigma is hiding from change

YAHOO! Memo that lead to a large change to Yahoo What do you have to lose? Dozens of other better companies If it works, you have a better place to work and have done the right thing

CASE STUDY: NO KILL Leading a tribe of shelters The tribe in power saw no alternative San Francisco turned into a no-kill city Went to New York Charlottesville, VA Reno, NV Only leadership

THE LOOK OF A LEADER Leaders have nothing in common No leadership gene Leaders aren’t born, but has the decision to lead

WHAT, EXACTLY, SHOULD I DO NOW? No checklist, but that was the point Too much work? Critism almost always comes from change The choice is up to you