Book Review: Tribes by Seth Godin

Posted on December 26, 2008 by travjohnson

Originally posted at www.travisjohnson.net
Check out my new favorite Seth Godin book, Tribes.Yep, you read that right…favorite. Tribes definitely eclipsed Purple Cow. Here are my takeaways/quotes in a bulleted format:
— A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, a leader, and an idea.
— A group only needs two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.
— Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements….heretics/troublemakers/change agents arent merely thorns in our side- they are the keys to our success.
— p.14 entitled Its Good to Be King describes a lot of good groups, which have lost their way and instead of being focused on mission are focused on engorging the King. Those closest to the King enjoy the spoils and help perpetuate the status quo.
— Ideas that spread, win.
— What makes a tribe is that there are insiders and outsiders.
— Almost all the growth thats available to you exists when you arent like most people and when you work hard to appeal to folks who arent most people.
— In an era of grassroots change, the top of the pyramid is too far away from where the action is to make much of a difference.
— If youre not over the top, youre not going to have any chance at all of making things happen.
— Use change as a chance to really wreak some havoc on the status quo.
— Top management now wants leaders. It wants heretics who will create change before change happens to them.
— Industries dont die by surprise.
— The good old days are yet to happen…The thing is, the guys who ran it in the old days wont be around when it regroups, because they wont be welcome.
— (The steps to create a micromovement on pages 103-105 are worth the book. If you want to know what it says, buy the book.)
— Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.
— Find the rabble rousers and the change lovers who are seeking new leadership and run with them.
— The organizations that need innovation the most are the ones that do the most to stop it from happening.
— The revolution will not be televised.
— Remarkable visions and genuine insights are always met with resistance. The forces for mediocrity will align to stop you, forgiving no errors and never backing down until its over.
— Find leaders, amplify their work, give them a platform, help them find followers, and things will get better.
— Dont worry about who gets credit. Leaders dont care who gets credit.
— Credit isnt the point. Change is.
— Once you choose to lead, youll be under huge pressure to reconsider your choice, to compromise, to dumb it down, or to give up.
PS. As I was writing this bulleted list, I got an invite to TribeChiefs on Twitter and ultimately TribeChiefs.com…probably from this singular Tweet. Thanks for the invite to a tribe that I think I might want to be a part of. So, cheers to the great tribes Im a part of…and to the ones Im leading. Its been a cool ride…looking forward to creating the future with you.
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