I recently finished the book “Tribes” by Seth Godin and I have to say that I very highly recommend that you all go out, buy it, and read it. If you’re flying home somewhere for Christmas, this is the perfect book to read on the airplane.
In the book, Seth talks about the prevalence of communities or “tribes” within our society and how the Web has made it easier for people of more niche interests to gather from across great geographic distance.
I think this book is an absolute must read for two types of folks.
You need to read this book if you’re trying to get a message across to an existing group. We are not just demographics, media markets or the targets of advertising campaigns. We are people. Part of our human nature is that we want to find like minded people to be in community with. If you want to reach people, you need to approach folks with this in mind. This book provides a great framework for this.
You also need to read this book if you want to lead a “tribe”. More later in the book he goes into how he describers leaders as heretics. They’re the ones that bring together a community of people to go against a common or established way of thinking. He writes “Change is made by people, by leaders who are proud to be called heretics because their faith is never in question.”
Being someone who is outspoken with diverse interests and big ideas, I find myself consistently in and amongst new tribes and being put in positions where I’m forced to be a heretic that is working to go against the established order and bring about change. Thus… this book spoke to me in many ways.
Have you read the book? What’d you think of it?
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Haven’t finished reading it yet, but once I do, I’ll blog about it. Right now, I’m very impressed by the book. I’ve been a member of his Triiibes social network and the book falls in line with what the purpose of this social group is trying to do – create and introduce leaders of various Tribes together and share the knowledge.
The book is very informative on how to overcome all obstacles and what’s needed to become a leader. Definitely agree that it’s a book worth reading.
Look forward to seeing what you write about the book.
I finished it a week ago, and found it (like all Seth’s books) so inspiring. This is a great read for anyone who wants to go deeper than just the what of building web communities, to the why, and the how it is going to be.
PS. You may want to bundle up in that pic at the top with you and your camera, because it appears to be snowing on your website.