Review of Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us

Last month I heard Sally Hogshead speak at an IPG Women’s Leadership Network event. She told a story about striking out on her own with her business partner and starting their own agency. They were signing the lease on their office, a 12-month contract that finally made everything real, when her business partner turned to her. He said, “You know the way you’re feeling right now, the nerves and excitement and fear in the pit of your stomach? That’s risk. It's not necessarily bad, and you shouldn’t be afraid of it, but you need to be able to recognize it. You're going to be feeling it a lot more.” Seth Godin must be quite familiar with that feeling, because his book is all about taking a deep breath and doing something terrifying because you believe in it.

Tribes made me nervous every time I picked it up. It doesn’t shout, but fervently whispers in your ear: Stop pushing papers. It’s 2009 and the world is changing. Go make the change you want to see. And before I could fully form all my logical objections—but I don’t have any money, it’s not that easy and no one will listen to me, everything is safe the way it is now—it has blazed through them by providing pages of examples of heretics who wanted change and got it.

Here’s a sampling of the best lessons learned:

If your organization requires success before commitment, it will never have either.

Find leaders (the heretics who are doing things differently and making change), and then amplify their work, give them a platform, and help them find followers—and things get better. They always get better.

This is what advertisers need to pay the most attention to. Find leaders, brand advocates, people with opinions, and fuel their fire. Conversely, don’t try to squelch the heretics. If you don’t amplify their leadership efforts, someone else will. You’ll be in trouble.

Marketers need to read Tribes to understand how to turn brand advocates into brand heroes. Junior-level employees need to read it to remind themselves of the passion they had in college when they dreamed of striking out and following their dreams. On the last page, Godin urges readers to pass the book along if we found it worthwhile. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share my copy.