Tribes

I mentioned that I had recoreded a discussion on Tribes for the Something Beautiful Podcast… well it’s edited and part 1 is online now… HERE.

Some further thoughts:

Tribes are everywhere.  We are all part of tribes.  Tribes form around interests and passions.  Tribes are big and small.  Tribes share a sense of purpose and belonging.

Godin’s book is one that all churches should read.  Not just church leaders.  But church people.  This is a book for leaders.  Some of those leaders are already leading tribes but some are waiting for their moment or waiting for their tribe.

So, what’s the book about?

Faith, Religion and Heretics.  Those aren’t necessarily words you would expect to read in a marketing book, but then Godin isn’t just any marketer.  He’s a heretic.

Faith, according to Seth, is a good thing.  Faith is something we all share.  Some have faith in God, others faith in Apple or Starbucks but that faith is mostly that the world can be better, that we can do better.  Faith helps us to reach further, to attain, to aspire.

Religion, well that happens when people who share a faith get together and start a club.  There are rules for the club and sooner or later those rules become more important than the faith they were made to celebrate.  This happens because people want to protect the status quo.  People want to preserve their faith.

Heretics are the people who lead change.  Martin Luther was a heretic.  Joan of Arc, Ghandi, Rob Bell…

Rob Bell?  Yes, Rob Bell.  The connection is that heretics change the rules.  Bell started a new church.  A new kind of church.

The thrust of Godin’s argument is that there are lots of people who are waiting to be led.  People are dissatisfied with the status quo.  Others have left their religion and are out there with their faith waiting and hoping for someone to come and lead them.  Waiting for someone to inspire them.

These people need leaders.

Leaders are all about how it could be.  Managers are about how it is.

Leaders are about what’s possible.  Managers are about what is.

Leaders deliver change.  Managers deliver the status quo.

Simple really.  Leaders lead.  People want to be led.  They want to form tribes around ideas and create movements.  Once the tribe is formed the leader’s role is to tighten the tribe.  To find ways to bring people together, to deepen relationships and to grow the tribe… if the tribe wants to grow.

Sound familiar?  Sound like something you want or need?  What’s the catch?

Leading is hard.  It takes committment and effort.  It takes people who don’t mind being called a heretic.

Seth Godin’s audiobook Tribes is available on iTunes ahead of the release of the book in a week or so.