Seth Godin on Tribes

Seth Godin has the biggest business blog in the world and has written 9 best-sellers. I joined a lunch with 25 other bloggers with Seth Godin earlier which was delightful. Then Seth spoke on the big stage to close the first day of Catalyst. Some quotes…

·         There is a ton of noise out there vying for our attention.

·         People are asking two questions…

o   Who else is going to be there?

o   Who is going to lead us?

·         There used to be only three tribes: 1) Church, 2) Work, 3) Community.

·         Now, everyone gathers around tribes.

·         People don’t do stuff because they want to, but because they want to be with their tribe.

·         A crowd is not the same as a tribe.

·         A tribe – a group of people, self-selected, often with a leader, all with a common purpose.

·         You may be a pastor or director or mom. But what you really do is this: You lead a tribe.

·         There are tight tribes and large/open tribes.

o   Being on the LA Lakers team is a tight tribe. It takes a lot of qualifications to be in it.

o   Being a fan of Oprah only takes an hour. Then you are in her tribe.

·         It is naïve to think everyone wants to be in your tribe. Your job is to find the people who want in your tribe.

·         No one is seeking a safe leader. You have to do something people will criticize.

·         There is a giant distinction between faith and religion. Tribes are based on faith. Whereas religion is often the rules which are imposed on the faith tribes.

·         Leadership = marketing and marketing = leadership.

·         7 characteristics of leaders

o   Leaders challenge their tribe.

o   Leaders intentionally create a culture for their tribe.

o   Leaders are curious.

o   Leaders have charisma. (You don’t become a leader because you have charisma. You get charisma if you are a leader.)

o   Leaders communicate.

o   Leaders connect tribe members to each other.

o   Leaders commit to the well-being of the tribe.

·         Tribes want to…

o   Connect

o   Create meaning

o   Make a difference

o   Be noticed

o   Matter

o   Be missed (if they don’t come back)

·         4v2. Are you doing something 4 the tribe or 2 the tribe?