I finally got around to reading Tribes, by Seth Godin, just before 2009 came to a close. Seth urges us to respond when we are called to lead some sort of tribe, whether in our workplace, business, community, family, hobbies, or place of worship. You can be part of and/or lead multiple tribes. Tribes involve groups of people (large or small) connected to one another by ideas, and a leader. Without the leader, nothing gets accomplished.
Seth notes that marketing used to be about advertising, but marketing today involves engaging with the tribe and delivering products and services with stories that spread. Twitter is a great example of this concept. People can make a statement or give their feedback in 140 characters or less to their “tribe” (community they are connected to on twitter) about a product or service. They share a story about their experience, and often this causes other people that they are connected to (followers) to respond with feedback or action. 
Leaders of the Tribe are constantly promoting change. Marketing fuels this, since new ideas, products, services, are always sought after. Leaders who create change in response to the outside world and do it consistently over time, are vital to the success of any organization.
No one has to anoint you as a leader of anything, you can just simply start taking action within one of your many communities, foster communication among the community, or unite the community and help them move forward. Kind of like the old adage, ”see a need and fill it”. This concept is as powerful today as it ever was.
I’m a leader of a legal tribe in my community. In response to law firms in my area downsizing, I began helping solo and small firms get better at “rainmaking”, relationship building, and branding and marketing themselves to generate more business. I began to unite the tribe by connecting lawyers with other professionals inside and outside the profession so they could cross refer to one another. I connected lawyers with marketing and social media specialists to help them identify or strengthen their brand to set themselves apart from others in their industry. I created events for lawyers where they could learn some basics for succeeding in their practice, and so they could network with others. No one appointed me to this role, I just did it because I know my gift is connecting people for their mutual benefit. Since my background is in legal services, that’s where I chose to specialize in connecting others.
What area of your life can you or do you lead a tribe? How are you bringing about change? What results are you seeing? What surprises did you encounter?
