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Seth Godin's Tribes
Famous author Seth Godin wrote nine books, all bestsellers that changed the way we think about marketing, change and work. He is responsible for many words in the marketer's vocabulary, including permission marketing, ideaviruses, purple cows, the dip and sneezers. The following blog is excerpted from his new book “TRIBES: We Need You to Lead Us,” in which he explains how the Internet has eliminated barriers and enabled new tribes to be born. Take a peek inside Seth Godin's new book in this six-part series and explore your opportunity (or your obligation?) to take on a leadership role for your tribe.
2008-11-18
Positive Deviants
Filed Under:
How do you manage leaders?
Given that leaders can appear anywhere in an organization, it seems to me that the job of senior management is to find them and support them. Leaders have tribes of their own, and someone needs to lead those tribes.
Which leads to the idea of positive deviance.
As a general rule, managers don't like deviants. By definition, deviance from established standards is a failure for a manager working to deliver on spec. So, most of the time, most managers work hard to stamp out deviance (and the deviants who create it).
Managers stamp out deviants. That's what they do.
Leaders understand a different calculus. Leaders understand that change is not only omnipresent, but the key to success.
And it turns out that employees who are committed to change and engaged in making things happen are happier and more productive.
Putting these two facts together, it's not hard to come to the conclusion that you desperately need more leaders, more deviants-more agents of change, not fewer.
Great leaders embrace deviants by searching for them and catching them doing something right.
This is the life's work of Jerry Sternin. Sternin went to Vietnam to try to help starving children. Rather than importing tactics that he knew would work, or outside techniques that he was sure could make a difference, he sought out the few families who weren't starving, the few moms who weren't just getting by but were thriving. And then he made it easy for these mothers to share their insights with the rest of the group.
This seems obvious, but it's heretical. The idea that an aid worker would go to a village in trouble and not try to stamp out nonstandard behavior is crazy.
"The traditional model for social and organizational change doesn't work," he told Fast Company. "It never has. You can't bring permanent solutions in from outside."
Leveraging the work of Marian Zeitlin, Sternin and his wife Monique have taken this approach around the world, from developing countries to hospitals in Connecticut.
Over and over again, the Sternins have discovered a simple process: 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.
I hope that's not so simple that it gets ignored, because it's important. It's such an effective idea that it saves children's lives every day. All the Sternins did was find the mom with the healthy kids. And then they helped the others in the village notice what she was doing. They gave that mom a spotlight, encouraging her to keep it up and, more important, encouraging others to follow her lead.
It's simple, but it works. It might be the most important practical idea in this entire book.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
Given that leaders can appear anywhere in an organization, it seems to me that the job of senior management is to find them and support them. Leaders have tribes of their own, and someone needs to lead those tribes.
Which leads to the idea of positive deviance.
As a general rule, managers don't like deviants. By definition, deviance from established standards is a failure for a manager working to deliver on spec. So, most of the time, most managers work hard to stamp out deviance (and the deviants who create it).
Managers stamp out deviants. That's what they do.
Leaders understand a different calculus. Leaders understand that change is not only omnipresent, but the key to success.
And it turns out that employees who are committed to change and engaged in making things happen are happier and more productive.
Putting these two facts together, it's not hard to come to the conclusion that you desperately need more leaders, more deviants-more agents of change, not fewer.
Great leaders embrace deviants by searching for them and catching them doing something right.
This is the life's work of Jerry Sternin. Sternin went to Vietnam to try to help starving children. Rather than importing tactics that he knew would work, or outside techniques that he was sure could make a difference, he sought out the few families who weren't starving, the few moms who weren't just getting by but were thriving. And then he made it easy for these mothers to share their insights with the rest of the group.
This seems obvious, but it's heretical. The idea that an aid worker would go to a village in trouble and not try to stamp out nonstandard behavior is crazy.
"The traditional model for social and organizational change doesn't work," he told Fast Company. "It never has. You can't bring permanent solutions in from outside."
Leveraging the work of Marian Zeitlin, Sternin and his wife Monique have taken this approach around the world, from developing countries to hospitals in Connecticut.
Over and over again, the Sternins have discovered a simple process: 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.
I hope that's not so simple that it gets ignored, because it's important. It's such an effective idea that it saves children's lives every day. All the Sternins did was find the mom with the healthy kids. And then they helped the others in the village notice what she was doing. They gave that mom a spotlight, encouraging her to keep it up and, more important, encouraging others to follow her lead.
It's simple, but it works. It might be the most important practical idea in this entire book.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
2008-11-11
The Cult of the Heretic
Filed Under:
Heretics are engaged, passionate, and more powerful and happier than everyone else. And they have a tribe that they support (and that supports them in turn).
Challenging the status quo requires a commitment, both public and private. It involves reaching out to others and putting your ideas on the line. (Or pinning your Ninety-five Theses to the church door.)
Heretics must believe. More than anyone else in an organization, it's the person who's challenging the status quo, the one who is daring to be great, who is truly present and not just punching a clock who must have confidence in her beliefs.
The Elements of Leadership
Leaders challenge the status quo.
Leaders create a culture around their goal and involve others in that culture.
Leaders have an extraordinary amount of curiosity about the world they're trying to change.
Leaders use charisma (in a variety of forms) to attract and motivate followers.
Leaders communicate their vision of the future.
Leaders commit to a vision and make decisions based on that commitment. Leaders connect their followers to one another. Sorry for the alliteration, but that's the way it worked out.
If you consider the leaders in your organization or community, you'll see that every one of them uses some combination of these seven elements. You don't have to be in charge or powerful or pretty or connected to be a leader. You do have to be committed.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
Challenging the status quo requires a commitment, both public and private. It involves reaching out to others and putting your ideas on the line. (Or pinning your Ninety-five Theses to the church door.)
Heretics must believe. More than anyone else in an organization, it's the person who's challenging the status quo, the one who is daring to be great, who is truly present and not just punching a clock who must have confidence in her beliefs.
The Elements of Leadership
Leaders challenge the status quo.
Leaders create a culture around their goal and involve others in that culture.
Leaders have an extraordinary amount of curiosity about the world they're trying to change.
Leaders use charisma (in a variety of forms) to attract and motivate followers.
Leaders communicate their vision of the future.
Leaders commit to a vision and make decisions based on that commitment. Leaders connect their followers to one another. Sorry for the alliteration, but that's the way it worked out.
If you consider the leaders in your organization or community, you'll see that every one of them uses some combination of these seven elements. You don't have to be in charge or powerful or pretty or connected to be a leader. You do have to be committed.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
2008-11-04
Not Now, Not Yet
Filed Under:
The largest enemy of change and leadership isn't a "no." It's a "not yet." "Not yet" is the safest, easiest way to forestall change. "Not yet" gives the status quo a chance to regroup and put off the inevitable for just a little while longer.
Change almost never fails because it's too early. It almost always fails because it's too late.
The curve below shows the benefits of almost any innovation over time:
By the time you realize that your corner of the world is ready for an innovation, it's almost certainly too late. It's definitely not too early.
"It's not time," "Take it easy," "Wait and see," "It's someone else's turn"-none of these stalls are appropriate for a leader in search of change. There's a small price for being too early, but a huge penalty for being too late. The longer you wait to launch an innovation, the less your effort is worth.
The Difference Between Average and Mediocre
Management often works to maintain the status quo, to deliver average products to average people. In a stable environment, this is exactly the right strategy. Build reliability and predictability, cut costs, and make a profit.
Traditional marketing, the marketing of push, understands this. The most stable thing to do is push a standard product to a standard audience and succeed with discounts or distribution.
But for tribes, average can mean mediocre. Not worth seeking out. Boring.
Life's too short to fight the forces of change. Life's too short to hate what you do all day. Life's way too short to make mediocre stuff. And almost everything that's standard is now viewed as mediocre.
Is there a difference between average and mediocre? Not so much. Average stuff is taken for granted, not talked about, and certainly not sought out.
The end result of this is that many people (many really good people) spend all day trying to defend what they do, trying to sell what they've always sold, and trying to prevent their organizations from being devoured by the forces of the new. It must be wearing them out. Defending mediocrity is exhausting.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
Change almost never fails because it's too early. It almost always fails because it's too late.
The curve below shows the benefits of almost any innovation over time:
By the time you realize that your corner of the world is ready for an innovation, it's almost certainly too late. It's definitely not too early.
"It's not time," "Take it easy," "Wait and see," "It's someone else's turn"-none of these stalls are appropriate for a leader in search of change. There's a small price for being too early, but a huge penalty for being too late. The longer you wait to launch an innovation, the less your effort is worth.
The Difference Between Average and Mediocre
Management often works to maintain the status quo, to deliver average products to average people. In a stable environment, this is exactly the right strategy. Build reliability and predictability, cut costs, and make a profit.
Traditional marketing, the marketing of push, understands this. The most stable thing to do is push a standard product to a standard audience and succeed with discounts or distribution.
But for tribes, average can mean mediocre. Not worth seeking out. Boring.
Life's too short to fight the forces of change. Life's too short to hate what you do all day. Life's way too short to make mediocre stuff. And almost everything that's standard is now viewed as mediocre.
Is there a difference between average and mediocre? Not so much. Average stuff is taken for granted, not talked about, and certainly not sought out.
The end result of this is that many people (many really good people) spend all day trying to defend what they do, trying to sell what they've always sold, and trying to prevent their organizations from being devoured by the forces of the new. It must be wearing them out. Defending mediocrity is exhausting.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
2008-10-28
Your Micromovement
Filed Under:
This is the heart of the matter: every leader cares for and supports a movement. A movement like the free speech movement at Berkeley or the democracy movement in Tiananmen Square or the civil rights movement in Mississippi. Or maybe a movement like the obsession with hand-roasted coffee in Brooklyn or the worldwide collection of people obsessed with tattoos.
Today, you can have a narrow movement, a tiny movement, a movement in a silo. Your movement can be known by ten or twenty or a thousand people, people in your community or people around the world. And most often, it can be the people you work with or for, or those who work for you.
The Web connects people. That's what it does. And movements take connected people and make change.
What marketers and organizers and people who care are discovering is that they can ignite a micromovement and then be propelled by the people who choose to follow it.
The key elements in creating a micromovement consist of five things to do… [and six principles]:
1. Publish a manifesto.
Give it away and make it easy for the manifesto to spread far and wide. It doesn’t have to be printed or even written. But it's a mantra and a motto and a way of looking at the world. It unites your tribe members and gives them a structure.
2. Make it easy for your followers to connect with you.
It could be as simple as visiting you or e-mailing you or watching you on television. Or it could be as rich and complex as interacting with you on Facebook or joining your social network on Ning.
3. Make it easy for your followers to connect with one another.
There's that little nod that one restaurant regular gives to another recognized regular. Or the shared drink in an airport lounge. Even better is the camaraderie developed by volunteers on a political campaign or insiders involved in a new product launch. Great leaders figure out how to make these interactions happen.
4. Realize that money is not the point of a movement.
Money exists merely to enable it. The moment you try to cash out is the moment you stunt the growth of your movement.
5. Track your progress.
Do it publicly and create pathways for your followers to contribute to that progress.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
Today, you can have a narrow movement, a tiny movement, a movement in a silo. Your movement can be known by ten or twenty or a thousand people, people in your community or people around the world. And most often, it can be the people you work with or for, or those who work for you.
The Web connects people. That's what it does. And movements take connected people and make change.
What marketers and organizers and people who care are discovering is that they can ignite a micromovement and then be propelled by the people who choose to follow it.
The key elements in creating a micromovement consist of five things to do… [and six principles]:
1. Publish a manifesto.
Give it away and make it easy for the manifesto to spread far and wide. It doesn’t have to be printed or even written. But it's a mantra and a motto and a way of looking at the world. It unites your tribe members and gives them a structure.
2. Make it easy for your followers to connect with you.
It could be as simple as visiting you or e-mailing you or watching you on television. Or it could be as rich and complex as interacting with you on Facebook or joining your social network on Ning.
3. Make it easy for your followers to connect with one another.
There's that little nod that one restaurant regular gives to another recognized regular. Or the shared drink in an airport lounge. Even better is the camaraderie developed by volunteers on a political campaign or insiders involved in a new product launch. Great leaders figure out how to make these interactions happen.
4. Realize that money is not the point of a movement.
Money exists merely to enable it. The moment you try to cash out is the moment you stunt the growth of your movement.
5. Track your progress.
Do it publicly and create pathways for your followers to contribute to that progress.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
2008-10-21
Something to Believe In
Filed Under:
Tribes are about faith -- about belief in an idea and in a community. And they are grounded in respect and admiration for the leader of the tribe and for the other members as well.
Do you believe in what you do? Every day? It turns out that belief happens to be a brilliant strategy.
Three things have happened, pretty much at the same time. All three point to the same (temporarily uncomfortable, but ultimately marvelous) outcome:
1. Many people are starting to realize that they work a lot and that working on stuff they believe in (and making things happen) is much more satisfying than just getting a paycheck and waiting to get fired (or die).
2. Many organizations have discovered that the factory-centric model of producing goods and services is not nearly as profitable as it used to be.
3. Many consumers have decided to spend their money buying things that aren't factory-produced commodities.
And they've decided not to spend their time embracing off-the-shelf ideas. Consumers have decided, instead, to spend time and money on fashion, on stories, on things that matter, and on things they believe in.
So here we are. We live in a world where we have the leverage to make things happen, the desire to do work we believe in, and a marketplace that is begging us to be remarkable. And yet, in the middle of these changes, we still get stuck.
Stuck following archaic rules. Stuck in industries that not only avoid change but also actively fight it. Stuck in fear of what our boss will say, stuck because we're afraid we'll get into trouble.
Most of all, we're stuck acting like managers or employees, instead of like the leaders we could become. We're embracing a factory instead of a tribe.
… "How was your day?" is a question that matters a lot more than it seems. It turns out that the people who like their jobs the most are also the ones who are doing the best work, making the greatest impact, and changing the most. Changing the way they see the world, sure, but also changing the world. By challenging the status quo, a cadre of heretics is discovering that one person, just one, can make a huge difference.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
Do you believe in what you do? Every day? It turns out that belief happens to be a brilliant strategy.
Three things have happened, pretty much at the same time. All three point to the same (temporarily uncomfortable, but ultimately marvelous) outcome:
1. Many people are starting to realize that they work a lot and that working on stuff they believe in (and making things happen) is much more satisfying than just getting a paycheck and waiting to get fired (or die).
2. Many organizations have discovered that the factory-centric model of producing goods and services is not nearly as profitable as it used to be.
3. Many consumers have decided to spend their money buying things that aren't factory-produced commodities.
And they've decided not to spend their time embracing off-the-shelf ideas. Consumers have decided, instead, to spend time and money on fashion, on stories, on things that matter, and on things they believe in.
So here we are. We live in a world where we have the leverage to make things happen, the desire to do work we believe in, and a marketplace that is begging us to be remarkable. And yet, in the middle of these changes, we still get stuck.
Stuck following archaic rules. Stuck in industries that not only avoid change but also actively fight it. Stuck in fear of what our boss will say, stuck because we're afraid we'll get into trouble.
Most of all, we're stuck acting like managers or employees, instead of like the leaders we could become. We're embracing a factory instead of a tribe.
… "How was your day?" is a question that matters a lot more than it seems. It turns out that the people who like their jobs the most are also the ones who are doing the best work, making the greatest impact, and changing the most. Changing the way they see the world, sure, but also changing the world. By challenging the status quo, a cadre of heretics is discovering that one person, just one, can make a huge difference.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
2008-10-14
Tribes Used To Be Local
Filed Under:
Jacqueline Novogratz is changing the world. Not by leading everyone in her town, but by challenging people in twenty countries to join a movement. One at a time, Jacqueline is inspiring entrepreneurs in the developing world to create enterprises that enrich the people around them. She's helping create organizations that deliver clean water, ambulances, and reading glasses ... and doing it in a scalable way that challenges expectations.
Jacqueline doesn't just love her job leading the Acumen Fund; she's also changing the very face of philanthropy. Her tribe of donors, employees, entrepreneurs, and supporters counts on her leadership to inspire and motivate them. Geography used to be important. A tribe might be everyone in a certain village, or it might be model-car enthusiasts in Sacramento, or it might be the Democrats in Springfield.
Corporations and other organizations have always created their own tribes around their offices or their markets-tribes of employees or customers or parishioners.
Now, the Internet eliminates geography.
This means that existing tribes are bigger, but more important, it means that there are now more tribes, smaller tribes, influential tribes, horizontal and vertical tribes, and tribes that could never have existed before. Tribes you work with, tribes you travel with, tribes you buy with. Tribes that vote, that discuss, that fight. Tribes where everyone knows your name. The professionals at the CIA are a tribe and so are the volunteers at the ACLU.
There's an explosion of new tools available to help lead the tribes we're forming. Facebook and Ning and Meetup and Twitter. Squidoo and Basecamp and Craigslist and e-mail.
There are literally thousands of ways to coordinate and connect groups of people that just didn't exist a generation ago.
All of it is worthless if you don't decide to lead. All of it goes to waste if your leadership is compromised, if you settle, if you don't commit.
Many tribes. Many tools. I'm writing to you about both. The market needs you (we need you) and the tools are there, just waiting. All that's missing is you, and your vision and your passion.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
Jacqueline doesn't just love her job leading the Acumen Fund; she's also changing the very face of philanthropy. Her tribe of donors, employees, entrepreneurs, and supporters counts on her leadership to inspire and motivate them. Geography used to be important. A tribe might be everyone in a certain village, or it might be model-car enthusiasts in Sacramento, or it might be the Democrats in Springfield.
Corporations and other organizations have always created their own tribes around their offices or their markets-tribes of employees or customers or parishioners.
Now, the Internet eliminates geography.
This means that existing tribes are bigger, but more important, it means that there are now more tribes, smaller tribes, influential tribes, horizontal and vertical tribes, and tribes that could never have existed before. Tribes you work with, tribes you travel with, tribes you buy with. Tribes that vote, that discuss, that fight. Tribes where everyone knows your name. The professionals at the CIA are a tribe and so are the volunteers at the ACLU.
There's an explosion of new tools available to help lead the tribes we're forming. Facebook and Ning and Meetup and Twitter. Squidoo and Basecamp and Craigslist and e-mail.
There are literally thousands of ways to coordinate and connect groups of people that just didn't exist a generation ago.
All of it is worthless if you don't decide to lead. All of it goes to waste if your leadership is compromised, if you settle, if you don't commit.
Many tribes. Many tools. I'm writing to you about both. The market needs you (we need you) and the tools are there, just waiting. All that's missing is you, and your vision and your passion.
Excerpted from TRIBES: WE NEED YOU TO LEAD US by Seth Godin, by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Copyright (c) Do You Zoom, Inc., 2008.
