Today is the first day of the Tribes: Group Blogging Project and I’ll be leading a conversation over the first 5 pages or so.
I’m excited to lead 30 people or so through Seth Godin’s book Tribes and to learn from one another how to best lead others in our own respective tribes.
There is no “right” way to lead the conversation so I’ll just dive in and review a few tidbits and ask a few questions about the content covered in Seth’s book pages 1-5:
Seth Godin reviews a number of “needs” in terms of leading a successful tribe:
- A shared interest.
- A way to communicate.
- Leadership.
- The need to belong.
- The need to belong to more than one tribe.
In what ways have you guys provided for these needs in your respective communities?
For myself I’ve realized that the “shared interest” need is one of the most powerful pieces of the overall puzzle, and I believe social networking, generally speaking, has enabled people to do this at a faster and more effective pace.
One area of improvement that I know I need to personally work on is “Leadership.” I’ve never really considered myself a strong leader and have often found myself more of a “follower.” I think we all are leaders of something (at the office, in ministry, at home) and so I know I need to work on this more and how it plays out in the contexts that I found myself in.
What areas of improvement do you need to work on in light of Seth’s list of needs in the first 5 pages of Tribes?
Paul Steinbrueck says
For me this represents a paradigm shift in what leadership means. I’ve often thought of leadership as getting people who are a part of your organization do what they may or may not want to do. When everyone is on board it’s great. But sometimes it feels like a sales job, rallying people to support the organization, or even brow-beating.
Godin describes leading tribes as more like painting a picture of some change you want to see and then inviting people who share that same interest to participate in bringing about that change.
To me that’s sounds much more fluid, it’s all voluntary, it’s all carrot and no stick. That sounds like a lot more fun. But it also has its own set of challenges.
Mike Henry says
This is a great question. I tend to need to work on all five, but over time, my biggest problem relates to the need to belong to more than one tribe. I tend to approach tribes one-at-a-time. I focus rather than multi-network and therefore I burn out. But worse, when others aren't engaged with my flavor-of-the-day tribe, I lose track of them.
The challenge is to choose to participate in some causes or tribes, and lead in others. Godin's point is well made throughout the book that there are many causes who's leaders just need to become known, and the technology is evolving to make that easier.
seth godin says
I'm so glad you're doing this. There's no doubt you'll discover far more than I had room to include.
human3rror says
Seth,
Thanks for stopping by! We'll keep you posted on how it all goes down…!
John
Bobby Shirley says
Nice.
davidnorman says
John, be honest. you geeked out when you saw that comment by godin. didn't you?
Jim says
i love it when Uncle Seth stops by!
davidnorman says
interestingly enough, i think an area that i struggle the most is in concentrating my efforts on one primary method of communicating. the reality of such an array of social networking tools has made connecting almost too easy. rather than focusing my efforts on one tool, or utilizing multiple networking tools in harmony, i typically tend to cast my nets too wide and try to connect with everyone.
perhaps the lesson that i need to work on is focusing the communication to one or two channels in order that true conversations can exist. otherwise, you get a lot of talking without any conversation and interplay.
mikehenrysr says
That's a pretty insightful comment as well. I have a lot of trouble developing any focus. Great thought!. Mike…
Jarrod Skeggs says
John, thanks for sharing this. We're Mac IT Consultants and will be participating in this group blog as well over at http://digidsolutions.com. Our biggest challenge of these five listed would be number 2. A way to communicate. We actually have a number of good ways to communicate with our Tribe at present including our blog, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. For us, the bigger challenge is determining how to best utilize each of those communication platforms to reach and connect with our existing and new Tribe members. We're trying a lot of different things including using Facebook and LinkedIn for our public speaking events. We're also aggregating our blog posts to our Twitter accounts and automating Tweet's every time a we write a new post. Anyone else out there got any ideas or ways they are using the platforms to communicate?
Frank Jenkins says
I didn't originally sign up for the Tribes tour, but I may follow you guys around to get the "cliff notes" version of the book. Of the five areas, my page has tried to stress the need to belong and belong to more than one tribe. I've even gotten to a point where I break down three days of my week to talk about one thing (each). On Mondays, I have a time to talk about marriage, on Wednesdays, I try to take wisdom from Solomon or another good source and on Fridays, to have a prayer time day for everyone to get involved. That leaves me two to four times a week that I can hit random topics.
Chris Downs says
I like this idea, that on certain days at certain times your tribe can find something expected and use it as a focal gathering point for a specific need or discussion.
human3rror says
๐
Chris Downs says
Awesome questions. As a youth leader I absolutely agree with your 5 "needs of a successful tribe." Shared interest is what most often brings them together and then the desire to belong and the desire to communicate that need are what keep them around.
leadership is formed and expressed in many different ways. For example, the student leaders in our youth all have very different strengths, and we are teaching them to work together to combine those strengths. We have a leader who is good at talking to people, a leader who has an incredible ability to pray for people, and another leader who is good at inspiring. We have to learn where we can lead, and where it might be better if we just follow.
I need to work on an area of shared interest. While I love leading them and love teaching them, I need to make sure that I'm also making the journey WITH them. I find that it's easier to follow someone that you feel is making the journey with you and not just waiting for you to catch up.
Chris
davidnorman says
it kind of brings an "incarnational" approach to leadership. good thoughts.
rhettsmith says
David,
John totally geeked out…Sue had to bring him back down to earth ๐ or I was at least geeked reading it..
rhett
Shannon La France says
In what ways have I provided for these needs in my community as a leader in development for non-for-profit? Providing leadership to those on my team by leading them how I would like to be lead…"open-ended" with freedom to explore and grow w/in the discipline of donor develompment which some days is just a fancy word for "sales" I need to provide a foundation for follow-up in my leadership skills from those I attempt to lead…Some are mature enough to tell you "what they need from you" while others, can't tell you what they need & have little interest in growing their skills to add to the organization. I have spent the last year growing & mentoring my replacement…not that I'm going anywhere…but felt it so important to duplicate what I do with revenue development. Ready for a new challenge within my current community this book is the catalyst! Will I be embraced or shot myself in the foot. Time will tell.
Andy_Darnell says
John
I feel like you are probably a better leader than you may think. I've seen you lean in on your passions. It amazes me.
My struggle is the desire to fill the leadership void that often pops up. I may not be the best leader to fill that void. I am a doer. I will serve where needed and it often leads to frustration, stress, and burnout. I’ve been looking at my schedule a little more lately, and know that I need margin. I’ve got to learn to say “no.”
And honestly, that is what this book has been saying to me. Passion can not be created. When a leader is passionate, he or she is going to have a tribe of followers. I’ve got a few passions in me that at this moment in time are not being fertilized because of the “stuff” that I am doing.
Norm Tumlinson says
I think one of the great things about this book, right off the bat, is the idea that with the advent of the web/social media/etc. “everyday people” can become surprisingly influential leaders. This gives me hope, as I too, feel lacking in the traditional type leadership department.
Here’s a great example, In this month’s “Fast Company” Chris Hughes, (co-founder of Facebook) was quoted as saying, “Well, I just never think of myself as being in the business of building an online community.” –I sat there and thought for a second. What the?!?
That floored me. It seems as that statement would be completely antithetical to creating something like Facebook, but if you look at it through the lens of “Tribes” it totally makes sense. Someone just took his passion and made it happen. Other people were fascinated/interested/whatever and it snowballed to create a massive tribe (even tribes within tribes).
For me the most difficult of the previously mentioned 5 is about understanding shared interests. If I’m honest, so many times I find myself trying to manufacture a shared interest in my student ministry. I guess what Im trying to say is I want to really understand what I am genuinely passionate about. This has been an eye-opening experience for me as I feel like such a novice in the world of leadership.
human3rror says
eh. he's been here before… but, hopefully he'll hang out even more.
Phil says
When I think of areas of improvement that I need to work on it is in the area of being involved in more than one tribe. I work with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). I can only imagine the waves of responses going through your head right now about YWAM. Anyway, we tend to stay with one tribe, YWAM. We are true to our tribe and proud of it.
I need to be involved in more than just the YWAM tribe. It at times has become my only means of growth, influence, friendships, church and work (man, just writing that makes me feel unhealthy). I need other tribes involved in my life. Other churches, businesses, communities, etc.
Kevin_Martineau says
I have really been focusing on being involved in more than one tribe lately. I am the pastor of a rural church in Canada. I recently left my "church bubble" and ventured into the community to become a part of the board of directors for our local Chamber of Commerce. I am immensely enjoying this. This has opened many doors for ministry for me and it has broadened the use of my gifts and abilities. I am also practicing what I preach now. Kinda hard to expect others to get involved in the community when I am not doing it myself. ๐
Susan K. Stewart says
I need to work on fewer tribes I think — I'm a joiner. As a writer, I want to write about everything that cross my path. I know from my own experience that I'm much more effective when I focus more on areas of real passion, rather than areas of interest.
Like Jarrod, I also need to learn how to utilize the various forms of communication – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, my blogs.
Phillip Gibb says
Leadership is not an easy thing for me; accidentally or intentionally. Too much of a happy go lucky attitude – or so I was told by my Colonel in the Army.
But I agree – it is an easy way out.
Yet now with the internet and the incredible rise of social social networking there is an opportunity to become a good leader with intention and honest hard work as apposed to having that gift that everyone wishes they had (the one where people just follow like sheep based purely on personality)
The internet has given me that opportunity to lead, now I need to be intentional about it.
Susan K. Stewart says
"Too much of a happy go lucky attitude" Phillip, I don't see that as a negative to leadership. I'm sure I'd more easily follow you than your colonel in the Army.
Phillip Gibb says
๐ thanks.
Kevin Gilbert says
There's so much valuable insight in these comments. Thanks to everyone for sharing and participating. I think that we, Jarrod and I as a business partnership, are seeing some benefit and gaining some traction in building and developing our website and using these various communication tools (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) to deliver our message to our potential and existing tribe members. I know we've seen direct correlation in traffic and page hits as we've provided valuable content. I've heard it said before and I've heard John say it recently, good SEO is called consistent, relevant content. The secret to that, I think we're all finding, is having that passion for something and sharing that passion. But the real secret is taking that passion and that desire to share and taking it to the next level by facilitating discussion and activity with others who also share that passion. Much like what we're doing with this group blog project. We all have a shared interest in leading and being led, or else we might not be doing this. And while John deserves much thanks for his vision and his desire to do this, it took more than desire. It took him opening up his blog and his time to facilitate. The best part about all of this, though, is the fact that this provides mutual benefit for all of us participating. From the wisdom shared and wisdom learned, to the development of our own tribe and the development of this common tribe, the underlying foundation is one of mutual benefit for all those involved.
Jim says
i've been processing where God has led me and how I can lead my tribe effectively and intentionally rather than just doing. I've had some long conversations with my wife about a long-term digital strategy. The whole social media thing really just opened wide for me in terms of ministry in the past 4 months.