Tribes

I just finished Tribes by Seth Godin. It’s a quick and easy read, but inspirational and eye opening all the same. The underlying premise of the book is that human beings are created (although I doubt he used the world ‘created’) with a need for belonging, and we naturally attach ourselves to not one but many groups of people within which we find a sense of identity. He defines tribe as “a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.” While it seems at first glance that the book will revolve around this concept of tribes and our continued movement towards greater connectedness, the book is really about leadership and how we are in desperate need of people to emerge from the status quo and dare to lead.

Seth uses case studies and a number of great stories of visionary leaders who have dared to change things, and the less than obvious point that he highlights more than once is that true leadership often does not come from the top but rather from what he called ‘heretics’ from within that dare to challenge the status quo and drive change around them. He says that leaders have three common qualities: they motivate, connect, and leverage, three qualities that are rarely dependent upon a title or upon a role. According to Seth, the primary reason that so few leaders ever step up is fear. He asserts “ordinary people dream p remarkable stuff all the time – but they are too scared to do anything with it.”

I thought a lot after this quick read about ways to create an environment where new leaders feel safe to voice their ideas and where curiosity and growth can really flourish. My team is so small, so that seems like it should be an easy task, but I find it one of the mot difficult pieces of what I do currently. One of the final quotes that stood out to me says “when you hire amazing people and give them freedom, amazing things happen.” I think that is the balance I don’t quite know how to create just yet, but lots of great concepts and inspirational ideas to digest.