Chapter 1 - HR Matters
IN THIS LESSON
Building a “Tribe” to Make You Better
Whether it’s being part of a family, a circle of friends, a neighbourhood, an organization, a country, or even a monthly book club, humans have this innate need to belong. Since we’re all part of communities ourselves in one way or another, there should be no doubt in the power this sense of belonging has, especially when it comes to building a company.
In his book, Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us, famed marketer Seth Godin highlights the power of tribes, how anyone could (and should) be a leader, and what it takes to create a movement. Although this is a book all entrepreneurs and founders should read in its entirely, below is a summary of its main lessons on the fusion of leadership, creating movements, and marketing based on word of mouth.
1. Yes, You Can Create and Lead a Tribe
Human beings have gathered in tribes for millions of years, but the dawn of the Internet era allows tribes to form and coordinate more easily than ever. Do you band with others based on your hobbies, professional interests, political persuasion, community projects or technical vision? If so, you have joined various tribes. Tribes can be large or small, but each one must focus on a purpose. Successful tribes have passionate, committed leaders who serve the tribe before they think of themselves. Each member provides an aspect of tribal leadership, which centres far more on vision than on mere business management. By definition, “a tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader and connected to an idea.” To become a tribe, people need only “a shared interest and a way to communicate.”
As Godin explains, “Every tribe is different. Every leader is different. The very nature of leadership is that you’re not doing what’s been done before. If you were, you’d be following, not leading.” Use your passion to contribute. Become a leader who improves the world by leading a tribe that can implement and spread your vision. This far-from-perfect world needs your help and so does your tribe. Step forward.
2. Creating Your Movement
Membership in the tribe you lead is voluntary. If you rule like a monarch, you may find yourself sitting on the throne of an empty kingdom. Too many tribal leaders think they should create stable organizations, but the tribe’s very existence is an argument against the status quo. Tribal membership should be dynamic, partisan, and noisy.
Use all the levels of communication available in your tribe.
Listen to your members and show them that you respect them.
To improve and expand your tribe, communicate in four directions: “leader to tribe, tribe to leader, tribe member to tribe member” and “tribe member to outsiders.” If your tribe pursues a goal, your attitude as a leader matters a lot more than another person’s sense of authority or greater number of followers. Because a tribe without a leader is just a crowd, be willing to lead and turn the members of the crowd around you into your tribe using this three-element program:
Share a story that embodies the vision of what your tribe is going to create.
Create a strong connection between the tribe’s leadership and its members.
Define a goal, preferably one without limits.
Create a tribe of true fans, advocates who are passionate about what you want to accomplish and eager for you to be remarkable. Just as you’d use a crowbar for leverage, lean on your growing fan base for support. Social media, such as Facebook, can provide a powerful force for increasing your tribe.
3. Why Being a Large-Scale Business Can Be a Disadvantage
People can adopt an improvement and make it a new standard with alarming speed. Yet, just as quickly, an improvement that once was a step forward can become average practice. Managers are often content with ordinary practices; they may try to keep everything stable because that’s how they are winning the current business battle. Competitively, you can use your tribe to destabilize the situation and make the regular standard seem mediocre.
Common wisdom once said that manufacturers needed big factories to work on a large scale, lower their costs and produce large volumes of high-demand products. Now, niche products make an old-style factory seem like an anchor around a company’s neck, and manufacturers are jettisoning workers by the tens of thousands. Tribes give you a platform to use flexible “free agents” – clever people who leave large organizations to venture out on their own, avoid most fixed costs, and create and sell innovative goods.
4. Have No Fear
Many people have inspiring ideas but never act on them because fear of failure, ridicule, and mistakes paralyzes their will. It is as if they are waiting for approval from some non-existent central authority. Don’t let fear paralyze you. Create a plan of action and follow it, energized by the belief that the world not only wants your ideas, but longs for the change they will bring. Work with your tribe to combine vision and action.
Godin reminds that “New tools and technologies…are transforming what it means to think of tribal communication. Smart leaders are grabbing those tools and putting them to work.”
It’s in bureaucracies to promote people until they climb to their “level of incompetence.” However, people stop excelling when they reach a level where “fear immobilizes them.” Know your fear and manage it rather than denying it. Failing isn’t a mortal danger. Pursue the idea you and your tribe love. You’ll make a difference. Delight in your fans. Don’t heed your critics. If they call you a heretic, take it as a compliment.
5. Build Your Tribe Tighter, Not Bigger
Steve Jobs has always wanted his Apple products to have passionate fans. He did not target a mass market that would buy his stuff like sausages. He wanted tribe members to tune in, wait in line to be the first to purchase his gear, and engage their friends in conversations about it. Jobs strove to build a “tight” tribe—one that listens to its leader and coordinates well—rather than a large tribe.
Tighten your tribe by spreading the word on social media Internet sites and setting up a tribal website and blog. You will soon attract disciples. The web gives everyone expansive marketing and communication tools. Don’t feel uncomfortable about using those tools to lead. Keep your tribe organized and focused on its vision. Allow others to lead in various areas. Watch for the danger of people becoming satisfied with the status quo. Never mistake showing up and sitting in the big chair for leadership.
6. Leadership, Religion, and Faith
Beware of developing core doctrines and creating a tribal religion. Dogma can stifle needed change, but faith supplies deep energy for tribes and leaders. Feel free to lead your tribe to a new creed that does a better job of embodying its living faith, but don’t confuse rules, even if they’ve taken on the heft of religion, with faith. Embrace your heretics— those who threaten the status quo and won’t compromise their vision—more than your orthodoxies. Have faith in yourself, your vision, your tribe, and your leadership.
When you try to maintain the status quo, a competitor who changes the rules can leave you undone. Take the initiative. Change the rules to suit what you want to do tomorrow. Do not expect new business models to be as simple, integrated, or clean as the old ones. They are works in progress, with lots of people trying new ideas and many new players emerging. Beware of “sleepwalkers,” timid, obedient folks who are comfy in large, rigid environments. They can’t help you create new ideas or solve today’s problems. You need a thermostat to set your industry’s next temperature, not a thermometer that just reveals what the temperature is now.
7. Why You Rarely See Real Revolutions on TV
Make it easy for people to find and join your cause, and to communicate with each other. Measure your real-world progress in creating your vision. Don’t get “stuck on stupid” by operating in a bygone world. If you find that your tribe has grown away from what really matters to you, find, or start a new tribe. Public attention tends to focus on the well-known or the cleverly promoted, but real revolutions happen instantly, out of sight, before anyone suspects that a deep, permanent change has occurred. This happens in part because revolutions are more likely to occur from the bottom up than from the top down.
As your tribe grows, don’t throw away tomorrow to get something today. Be thankful for opposition because overcoming it teaches you how to build your movement. Be clear about which people and passions are part of your tribe, and which are extraneous. Distinguish between the results of real-world events and difficulties that emerge due to your own errors. Even the greats make mistakes. Jobs bombed with the Apple III and the NeXT computer, yet they became the seeds of his triumphs.
8. Reject Cynicism
Too many people excuse inaction by adopting a cynical attitude about making a difference. Cynicism deadens hope. It is a cheap, ineffective strategy for getting things done.
Godin points out “There’s no record of Martin Luther King Jr. or Gandhi whining about credit. Credit isn’t the point. Change is.” Charisma is not inborn. You can choose to be charismatic, but that alone will not make you a leader. Charisma is a tool. Many effective leaders have worked through their fear of public speaking. They put their goals first and found the strength to do what was needed, rather than settling for something less and indulging their fears.
9. The Time Is Now. The Person Is You.
While people like to believe in overnight success, even the best ideas can take time to succeed. You and your tribe must persist, holding tenaciously to your vision. Some people expect to win before they invest anything and seem surprised when they accomplish nothing. Try to remain positive in the face of overwhelming evidence that you will fail. Insist on excellence when everyone else is content to settle for mediocrity. See your vision as not just an opportunity, but also as an obligation to yourself, your tribe, and your society. Share the credit for your successes. In fact, give the credit away and take satisfaction in the tribe’s success.
Your power lies in creating stories that people adopt as their own and tell each other as if they had created them. What is the evidence that you are a leader? It is your decision to become one and your willingness to act on that decision. Don’t wait for the perfect moment; it will never come. Go lead your tribe now because they need you. Change the world because it needs you, too.