13 January 2010

Book Review: "Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us"


It's as Seth Godin states in Tribes, "The only thing that makes people and organizations great is their willingness to be not great along the way. The desire to fail on the way to reaching a bigger goal is the untold secret of success," (page 108). Is failing really that big of a deal????
Essentially, Tribes is a new spin on a common business topic, leadership. The book incorporates ways to use newly developed technology to gain better leverage.
Points to consider:
  • "Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of tribes, who create movements….By challenging the status quo, a cadre of heretics is discovering that one person, just one, can make a huge difference,” (page 11).
  • “Too many organizations care about numbers, not fans….What they’re missing is the depth of commitment and interconnection that true fans deliver,” (page 33).
  • “Whatever the status quo is, changing it gives you the opportunity to be remarkable,” (page 35).
  • "You don't have enough time to be both unhappy and mediocre," (page 101).
  • “Change almost never fails because it’s too early. It almost always fails because it’s too late,” (page 119).
  • “The tactics of leadership are easy. The art (of execution) is the difficult part,” (page 121).
  • “Hope without a strategy doesn’t generate leadership,” (page 122).
In summary, I enjoyed Godin's offerings. He boils it down simply and realistically. So why not get out there, find your passion, and lead your own tribe??? It's time to get happy, be productive and make a difference (if nothing else to your own life).
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P.S. We should not be afraid to make mistakes as it is part of the learning curve. The Economist also points to the same phenomena of failure of businesses within the U.S. with its "enlightened attitude to corporate bankruptcy is designed to put economic resources back to productive use as quickly as possible....America’s generosity to capitalism’s losers has served it remarkably well.... It has also helped provide America with its entrepreneurial edge," per the article "Making a Success of Failure."
The message: don’t be afraid to fail.

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