Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us Reviews

• 
  Bonnie Grove

  It's been a long time since I've read such a book of nonsense. I'm about half-way in, and so far he has said absolutely nothing. I feel like I'm reading a George Lucas script - all sound-bites and no content.
  I'll save you the time and expense of buying this book. The message is this: Give your life over to a specific aspect of life, become the go-to person for that niche, be innovative in your use of the internet to spread the word about your masterfulness.
  I cannot for the life of be believe this book became the hot commodity that it is -- except for the fact that too many people are looking for an easy way to become well known.
  The book is drivel.
• 
  Greg Swierad

  It’s a good manifesto to stand up and become a leader. It has a few rules and principles on what is important to create a tribe, however, that could be written in just one article. This book lacks practical knowledge and stories. As I said, it’s like a manifesto and nothing more.
  My top 3 takeaways:
  * There are not many leaders because leading is uncomfortable. And this discomfort creates leverage that makes leadership worthwhile.
  * Don’t ask the world for permission to become a leader.
  * Being charismatic doesn’t make you a leader. Being a leader makes you charismatic.
  You can read the full summary of this book together with the main action points in the Books In Action app as well as here:
  https://www.mentorist.app/books/tribe...
• 
  Ron

  This book will make you want to go out and change the world.
  
  It's a powerful reminder that what we call "marketing" is really just doing something that you believe in passionately and then sharing that passion with other people, getting them to believe in you as well. There are all sorts of ideas and causes around which we might organize--but in order to do it, we need to be out there, making things happen because we refuse to live with the fear that we can't.
• 
  M

  So far, not too impressed. The author stays just on the surface and hasn't said anything new or thought-provoking (so far). It would be a better book if it were more focused and had depth, but it seems to be just a repackaging of what's already out there and trendy in the business/marketing world.
• 
  Lisa

  I read this with some colleagues at work and I didn't find it helpful. Godin writes in simplistic bite-size chunks that don't form a coherent whole. He is smart though. He has managed to create a successful book from a collection of tweets and short blog entries, padded with sections from his previous books.
• 
  Chloe

  I originally picked up this audiobook because the descriptions I had read of it made it sound as though it were the thematic follow-up to Malcolm Gladwell’s incredibly enjoyableThe Tipping Point. I was expecting a study on how like-minded people have a tendency to congregate and an analysis of how ideas can jump from one micro-group to another. I would have loved a book like that: thought-provoking, engaging, at times irritating, but a book that made me excited to talk about it with others.
  
  Instead, this book is just so much bullshit. Self help pap for the business class. “YOUR business needs YOU to LEAD them into the future. The ONLY thing holding you back from LEADING YOUR TRIBE is FEAR. Through your actions as a LEADER you attract a tribe that WANTS to follow you.” I’m sure somebody out there is paying $1200 for a weekend seminar hosted by this snake oil salesman of the digital age. He says nothing new or interesting but cloaks it in his own personal jargon (a sure sign that you are reading a self help book is the liberal use of phrases that the author thinks make him sound original but which do little but turn me off to the book) and examples of innovators within internet culture that have only the most tenuous of connections to the point that Godin is trying to make.
  
  It’s not even structured in an enjoyable way. Sentences are so short and so filled with buzz words and Godin’s lingo that they’re basically meaningless. Repeating a term again and again adds nothing to my comprehension of his point but makes me feel as though I’m reading a Dick and Jane primer. Sadly, this is what happens more often than not when bloggers try to stretch out into a book. Perhaps before LEADING his TRIBE, Godin should invest in some writing classes.
  
• 
  Marcus

  Aaaugh. What the shit?
  
  I've heard a lot of people talking about the concept of "Tribes" as it relates to this book, so I thought I'd go straight to the source and see what the fuss is about.
  
  Within the first few pages, Godin outlines what it means to form a tribe:
  - Be passionate about something
  - Use the internet to connect with people who are passionate about the same thing
  - Don't manage them. Managing is bad, mmkay? Managing is what the old style was about. This is a new and exciting world for leaders.
  - So lead them.
  - Now you are a hugely influential person who gets shit done.
  
  After laying that framework out, I expected the book to start going into more detail on each point. It doesn't. The book doesn't even have chapters. It reads like scrolling down a blog. It's just six million little half-page blurbs in seemingly random order. Nothing in one blurb ever leads to the next in any kind of logical manner.
  
  And almost every blurb makes the same half-points. Over and over again.
  
  For a while I felt like, "Okay, this is still the introduction. He's gearing up, then we're going to dig deep into these ideas, one by one." But by the time I gave up on page 40 no depth had been achieved. We were still skimming along the surface, repeating the same base concept over and over.
  
  To be clear, I'm not dismissing the idea of tribes as bad, I'm dismissing the book Tribes as bad. I like the core idea and I wanted to see it fully explored, not just bounced off a wall like a racquetball for a hundred and fifty pages.
• 
  William Aicher

  From the outset, I should make it clear that I only made it about a third of the way through Tribes before closing it for good. So, what follows is only based on what is in that first third of the book.
  
  Seth Godin's 'Tribes' is possibly the worst business-type book I've ever read. Basically it's nothing more than a large motivational speech to try to get people to become leaders. There's very little, if any, research presented in this book - and everything that is presented comes across as Godin's opinion or the conclusions he comes to on his own.
  
  He is right in that there is now more opportunity to be a leader than ever, especially with all the new tools that the common man is afforded in today's technological age. Where the failure lies, however, is in the assumption that everyone should be a leader. Leaders need followers, and the push for every one of us to be a leader would inevitably lead to a situation where nothing is done because each of us is only focused on our own agenda.
  
  The biggest flaw, however, is that if you truly are a leader you really shouldn't need this kind of "call-to-arms" to get you fired up - you already should be.
• 
  Amy

  Vague, repetitive, and cocky without the substance to back it up. Not bad ideas necessarily but the book alienated me.
• 
  Todd

  I'll tell you right up front that this is a book you'll dismiss or embrace. I'm fairly certain there is no middle ground here. What it comes down to is your willingness to believe you can lead and your acceptance that most folks are sheepwalking.
  
  Seth takes us through a perspective on what constitutes a leader and what leaders do. He explains from his point of view why companies large and small and the individuals within fight to maintain the status quo. But more than that, there are hit home examples of where this leads. You're recognize these. They might even be companies you know.
  
  Where this hits home for most folks though will be those of you in big industry and being cube warriors. You'll see yourself and others and your boss describe here. It's at that point you're likely to get a bit angry. You may even discard the book because it will be a conviction. Are you sheepwalking or can you break free and lead?
  
  But is there a big secret to be found in these pages? Perhaps not for some. It's real secret will be in how it causes you to reflect if you're ready to take charge of a tribe, join one, or continue to wait in fear.
  
  Note, if you've not enjoyed other Seth Godin books, this won't be for you either. If you enjoy his straight forward talk, then this is a must read.
• 
  Nura Yusof

  Am disappointed. This book sounded more like a self-help, ra-ra you-can-do-it diatribe than it is a how-to book.
  
  As usual, it's sprinkled with many anecdotes of little and unheard of people and companies , which as Godin asserts, are leaders in their own right. All of which helped make this book less boring, thankfully.
  
  I distrust any business book that doesn't have a content list or even index pages, not to mention bibliography list. Is this a sign of leadership or fiction?
  
  That the book is split into tiny sections throughout, with random (not entirely sure it's related) sub-topics, almost suggests lack of things to write from the author.
  
  This book, in my opinion, will never be a classic like Permission Marketing. I fear that Godin might turn the same like Trout/Ries, trying to squeeze out books every other year, each worse than before.
  
  Will I ever read another book from Godin? Sure. But if it's going to be one of those that seem to be written quickly to satisfy the book agents, just so the millions of fans can be taken advantage of, then it may be my last.
• 
  Molly

  Seth Godin is an inspiration to an entire generation of people, many of which spend a large portion of their day in front of a computer for both fun AND profit.
  
  This book Tribes, is the best book on leadership, social change and creating a movement that I have read.
  
  A book that SCREAMS to be highlighted and written in and talked about.
  
  Extremely short chapters that pack a punch, this is a must read for anyone with a burning desire for change who just needs the little push to get beyond the fear.
  
  Excellent work.
  I am now going to read it again and really start loving this book (by highlighting, post-it noting and writing all over it!)
• 
  JJ Khodadadi

  کتاب حجیم نیست اما با این حال مطالب تکراری زیادی داره
  همچنین متن کلی و بدون جزییات هست
• 
  Ken Schafer

  I have to say that I was very disappointed in this outing by Seth Godin. I've read most of his work since Permission Marketing and found this to be one of the weakest.
  
  The book is primarily a
  call to arms for those in larger organizations who fear taking the lead within those organizations. Very little of it is truly about "Tribes" and how they impact business which is what I thought I was getting.
• 
  Carol Merritt

  This was an interesting mix of self-help/motivational leadership stuff with a bit of insight about how tribes are now forming. I liked it best when Godin talked about the nature of how tribes interact,especially when he explained the difference between how things used to be and how they are now.
  
  The motivational cheerleading seemed a bit inauthentic. I mean, he would write things like "you should be leading..." and I would just think, How do you know? You don't know me.
• 
  Dan

  The author called it. Near the end, he says that some people will criticize this book for not being cohesive enough. I am that person. This was a series of paragraphs collected into one binding. Less a book, more a collection of really short essays. A few of the paragraphs were really good, but most were forgettable to me.
• 
  Jeanette

  Seth Godin in Tribes presents a different model for growing and marketing - inspiring movements rather than building organisations. He makes some good points - about finding your tribe (or niche), passion, connection, being proactive and engaged and, most of all, being prepared to take risks and keeping going despite the setbacks.
  
  As an indie (or hybrid) author, there are 'take-home' points that can apply - especially the ideas of that of building a tribe rather than a scatter-gun approach, and that connection is more important than numbers. Godin doesn't provide 'how-tos', rather he shares the concepts (repetitively even is a small book), and gives multiple potted case studies to prove his point. He uses a lot of religious terms (heretic, apostasy, faith, religion) - and sees 'faith' as a mind-set as important (rather than the content of faith), i.e. it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you do believe. I think who or what you place your faith does actually matter. If I ever go bungy jumping (not very likely), I want to be sure my faith is not misplaced either in the rope or the operators.
  
  I think if you come to this book expecting a sold 'how-to' you will be disappointed. If you need some inspiration or a different perspective at looking at things - then you may find it a worthwhile read, as I did.
  
• 
  Yousif Al Zeera

  Great stuff from Seth Godin. The significance of creating a tribe for any movement (and then connecting and progressing it).
• 
  Micah Elliott

  In the classic Godin style, more than anything this book is motivational, with an expected emphasis on embracing change and overcoming the F-word (Fear). But this time there's more to it (hence the multitude of tags) -- leadership! We have to assemble and lead a tribe, and "managing" isn't going to work. We must start movements, via motivation and connectivity. "The barriers to leadership have fallen," as the necessary tools are now readily available: blogs, search, RSS, social networks, GTD, progress trackers, etc.
  
  Short and sweet at 127 unstructured, linear entries, it's an assortment of advice, admonitions, case studies, experiments, quotations, and anecdotal stories, including a revision to the Peter Principle(!). I was compelled to compile my own glossary to aid in remembering all the rich metaphors. It includes: authentic generosity, balloon factories (and unicorns), charisma, criticism, curiosity (vs fundamentalism), heresy (vs status quo), faith (vs religion), remarkability (vs fear), leadership/empowerment (vs sheepwalking, vs participation, vs management), micromovement, passion (vs bureaucracy), reinvention (vs perfection), thermostat (vs thermometer), tribe (vs factory), yes/no (vs not yet) -- words which will now have a refreshed home in my vocabulary.
  
  Paraphrasing some of the most resonant excerpts:
  
  - Capitalize on a non-obvious moment/opportunity; get there first.
  - Recipe for starting a micromovement: manifesto, connectablity, money is not the point, track progress.
  - Persuasion: don't start with opposition, seek the uncommitted passionates.
  - Help your tribe sing, whatever form that song takes.
  - Elements of leadership: challenge status quo, create culture, be charismatic, communicate vision, connect.
  - "I started a newsletter..."
  
  I appreciate that Seth's content is not simply borrowed or extended from his blog, but enters fresh in his books. I should also mention that Seth's is about the only blog among my 200 subscriptions whose entries I will never skim over.
  
  Purple Cow and The Big Moo motivated me to quit my programming factory day job some months ago and pursue my dream of ending corporate life and starting my own business. Now Tribes has given me what I believe will be the perspective to lead a people, as Seth does. In fact, because I'm in Seth's exclusive tribe (exclusion is a key component of tribes), he sent me (and other members) a surprise free, advanced copy of the book. And now he'll sit back while his members write rave reviews about it and sneeze over the importance of tribes and leadership. That is remarkable.
• 
  Rosa

  I am a fan of Seth Godin, but this book annoyed me just as much as it entertained me.
  
  In short, Godin seeks to elevate leadership —and I applaud his ideas in that regard, however he does so at the expense of management, and he depreciates the worth of managers nearly every single time he mentions them. I understand the comparison he is trying to make, however please don’t buy in to that notion that we don’t need managers —he is dead wrong.
  
  I listened to this on audio first, and when I saw the hardcover in the bookstore I was very disappointed at the quick-publish/ quick-buck nature of it... no table of contents, no index, no front-matter or back-matter frills at all except the acknowledgement pages... the book is just a continuous discussion of his blog posts, edited together in some semblance of order.
  
  Within the acknowledgement, Godin is very honest about how he basically optimized the ideas of other people by writing Tribes - he had the best follow-up (my words not his) in picking up the ball and running with it, packaging this barely-a-book for the tribe he already has.
  
  Update: I wrote a longer review on my Talking Story blog, and it generated thoughtful comments from my Managing with Aloha tribe, the Ho‘ohana Community:
  
  http://www.talkingstory.org/2009/01/a...
• 
  Poonam

  This is second Seth Godin book I have read this year. It seems as repetitive and hollow as the previous one. In Linchpin, he said you are the one who can act as linchpin, a leader and bring about the change irrespective of your designation in the organization. All it needs is passion and courage. In Tribe, he repeats same thing, only with one additional fact, that you could lead a tribe. For example, Apple employees are a tribe, Grateful Dead is a tribe. Tribes are with three-way connection - Leader to tribe, tribe to leader and tribe members to each other. Tools like Meetup, Twitter, Facebook are always to help you do this. As always book is peppered with example, famous ones and iconic ones. But none of it in this book reaches out to you since this was just meant to be a 500 or 1000 word article and not an insipid book with repeats same thoughts over and over again.
  
  My advice: Don't bother.
• 
  Amy

  I have a friend who drank the Godin kool-aid and devotes his time trying to get others to drink it. I finally caved and checked out Tribes, which was featured on a list of Godin's "best works" and sounded interesting to me.
  
  This one's hard to review. If you like Godin's punchy style, you'll love this. If you're already a business-person doing marketing in the digital age (or you were in 2008), you'll get all the references he makes. He'll throw out a name or an idea without explaining it or backing it up in any way. You just have to trust that this guy, like a modern-day Solomon writing Proverbs, is spreading wisdom in chunky little soundbytes.
  
  I don't like his style. I took a few notes, mostly near the end when he starts organizing the ideas into practical lists. Otherwise, I'm still here trying to figure out why my friend loves Godin so much. It's like the guy has his own religion.
  
  This is a very small book, which seems to be a collection of 300-words-or-less blog posts that are thrown together in the order they were written. Some are about leadership, some are about innovation, some are about passion, some are about failure. Lots of pep talks. If you love Godin, you'll love it. If you're looking for an in-depth discussion into tribal leadership, then you should probably skip this one and just read
  Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization.
• 
  Gene Babon

  Leadership is in desperate demand, especially given the current uncertainty in our global economy. Seth Godin provides a call to action for anyone who wants to fill the void, regardless of your current station in life.
  
  The focus is on "tribes" which the author defines as a group of individuals who share a common interest along with a way to communicate with one another. Tribes need leadership. We all belong to multiple tribes. Pick one and lead. That is the author's call-to-action.
  
  I'm a fan of Seth Godin. Among his prior efforts I recommend Permission Marketing, Purple Cow and The Dip. This book adds to his considerable body of work, but falls short of prior efforts. The book reads like a rant, or one book-length run-on sentence. It is a small book and easy to read. However, even the author admits . . .
  
  

  You made it to the end. And it's possible you missed the checklists, the detailed how-to lists, and the For Dummies- style instruction manual that shows you exactly what to do to find a tribe and lead it.

  
  
  Yeah Seth, I did miss the checklists. I also missed the structure. Even though you appeared to e-mail this one in after one long weekend of stream-of-consciousness writing, I will keep following your work because you have a point of view that needs to be heard and acted upon.
  
  Readers looking for a more structured approach to leadership should check out Launching a Leadership Revolution.
• 
  Annix

  I normally don‘t rate any book this poorly because I can normally find something that I can take away from it. But in this case, it‘s just hot air, platitudes, and worn out phrases. I couldn‘t even finish it.
  Not everybody can or wants to be leader, nor should they. We don‘t need organizations where there are only leaders, you also need people who follow a leader and get inspired by him or her.
  I doubt that „the market wants me to be remarkable“ ... what does that even mean? ... I feel the author is simultaneously condescending (oh.. you‘re afraid of criticism) and inspiring (become a leader, do it!) while using buzzwords like „connections“, „initiative“ etc, and telling people not to be boring.
• 
  Scott Radtke

  While the book is small and in some ways lightweight, it also manages to be deeply engaging. In essence it's a rant to get you off your ass and do what you love to do and inspire others to follow. It's about true leadership, not about being a boss or a manager, but a leader.
• 
  Raíssa Santana

  A escrita do Seth Godin incomoda muito. O texto não apresenta uma sequência lógica que ajude o leitor a entender a ligação entre uma ideia e outra. De modo geral, o texto parece um apanhado de várias anotações soltas que alguém leu e pensou: "isso pode dar um livro!".
  
  Contudo, olhando para o conteúdo, que é o que importava para mim nessa leitura, o texto é bem interessante. Lembra um pouco uma palestra TED ou apenas uma conversa com alguém que está te dando um conselho. A simplicidade do livro é esquisita, mas só se considerarmos as expectativas que a gente tem quando nós lemos algo escrito por uma referência em marketing e negócios. A questão é que, para quem não é da área, essa mesma simplicidade é como uma mão que te conduz gentilmente por um caminho que você não conhece. Logo, ela é útil.
  
  Tendo em vista que a ideia era alcançar um grande número de leitores e que boa parte desses leitores é leiga, o livro cumpre o que promete: discutir a importância de desafiar as coisas como elas são quando acreditamos que elas não precisam ser assim para sempre.
  
  "A liderança tem a ver com criar uma mudança na qual você acredita."
  
  Nota geral: 3/5
• 
  Fotis Chatzinicolaou

  Αρκετή τροφή για σκέψη εδώ μέσα. Ο Seth δίνει την ανάλυσή του για τις φυλές και τους αρχηγούς που τις οδηγούν.
  
  Πέρα από την φαινομενικά χαώδης οργάνωση του βιβλίου (μπορείτε να το διαβάσετε από όποιο σημείο θέλετε) το βιβλίο προσπαθεί να εμπνεύσει τον αναγνώστη να αρχίσει να ηγείτε κάποιας φυλής.
  
  Αυτή η φυλή μπορεί να είναι αποτελείτε από τον οποιοδήποτε και να έχει σαν στόχο το οτιδήποτε. Υπάρχουν άτομα που περιμένουν κάποιον να τους βάλει σε μια σειρά και να κινηθούν μαζί προς κάποιον κοινό στόχο. Τα παραπάνω είναι σε γενικές γραμμές οι έννοιες της φυλής και του αρχηγού.
  
  Μερικά από τα αγαπημένα quotes στο βιβλίο
  
  People don’t believe what you tell them.
  They rarely believe what you show them.
  They often believe what their friends tell them.
  They always believe what they tell themselves.
  What leaders do: they give people stories they can tell themselves. Stories about the future and about change.
  
  
  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.
  
  
  The secret, Reagan’s secret, is to listen, to value what you hear, and then to make a decision even if it contradicts the very people you are listening to. Reagan impressed his advisers, his adversaries, and his voters by actively listening. People want to be sure you heard what they said—they’re less focused on whether or not you do what they said.
  
  
  So great leaders don’t try to please everyone. Great leaders don’t water down their message in order to make the tribe a bit bigger. Instead, they realize that a motivated, connected tribe in the midst of a movement is far more powerful than a larger group could ever be.
  
  
  The first thing a leader can focus on is the act of tightening the tribe.
  It’s tempting to make the tribe bigger, to get more members, to spread the word. This pales, however, when juxtaposed with the effects of a tighter tribe. A tribe that communicates more quickly, with alacrity and emotion, is a tribe that thrives.
  A tighter tribe is one that is more likely to hear its leader, and more likely still to coordinate action and ideas across the members of the tribe.
  
  
  We choose not to be remarkable because we’re worried about criticism. We hesitate to create innovative movies, launch new human resource initiatives, design a menu that makes diners take notice, or give an audacious sermon because we’re worried, deep down, that someone will hate it and call us on it.
  
  
  In a battle between two ideas, the best one doesn’t necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it.
  
  
  The marketplace has raised its voice. It’s now clear that we want novelty and style and, most of all, stuff that’s great. If you want us to follow you, don’t be boring.
  
  
  There’s a difference between telling people what to do and inciting a movement. The movement happens when people talk to one another, when ideas spread within the community, and most of all, when peer support leads people to do what they always knew was the right thing.
  Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate. They establish the foundation for people to make connections, as opposed to commanding people to follow them.
• 
  Nikoleta

  Значи, първо искам да кажа, че не я прочетох, за да бъда лидер. Не, не, в никакъв случай, просто харесвам Сет Годин като блогър и преди няколко години се подведох, че може би и книгите му са добри. И точно тук сбърках, защото Сет Годин не става за "маркетинг писател". Трябваше да прочета 4 негови книги, за да съм абсолютно убедена, че той повтаря едно и също и не, че не казва нищо, но да речем, че повече пали фойерверки, отколкото обогатява с твърди познания. Което е супер, когато списва блог, но не и когато продава издания с твърди корици. Форматът оправдава ли съдържанието?
  
  Писането на кратки форми обаче със сигурност му се отдава. Затова ще продължа да следя sethgodin.typepad.com и да препоръчвам "Малкото е новото голямо", която събира негови блог публикации и е върховна. И си оставам с добрите чувства, нали така, просто не на мене тия в книга. :)