1. We all belong. We all
want to belong. The
groups we belong to and
want to belong to are
called tribes. Every day
more and more tribes are
forming around new ideas
that want to change the
world and our place in it.
Tribes want to change the
status quo and to walk
out of the factory once
and for all. Seth Godin’s
Tribes is not a how to
manual as to join a tribe,
but more manifesto for
change. Godin believes
that the increasing num-
bers of tribes in our socie-
ty, connected more and
more efficiently through
tools, need leaders like
you. He is asking for your
help, in other words, to
create a movement by
leading a tribe of people.
This you can do by giving
to the tribe without asking
for anything in return.
The only currency that
Godin puts stock in is
change. He wants to help
as many people as he can
by being able to answer
the question “How was
your day?” with a better
answer than “fine.” If
your answer was fine you
may be stuck in an organ-
ization that is resisting
change. A factory trying
to keep the status quo
because it is safe, it pays
and it is there. But make
no mistake, the time is
now for safe to fade
away.
Summary
Clarifying Concepts
A tribe is a group of people
connected to one another,
connected to a leader, and
connected to an idea.
Godin says for millions of
years we humans have
belonged to one tribe or
another. One of our most
powerful ways of surviv-
ing is to contribute to a
tribe, a group of like-
minded people. He says
a group only needs two
things to be a tribe: a
shared interest and a way
to communicate. Concur-
rently, in his mind we be-
long not to just one tribe,
but to many. Belonging to
a tribe makes our lives bet-
ter. Leading, is best of all.
“Tribes are about faith
and belief in an idea and
in a community. And
they are grounded in re-
spect and admiration for
the leader of the tribe and
for the other members as
well”( p.9). Tribes need
leaders, and leaders help
increase the effectiveness
of the tribe by transform-
ing the shared interest
into a passionate goal and
desire for change, provid-
ing tools to allow mem-
bers to tighten their com-
munications and leverag-
ing the tribe to allow it to
grow and gain new mem-
bers (p.25). Godin is
very specific with his
‘elements of leadership’
for what is required to
lead a tribe, but he
doesn’t believe their were
traits we are born with,
but learned behavior.
Tribes: We Need You to Lead UsTribes: We Need You to Lead UsTribes: We Need You to Lead Us
Executive Brief by Chris JamesExecutive Brief by Chris JamesExecutive Brief by Chris James
TRIBES:
 Clarifying
Concepts
p.1
 Key
Messages of
Tribes p.2
 Tribal
Leaders p. 3-
5
 Tribal Tools
p.6
 Communica-
tion p. 6
 Leadership
Elements p.7
 Thesis p.7
 Analysis p.8
Pictured here, Seth Godin believes
that now is the time for you to start a
movement by leading a tribe. He is
the author of 18 books , and writes
about the post-industrial revolution,
the way ideas spread, marketing,
leadership and changing everything.
WE NEED YOU NOW!
November 2015 TRIBES by Seth Godin

2. If your answer is “FINE” than you should start thinking about that, according to our author. Life is too short to suf-
fer through mediocrity and fear. To say fine means you were probably not enjoying your time today changing the
world around you.
TRIBES KEY MESSAGES
The Factory
The Heretics
Page 2Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
Seth Godin explores some of the basic motivations people have in tribes and outside of tribes. Fear, Faith and Reli-
gion are examined. The F word, FEAR, is, according to the author, the reason people are stuck in the status quo
existence of the factory. The fear of upsetting people with a new idea, or getting criticisms in the feedback of its
pitch stops a lot of people of doing much of anything at all. The only thing holding you back from transforming into a
person who affects societal change is lack of faith. Godin claims faith is what separates us from all other species
and is what helped our ancestors mentally deal with the mysteries of their world. Faith and religion often get mixed
together ideologically. Faith is necessary for innovation. Religion constructs a strict set of rules and lays in on top
of our faith. Religion supports the status quo, enabling everyone to fit in.
Godin describes the “factory” as any organization or company that produces a product or service trying to out-
put more and reduce costs over time. It is any occupation where someone is telling you what to do. Godin has
made a career analyzing our post industrial world and it shows as the idea of the factory is central here. The
factory is safe because it is steady work, it pays and there are no surprises. Godin cites Dan Pink book Free
Agent Nation, about the future of working for yourself, while discussing the fact that organizations don’t need to
be factories anymore. In future organizations, he foresees a smart multidimensional workforce on missions
fueled by ideas. That requires leadership, and you only find those amongst the heretics. Godin says three
things have happened simultaneously that benefits his thesis. A lot of individuals are beginning to realize that
spending your time working on something you believe in is a lot more fun. The factory system does not yield
the profits it once did. Finally, consumers have decided to spend money on stories and ideas they believe in.
How was your day?
Heresy was a main justification for the Inquisition, as any non-Catholics were seen as a threat, and any thought,
like Galileo’s that the Earth was not at the center of the universe, if declared contrary to Holy Scripture was at-
tacked. However, movements like the Cathar heresy movement still managed to spread through their belief. Defi-
nition wise, nothing much has changed. Godin defines heretics as true believers, who have constructed a clear
plan to implement their vision of how to change the status quo. When a heretic’s ideas, plan and vision are inter-
esting and new enough, tribes start forming, following and contributing. They are energized because they are not
leading a movement to profitability, but to change and that is fun.
Faith
Marketing
Another topic in Godin’s wheelhouse is how marketing changed everything when it came to individuals and ideas.
Godin believes that marketing creates leverage for your tribe, changed the status quo and freed the tribe. It is
simply the act of telling stories about the things we make. Marketing used to be about advertising, but today it
is about interaction with the tribe and creating the stories told to spread. Blake Mycoskie’s TOMS organization is
a perfect example of storytelling ideas that spread. If someone asks you about the pair of shoes you are wearing
you are enabled to retell Blake’s story and spread his ideas. You are a member of a tribe. You communicate.

3. Joel Spolsky is Changing the World
Even though Joel runs a small software company in New York City, he has changed
the way many smart people think about finding, hiring and managing program-
mers. He has assembled a large and influential tribe of people. His passion is talk-
ing about how to run a small software company.
Jacqueline Novogratz is the Chief Executive Officer at the Acumen Fund. This or-
ganization states that it is changing the way the world tackles poverty. She chal-
lenges people in different countries to join a movement. Godin states that Jacquel-
ine is changing the nature of philanthropy and has amassed a tribe of essential sup-
porting characters who rely on her for direction and motivation. Godin calls No-
vogratz a hero, someone who teaches him through her actions. She goes to work
every day and tries to change the world for the better. For Seth Godin, she molds
the paradigm for what a leader should be.
TRIBAL LEADERS
Tribes Used to Be Local
Long Strange Trip
Do you know what 2-14-70 means? If you do you are proba-
bly a Dead Head and therefore should be able to participate in
the secret seven second handshake that exemplifies an insid-
er status in the tribe. Godin tells us that The Grateful dead
not only changed the musical industry, but every industry be-
cause they showed us how tribes intercommunicate.
Page 3Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
“I believe that we have a
chance to build a world
in which all human be-
ings can live with digni-
ty, freedom and choice.
It starts with imagining
that world and then
working together.”
How Was That Syrah?
Gary Vaynerchuk is another of Godin’s examples of tribal leadership for all the
right reasons. Gary runs http://tv.winelibrary.com/ through sheer generosity.
He doesn’t market to his audience, but rather provides a service to help people
discover new wines and understand the wines they love better. Godin uses
Vaynerchuk as an example of someone who accesses available information
about wine thorugh new techniques and a new medium.
“What motivates this revolution, you ask? Our movement
seeks to break down the barriers, stereotypes, and misper-
ceptions that otherwise prevent people from exploring and
enjoying the exciting and rewarding world of wine. “

4. The Tribe Inside
At the time of writing the book, Mich Mathews was the senior vice president of Mi-
crosoft’s Central Marketing Group. This is an example in the book of someone who
leads from inside a much more obvious entity. But her tribe at the time included
thousands of people inside the company who followed her everywhere. Inside a
tribe or from outside, Godin constantly reminds us the possibilities to lead tribes
The two Nobel Prize winners here, Muhammad Yunus and Al Gore are both behind
movements. Yunus’ movement is microfinance as a tool to fight poverty. Gore’s
movement intends to recognize and stem global warming. Their movements can hap-
pen when ideas speak within the community when people talk to one another. Great
tribal leaders are those who encourage the members of the tribe to communicate.
Skype spread around the world because the cofounders understood that going up
against the phone companies was too ambitious a goal so he empowered the tribe to
connect, to empower, to spread the word and incite a movement.
TRIBAL LEADERS
What Does it Take to Create a Movement?
Making a Ruckus
.
Page 4Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
Wikipedia
Godin looks at the car markets and reasons that people didn't want to buy a
car that may disappear in the near future. If you want to grow, he says, find
customers who are eager to join, believe in, donate to or support you. Both
the Tesla Roadster and the Prius Hybrid by Toyota have created tribes filled
with enthusiastic people that turned their interest of pursuing cleaner alterna-
tives to travel into a movement. Incredible from an industry that practically
invented the status quo, most definitely the factory as we know it.
Godin tells us that the way Jimmy Wales
build his tribe is instructive. He assembled
a relatively small group of people to con-
tribute to the articles and then he connect-
ed them to each other with technology that
continually evolved, making it easier for
them to communicate.Motivate. Connect. Leverage

5. CASE STUDY: NO KILL
Nathan Winograd is a hero to Seth Godin and maybe should be to any humane
individual out there. Without any authority, without any tribe or support he single
handedly changed how major cities treat millions of dogs and cats. Faced with a
90% destruction rate, some within only 24 hours of being picked up off the street,
Nathan, led by his mentor Richard Avanzino, had enough of the cruelty and set out
to have every animal at his shelter adopted. At the time of his San Francisco work
the SPCA started spaying and neutering animals before they were adopted, built a
foster home program and even went door to door. He would not compromise his
principles and built a tribe because of it. He repeated his success in many other
cities in the U.S. Nathan is a fine example of leading by creating a culture around
his goals.
TRIBAL LEADERS
POSITIVE DEVIANTS
INITIATIVE
Barbara Barry, the famous furniture designer was looking for partners in manufac-
turing for her very first line of sofas. She made a huge wholesale order of the fab-
ric that one manufacturer loved to use on their own furniture. She then rented an
office space big enough to convert into a showroom, designed and and had built
some amazing looking furniture done up in the m perspective manufacturing part-
ner’s fabric of choice. When the executives showed up for what they though would
be a routine sales pitch, they were presented with finished pieces, hand sewn, with
their company’s logo embedded in their favourite fabrics. It changed the rules
people did pitches.
Page 5Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
Jerry Sternin’s life work was to help people. When he went to Vietnam to
help starving children he did not import tactics that he knew would work or
techniques he was sure could make a difference. He talked to the few families
who weren’t starving and the mothers in the community who were doing much
better than their contemporaries. He then formed a tribe by ensuring that
those mothers and families could easily share insights with the rest of the com-
munity.
SHOULD THEY BUILD A STATUE OF YOU?
David Chang, chef; Pema Chodron, Buddhist nun; Nancy Pearl, librarian; Meghan
McDonald, coach; Steve Jobs, founder; Chris Sharma, rock climber; John Zogby, poll-
ster; Ronald Reagan, listener; Tasmin Little, violinist; Peter Diamandis, space flight;
and the list goes on.

6. Marketing is a major thematic activity flow-
ing through Tribes. Godin describes two
kinds of marketing: the first, that spreads
the word, allowing tribes to form, and the
second (which he is more interested in)
which is the phenomenon of tightening or-
ganizations through intercommunication,
spreading the word of the goals or ideas
within the tribe. The members of the tribe
can discuss more easily and therefore deci-
sions are made more quickly. The internet
has provided a set of tools for any leader to
tighten and strengthen their tribe. Twitter
can reach thousands of people with short
messages, Facebook constructs a social
graph, illuminating the hidden world of tribes
and Basecamp is a deliberate construct, per-
fect for managing projects and tracking
work, so that the entire tribe within is aware
of progress and momentum.
You will notice that the green tribe on the left is much tighter than the one on the right. Leaders help increase
the effectiveness of the tribe by:
 Transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and a desire for change
 Providing tools to allow members to tighten their communications
 Leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members
TRIBAL TOOLS: TACTICS FOR TIGHTNESS
A tribe has transformed from merely
being a group because of a shared in-
terest, and a way to communicate. The
communication can be one of four
kinds:
 Leader to tribe
 Tribe to leader
 Tribe member to tribe member
 Tribe member to outsider
TRIBES by Seth Godin Page 6
Fundamental Structure of Tribal Communication

7. His thesis is this: that
now for the first time in
history everyone in an
organization is expected
to lead. It is easier now
to change things and
people have more lever-
age than ever before
because of the structure
of new workplaces. The
marketplace awards
people who change
things for the better so
it becomes both fun and
profitable to lead a tribe.
There are people just
waiting to connect to
you and have you help
them connect to each
Mr. Godin puts it quite
simply. There are tribes
everywhere now. Every
one of these tribes
needs leadership and
needs connection. This
is the reader’s oppor-
tunity– your opportunity
right now. Media chan-
nels are exploding and
accessibility to those
channels is increasingly
simplified for everyone.
That means everyone
can be influential, a po-
tential leader. Before he
states his thesis, Godin
asks if you believe in
what you are doing eve-
ry day.
other. The leadership
aspect of Godin’s thesis
can be seen as the most
nerve wracking one,
because as he sees it,
we have been condi-
tioned to avoid leader-
ship in our society. But
we are in luck today,
because you don’t have
to have the perfect job
or exist in the right or-
ganization to start lead-
ing a tribe right now.
WHAT IS SETH GODIN’S THESIS?
Seth Godin’s Elements of Leadership
Leaders Challenge the status quo
Leaders create a culture around their goal and involve oth-
ers 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 decision.
Leaders connect their followers to one another.

8. Analysis
Seth Godin’s book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us is not a how-to manual on forming tribes, leading them,
connecting them or marketing your idea, nor does it every claim to be. There are steps or suggestions in the
book how to make change for yourself, in your life, but these unpack as generalizations such as overcoming
fears, keeping your faith, and exhibiting leadership characteristics all supported with episodic features giving
examples of tribal leaders who have had success with change. However, because the general advice and hero
stories are shuffled in an unkempt organizational structure it is difficult to sort out how this is a better plan of
action than ours. He is absolutely correct that the technology available to connect to like-minded people to
connect ideas is always expanding, with other choices burning out and blowing away.
He is clear about his intentions, however. This book is not a manual but more of a manifesto, a rallying cry, for
people like you to go out and start a movement right now that makes things better for the world and hopefully in
the process you can see how easily it is to connect your ideas of a better world, whatever that may be, with peo-
ple who have been thinking the same thing as you, but perhaps weren’t motivated enough. Perhaps the fear that
immobilizes us that Godin talks about, the one that challenges our faith, is easier to bear when you have like
minded friends connected around you in support.
Within the framework of the Psychodynamic Approach to Leadership, we perceive leadership having to do with
human behavior. “Leadership is about the way people behave in organizations, and effective leaders are those
who meet the needs of their followers, pay careful attention to group processes, calm anxieties and arouse hopes
and aspirations, and how to liberate human energy and inspire people to positive action” (Northouse, 2015).
Godin’s leadership elements are the benefit of observing dynamics within groups and between leaders and follow-
ers. Liberation from the factory mindset is essential for the changes Godin is talking about. To assuage fear from
a psychologically constructed negativity of feedback and critique is crucial to leading.
References
Godin, S. (2008) Tribes: we need you to lead us, New York: Portfolio
Northouse, P.G. (2016) Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th Ed.) SAGE Publications, Inc.