Seth Godin, Piatkus, USA, 2008
Summer months ask for light reads. I picked up Seth Godin‘s Tribes. 131 pages, big font, big spacing and the author’s provocative tone. It turns out Tribes is not as “light” as I expected.
“Tribes” is a book about groups of people and the people who inspire and lead them. It is a book about people dynamics and an anthem to the opportunities currently available to anyone who really wants to lead a movement.
“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea”, Godin says. And he adds that “[a] group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate” (p 1).
The book is called Tribes but could easily be called Leaders (not as catchy, though). In fact, the book is as much about the role and the profile of leaders as it is about the tribes they lead.
Curiosity, passion, generosity, faith and willingness to challenge the status quo are some of the characteristics of a leader.
The book is full of examples of people and organisations who lead tribes of passionate and committed people. Big or small, global or local, they can make a difference.
The book is easy to read. However, it makes us think and triggers many internal switches, unsettling us and daring us to lead movements for causes we truly believe in.
(Oh, after reading this book, I now have to go read The Age of Heretics by Art Kleiner – Amazon UK / USA, a book I’ve already started but that, unlikely this one, is not a light read.)
Tribes (Amazon UK / Amazon USA)
