Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Part 5 covers sections: “How Was Your Day?,” “The Thermometer and the Thermostat,” “Your Micromovement,” “That Building Down the Street,” “Every Tribe Is a Media Channel,” “How to Be Wrong,” “The Timing of Leadership,” “The Reactionary Tribe,” “Possibility of Risk,” “When Tribes Replace What You’re Used To,” “Initiative,” “Stuck on Stupid,” “Mark Rovner, Nonprofit Heretic,” “The Posture of a Leader,” “Switching Tribes,” “Not Now, Not Yet,” “Understanding the Trick,” “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” “Criticizing Hope Is Easy,” The Naked Violinist,” “Writing Songs That Spread Love,” and “The X Prize.”

Godin spotlights passion as the purest motivator for work. Since he is passionate about his career, he does not mind checking emails at 4am while on vacation. He believes being happy makes change easier. Moreover, pure negativity is useless; it’s unhelpful to point out problems without taking action to fix them. To explain this idea, the author creates an analogy: When someone complains but doesn’t act, they’re like a thermometer; when a leader is engaged and does act, they’re like a thermostat. Thermometers only read the environment, while thermostats change the environment.

Godin asserts that every organization needs at least one thermostat. Movements come in all shapes and sizes; he gives credit to high-stakes humanistic movements like Tiananmen square and lower-stake and hobby movements like hand-roasted coffee in Brooklyn. The web allows anyone to initiate a cause with any amount of people. Tribes illuminates five steps to starting a movement: declare a clear and accessible doctrine (such as publishing a manifesto); establish a platform for tribe interaction; create an environment for members to communicate and coordinate; eschew profit-making schemes; and openly announce milestones the tribe can work toward. The book then marks important movement principles: transparency, vision, growth, relativity, exclusivity, and empowerment. The author also returns to his recurring theme that willingness to fail is crucial to eventually succeeding: “The Secret of being wrong isn’t to avoid being wrong! The secret is being willing to be wrong. The secret is being wrong isn’t fatal” (61). He lists noteworthy historical figures like Steve Jobs and Isaac Newton as people who were wrong about many beliefs.

Stagnant tribes do exist and work to resist change. These groups have systems of oppression and in-built fear. Suffocating rules overwhelm transformative principles while “[d]esire is defeated by fear, and the status quo calcifies, leading to the long slow death of the stalled organization” (60). Godin reemphasizes that leadership is the panacea to these ailments. Godin reintroduces Wikipedia as a tribe that may be facing stagnancy; the company’s board and volunteers want little to change about how things are done. In situations like this, when the majority is too powerful to persuade, Godin insists the individual strike out on their own instead of watching opportunities be squandered. Since the market is constantly in flux, the highest risk lies in playing it safe and remaining static as Wikipedia tried to do.

Some people opt for traditional business models because, they believe, the traditional model is cheaper and more expedient than forming and maintaining a tribe. However, the author believes the Internet changes this equation and that it is easier than ever to perform tribally—to avoid transaction costs without establishing cumbersome organizational systems. Many companies think they can survive through acquisitions to increase their size and overpower smaller getups; this leads to bloat and bureaucracy, while smaller more flexible groups remain agile.

Godin underlines a paradox: The organizations that could most benefit from innovation also most resist it. Doing business today with yesterday’s rules is ill-advised. These people aren’t incompetent, but their strategies are outdated. Godin introduces Mark Rovner, a man who debated the relevance of direct-mail fundraising for nonprofits (their main source of income). Innovation is a nonprofit’s last priority because the model relies on stability. He postulates the Internet helped save the dying model, not by making payment easier but by promoting engagement. Instead of doubling down on direct payments via the web, many organizations saw growth through platforming their members, volunteer interaction, and building cultural brands: “The timid leave a vacuum” (64), and even the smallest original ideas can fill that empty space.

It is a fallacy to blame an audience or tribe for the leader’s failure: “It’s really easy to blame the user/student/prospect/customer for not trying hard, for being too stupid to get it, or for not caring enough to pay attention” (67). Ultimately, the onus falls on the speaker, leader, or designer to maneuver their group through the difficulties of understanding, earning their enthusiasm and loyalty.

Members rarely switch tribes. “Switching teams” is not a common occurrence among sports fans, religious followers, or political activists. Godin believes the biggest source of new tribe members is among people seeking new things, not in a group’s most loyal core. These individuals are hesitant followers or vocal critics who may be searching for alternatives. As a leader garners this coalition’s attention, they will develop momentum and grow.

Godin warns readers against the danger of the phrase “not yet.” The benefits of innovation falter over time, so stalling change can have lethal effects. He remarks, “There’s a small price for being too early, but a huge penalty for being too late” (68). Pay-off scales with effort, and delay is innovation’s death knell.

Leadership is less of a recipe than an art: “The tactics of leadership are easy. The art is the difficult part” (69). Most people know how to lead, or they can learn. The author likens leadership to magic because it takes commitment and authenticity. Magic is not about the process of the trick; it’s about the art, the transcendent experience a performer brings to the participant—much like how an authentic leader affects a tribe. A leader must commit to their own magic, and this commitment requires hope. While part of what makes a leader successful is their hope, this hope and optimism alone do not achieve goals; they must be “matched with a concrete vision of the future and a way to get there” (69). Cynics will criticize leaders for their gusto because they themselves lack the hope and foresight to innovate.

Godin introduces Tasmin Little, a world-renowned violinist, who made her record free-to-listen online. Little spreads her love of classical music by putting on performances in towns, schools, and prisons. Her display of genuine love for the genre has concretized her following and ensures her success. Godin points to UNICEF’s attempts to educate Rwandan mothers about vaccination through print posters. However, with a 70% illiteracy rate, the group found that most of the population learned better through local songs. Godin cites this as an example of a tribe adapting to the communication method best fit for them rather than the way prescribed by top-down bureaucrats. A good leader will facilitate whatever medium their tribe embraces.

Peter Diamandis created the X Prize competition that offered $10 million to any team that could shoot a rocket one hundred kilometers into space twice in two weeks. However, the winning team spent more than $20 million dollars on their endeavor, and the competition bred new fields and garnered new interest for space flight. The accomplishment had little to do with a cash payout; X Prize generated momentum for people who had shared interests and subsequently established a tribe.