Book SummaryTribes, by Seth Godin

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Tribes

Tribes by Seth Godin is a self-help book about how to create and lead your own tribe—a group of people who are connected by a leader and an idea. Godin contends that, thanks to the ability to connect easily via the internet, there’s never been a better time to build a tribe (or step up to lead an existing one).

An entrepreneur, as well as a world-renowned author and marketing guru, Godin is perhaps best-known for his book Purple Cow, about how to succeed in business by standing out from the crowd, rather than relying on traditional mass marketing strategies.

Much like Purple Cow, Tribes is about coming up with an exceptional idea, then spreading it to the right people in order to make your vision a reality.

This guide has three parts:

1. What tribes are, and why we need them
2. Why it’s the right time to lead your own tribe
3. How to lead a tribe effectively

In this guide, we’ll examine Godin’s theories about tribes—including where his ideas originated and any significant criticism of those ideas. We’ll also provide concrete, actionable advice for how to achieve what Godin suggests.

What Is a Tribe?

Godin defines a tribe as a group of people who share three important connections:

1. A connection to a leader
2. A connection to a belief
3. A connection to the rest of the group

He adds that tribes exist everywhere people come together, whether in-person or online. For example, a fan club is a tribe; so are the employees of a small business. In fact, it’s all but guaranteed that you personally are in a tribe, and most likely more than one.

The Tuckman Model of Group Formation

Godin goes into detail about what a tribe is, but he doesn’t really explain how they come about.

Educational psychologist Bruce Tuckman developed a four-step model to describe how people come together and form a cohesive group, such as a tribe. While Tuckman’s model is specifically about goal-focused teams (such as in a work environment), it also applies to Godin’s concept of tribes, which must form around a particular belief and vision for the future.

Tuckman’s four steps are:

• Forming. This is when people first come together (or are brought together) to create the new group. At this stage, the members of the group have little cohesion and need firm guidance from a leader.

• Storming. As the members become more comfortable within the group, there will naturally be conflicts among different personalities and ideas. At this stage, people are also frequently frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress toward the group’s objective. The leader must continue to provide guidance.

• Norming. The intra-group conflicts are (mostly) resolved; the members respect one another and the group leader. The leader can begin to step back and let the group run itself. However, be aware that the group may briefly revert to Storming when new people or tasks are introduced.

• Performing. At this point, the group is fully integrated and self-sufficient. Members understand one another’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the goal that they’re working toward. At this point, the leader should let go of the group’s day-to-day business to focus on preventing and solving problems as they come up.

Tuckman later added a fifth step: Adjourning. This step is when the group’s job is done and it’s time to disband. However, this fifth step does not apply to tribes, whose “jobs” have no clear endpoint.

Tribes Have Beliefs

Godin says that, at heart, tribes are about belief: belief in an idea and belief in a community.

It doesn’t matter what the belief is—believing that a particular sports team is the best is just as valid to tribe dynamics as believing in a religion or a social cause. What matters is that all members of the tribe share that belief.

Members of a tribe also believe that they belong with each other; that they’re connected by their shared interests. Godin points out that people have gathered into tribes since the earliest days of human history—previously for survival, and more recently for a sense of belonging.

Not only have humans formed tribes for survival since our earliest days, so have many other species throughout history. In The Selfish Gene, scientist Richard Dawkins explains that many different types of animals band together and help one another.

When it’s an issue of survival, animals tend to support those whom they’re most closely related to. However—since modern humans don’t generally need to worry about survival—we now tend to support those who share our ideas, rather than our genes.

In other words: Many species, including ours, are genetically wired to seek out and form tribes with each other.

Tribes Have Partisan Motivation

Tribes are partisan by nature: That is, they see themselves as an “in-group” and others as an “out-group.” Godin believes that partisanship is part of what motivates a tribe: The members feel special because they’re part of it, and others are not.

While the word partisan has negative connotations (especially in politics), it’s not inherently bad: Partisan groups have strong visions and specific goals that they’re eager to achieve. In other words, partisan groups are naturally motivated.

That motivation is what drives people of a tribe to come together, to share ideas, and to support each other in pursuit of their goal; even if that goal is only to celebrate a favorite sports team or TV show (for example).

If a tribe isn’t motivated, that’s because it’s not committed to a vision—in which case it’s not really a tribe at all.

Partisanship (in-group vs. out-group) is one of the oldest and most powerful motivators in human psychology: We have...

Shortform Exercise: Create a Vision

Every tribe begins with a leader’s vision, usually because that leader sees a problem and wants to solve it. Therefore, to create a tribe, you should first create a vision.

What’s something that bothers you? This could be a problem as serious and complex as global warming, or as trivial as not having people to discuss your favorite TV show with.

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Tribes

Tribes by Seth Godin is a self-help book about how to create and lead your own tribe—a group of people who are connected by a leader and an idea. Godin contends that, thanks to the ability to connect easily via the internet, there’s never been a better time to build a tribe (or step up to lead an existing one).

An entrepreneur, as well as a world-renowned author and marketing guru, Godin is perhaps best-known for his book _[Purple...

Tribes Summary What Is a Tribe?

Godin defines a tribe as a group of people who share three important connections:

1. A connection to a leader
2. A connection to a belief
3. A connection to the rest of the group

He adds that tribes exist everywhere people come together, whether in-person or online. For example, a fan club is a tribe; so are the employees of a small business. In fact, it’s all but guaranteed that you personally are in a tribe, and most likely more than one.

The Tuckman Model of Group Formation

Godin goes into detail about what a tribe is, but he doesn’t really explain how they come about.

Educational psychologist Bruce Tuckman developed a four-step model to describe how people come together and form a cohesive group, such as a tribe. While Tuckman’s model is specifically about goal-focused teams (such as in a work environment), it also applies to Godin’s concept of tribes, which must form around a particular belief and vision for the future.

Tuckman’s four steps are:

• Forming. This is when people first come together (or are brought together) to create the new group. At...

Tribes Summary Too Many Tribes; Not Enough Leaders

Godin contends that we need leaders today more than ever. In large part, that’s because there are currently more tribes than have ever existed before, thanks to the internet (as previously mentioned), which makes it easy to connect with others.

However, the leader shortage has a societal aspect as well as a technological one.

Acolytes and Apostates

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of people:

1. Acolytes: Those who follow others and do as they’re told.
2. Apostates: Those who break away from traditional teachings and beliefs.

Godin says that acolytes, by definition, can’t be leaders; they don’t create new ideas or build new tribes. Only apostates—people who push their own ideas against societal pressure—can lead real change.

Godin clarifies that you can be an apostate on a small or large scale. For example:

• You could have a new idea about how the company you work for should handle a daily task (small scale).
• You could walk away from modern society and found a commune in the wilderness (large scale).

In both cases, you’re leading the charge toward a new way of doing things—and you’ll need to recruit followers to turn your ideas...

Tribes Summary Become a Leader

Becoming a leader seems daunting; we’re often afraid to become apostates, or we think there’s some secret ingredient of leadership that we’re missing. However, Godin argues that all you need to become a leader is attitude and ability. In other words, if you believe in yourself and convince others to believe in you as well, then you’re a leader.

Godin points out that many of us hesitate because we think that we also need authority—in other words, we think that someone else has to give us the power or the “right” to lead. However, that misses the point: If you’re following someone else’s instructions, or waiting for permission, then you’re not leading.

Overcoming Low Self-Esteem

If you think you need someone else’s permission to become a leader, you may be suffering from low self-esteem. Norman Peale’s book The Power of Positive Thinking offers some advice on how to overcome self-defeating thoughts and boost your self-esteem:

• Find the root cause. Why do you feel inferior to other people? Perhaps you struggled in school, or you were constantly overshadowed by a...

Shortform Exercise: Create a Vision

Every tribe begins with a leader’s vision, usually because that leader sees a problem and wants to solve it. Therefore, to create a tribe, you should first create a vision.

What’s something that bothers you? This could be a problem as serious and complex as global warming, or as trivial as not having people to discuss your favorite TV show with.