The tribes we lead - Seth Godin
Summary
TLDRIn this talk, the speaker explores the concept of leading change by creating and spreading ideas through tribes, rather than relying on traditional methods like factories or mass media. He discusses the evolution from the factory cycle to the TV era, and finally to the current tribe-based model, exemplified by individuals like Nathan Winograd who transformed animal shelters. The speaker emphasizes the importance of challenging the status quo, building a culture, and connecting people to create movements that drive meaningful change.
Takeaways
- 🎭 The speaker humorously starts by mentioning unusual invitations to speak at events, setting a light-hearted tone.
- 🤔 The talk delves into the introspective question of what the audience's profession is, highlighting the desire for change and improvement in various fields.
- 🐾 The story of Nathan Winograd from the San Francisco SPCA is used as a case study to illustrate the power of an individual to create significant societal change.
- 🏙 The concept of 'no-kill' cities for animals is introduced, showcasing how a determined individual can transform community norms.
- 🌟 The speaker emphasizes the importance of creating, spreading, and implementing ideas as a key aspect of leadership in various domains.
- 🏭 The 'factory cycle' is described as an outdated model of change, highlighting the shift from industrial to more modern methods of influencing society.
- 📺 The 'TV cycle' is critiqued for its reliance on mass marketing and the diminishing effectiveness of this approach in the current media landscape.
- 🔗 The 'tribes' concept is introduced as a modern model of leadership, where connection and community are more powerful than traditional methods of influence.
- 🌐 The internet is recognized for enabling the formation of tribes and the spread of ideas, challenging the notion that it would lead to homogenization.
- 🚀 The talk concludes with a call to action, urging the audience to embrace their potential to lead and create movements for change.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the talk?
-The main theme of the talk is the power of individuals and communities to create change by challenging the status quo and leading movements.
Why did the speaker mention people who dress up in big stuffed animal costumes and those who make balloon animals?
-The speaker mentioned these groups to illustrate that they know their roles and what they do for a living, which contrasts with the broader question of what the audience does and how they contribute to change.
What is the significance of Nathan Winograd's story in the talk?
-Nathan Winograd's story is significant because it demonstrates how a determined individual can challenge the status quo and create a movement, in his case, to make San Francisco a no-kill city for animals.
What does the speaker mean by 'tribes' in the context of the talk?
-In the context of the talk, 'tribes' refers to groups of people who share a common interest or passion and are connected by that, which can lead to significant social change when mobilized.
How does the speaker describe the shift from the 'factory cycle' to the 'TV idea' and then to 'tribes'?
-The speaker describes the shift as a progression from relying on factories for mass production and change, to using mass media and advertising to push ideas, and finally to leading and connecting people through tribes to create movements.
What is the role of the internet in the formation of tribes according to the speaker?
-The speaker suggests that the internet has allowed for the creation of silos of interest, enabling people with niche interests to find and connect with each other, thus forming tribes.
Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of challenging the status quo?
-The speaker emphasizes challenging the status quo because it is a necessary first step in creating change and leading movements that can transform society.
What is the significance of the light bulb being smashed at a Jewish wedding mentioned in the talk?
-The smashed light bulb at a Jewish wedding symbolizes a change from before to after, which the speaker uses as a metaphor for the key moments of change in the way ideas are created and spread.
How does the speaker define leadership in the context of creating change?
-In the context of creating change, the speaker defines leadership as the ability to connect people and ideas, challenge the status quo, and inspire a tribe to move towards a common goal.
What advice does the speaker give to the audience regarding creating a movement?
-The speaker advises the audience to identify something worth changing, assemble a tribe around that idea, and lead them to create a movement that can effect significant change.
Outlines
🎭 The Unique Professions and the Quest for Change
The speaker begins by humorously recounting invitations to speak at unconventional events, such as for mascot performers and balloon animal creators, noting the clear understanding these professionals have about their roles. This segues into a reflection on the audience's own professions, questioning what they do and how they perceive their impact. The speaker suggests that the audience's work involves seeking to change elements of the status quo, aiming for significant and lasting improvements. The narrative then shifts to the story of Nathan Winograd, who revolutionized animal welfare by transforming San Francisco into a no-kill city, demonstrating the power of community engagement and passion over professional expertise alone.
🏭 From Factory to Tribes: Evolution of Leadership and Change
The speaker discusses the evolution of how change is brought about, starting with the industrial model where efficiency in factories led to significant societal changes. However, with the depletion of cheap labor and rapid technological advancements, this model faces challenges. The speaker then contrasts this with the mass marketing approach, which relied on advertising and a one-to-many communication style, but has also lost its effectiveness. The new paradigm introduced is the concept of 'tribes,' where like-minded individuals form communities around shared interests or passions. The internet has facilitated the formation of these tribes, enabling niche groups to connect and potentially drive change. The speaker emphasizes that it's not about forcing change but about connecting with those who are already eager to embrace it.
🚀 Leading by Connecting: The Power of Tribes in Movement Building
This section delves into the concept of 'tribes' as a driving force for change. The speaker illustrates how various leaders, from Bob Marley to Al Gore, have leveraged the power of tribes to lead movements, not by creating new desires but by connecting with existing ones. The speaker suggests that the key to leading a tribe is not charisma but the ability to challenge the status quo, build a culture, and connect people. Examples are given, such as CD Baby for independent musicians and Toms Shoes, which gives a pair to those in need for every pair sold. The speaker encourages the audience to consider their potential to lead by identifying a cause worth rallying around and assembling a tribe to amplify that cause.
🌟 The Call to Leadership: Challenging, Connecting, and Committing
The final paragraph emphasizes the qualities of effective leaders: challenging the status quo, building a culture, and connecting people. The speaker argues that charisma is not a prerequisite for leadership but a byproduct of it. Leaders are characterized by their commitment to the cause and the tribe they lead. The speaker concludes with a call to action, encouraging the audience to create a movement within 24 hours, underscoring the urgency and potential of collective action. The message is one of empowerment, suggesting that everyone has the capacity to lead and make a difference.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Status Quo
💡Tribes
💡Ideas
💡Leadership
💡Movements
💡Change Agents
💡Passion
💡Connection
💡Innovation
💡Charisma
Highlights
The speaker reflects on the certainty of professions like mascot performers and balloon animal creators, contrasting it with the less clear roles of those in the audience.
The idea that the audience's profession involves seeking to change the status quo and improve upon what exists.
The story of Nathan Winograd, who aimed to make San Francisco a no-kill city for animals, demonstrating the power of persistent change.
The initial resistance faced by Nathan and his boss from the SPCA and the broader community, highlighting the difficulty of challenging the norm.
The shift from a factory model of change to a more community-driven approach, as seen in San Francisco becoming a no-kill city.
The concept of 'tribes' as a means of leading and connecting people around ideas, which is a fundamental human desire.
The internet's role in creating silos of interest, allowing niche groups to form and connect.
The idea that tribes, not factories or money, are the driving force behind significant societal change.
The importance of finding and connecting with 'True Believers' who can help spread an idea or movement.
The Beatles as an example of leaders who didn't invent teenagers but chose to lead them, illustrating the concept of organizing a disconnected group with a shared yearning.
The necessity for leaders to challenge the status quo and build a culture or 'secret language' within their tribe.
The role of curiosity in leadership, as leaders connect people to one another and create a sense of community and belonging.
The example of TOMS Shoes, where every purchase results in a pair of shoes given to someone in need, showcasing how products can tell a story and create a movement.
The call to action for the audience to create a movement within 24 hours, emphasizing the urgency and potential for individual impact.
The characteristics of successful leaders, including challenging the status quo, building culture, showing curiosity, and committing to the cause.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Applause]
so sometimes I get invited to give weird
talks uh I got invited to speak to the
people who dress up in big stuffed
animal costumes to perform at sporting
events unfortunately I I couldn't go but
it got me thinking about the fact that
these guys at least most of them know
what it is that they do for a living
what they do is they dress up as stuffed
animals and entertain people at sporting
events shortly after that I got invited
to speak at the convention of the people
who make balloon animals and again I
couldn't go but it's a fascinating group
they make balloon animals there's a big
Schism between the ones who make gospel
animals and porn animals
but they do a lot of really cool stuff
with sometimes they get in trouble but
not often and the other thing about
these guys is they also know what they
do for a living they make balloon
animals but what do we do for a living
what exactly do the people watching this
do every day and I want to argue that
what we do is we try to change
everything that we try to find a piece
of the status quo something that bothers
us something that needs to be improved
something that's itching to be changed
and we change it and we try to make big
permanent important change but we don't
think about it that way and we haven't
spent a lot of time talking about what
that process is like and I've been
studying it for a couple years and I
want to share a couple stories with you
today first about a guy named Nathan
winegrad Nathan was the number two
person at the San Francisco SPCA and
what you may not know about the history
of the sbca is it was founded to kill
dogs and cats
cities gave them a charter to get rid of
the Stray animals on the street and
Destroy them and in a typical year 4
million dogs and cats were killed most
of them within 24 hours of being scooped
off the street Nathan and his boss saw
this and they could not tolerate it so
they set out to make San Francisco a no
kill City create an entire city where
every dog and cat unless it was Ill or
dangerous would be adopted did not
killed and everyone said it was
impossible Nathan and his boss went to
the city council to get a change in the
ordinance and people from s SPCA and
Humane shelters from around the country
flew to San Francisco to testify against
them to say it would hurt the movement
and it was
inhumane they persisted and Nathan went
directly to the community he connected
with people who cared about this
nonprofessionals people with passion and
within just a couple years San Francisco
became the first no kill
City running no deficit completely
supported by the community Nathan left
and went to Tomkins County New York a
place as different from San Francisco as
you can be and still be in the United
States and he did it again he went from
being a glorified dog catcher to
completely transforming the community
and then he went to North Carolina and
did it again and he went to Reno and he
did it again and when I think about what
Nathan did and when I think about people
here do I think about ideas and I think
about the idea that creating an idea
spreading an idea has a lot behind it
and I don't know if you've ever been to
a Jewish wedding but what they do is
they take a light bulb and um They smash
it now there's a bunch of reasons for
that and stories about it but one reason
is because it indicates a change from
before to after it's a moment in time
and I want to argue that we are living
through and are right at the key moment
of a change in the way ideas are created
and spread and implemented we started
with the factory idea that you could
change the whole world if you had an
efficient Factory that could turn out
change we then went to the TV idea that
said if you had a big enough mouthpiece
if you could get on TV enough times if
you could buy enough ads you could win
and now we're in this new model of
leadership where the way we make change
is not by using money or power to lever
a system but by Leading so let me talk
about the three Cycles the first one is
the factory cycle Henry Ford comes up
with a really cool idea it enables him
to hire men who used to get paid 50
cents a day and pay him $5 a day because
he's got an efficient enough Factory
well with that sort of Advantage you can
churn out a lot of cars you can make a
lot of change you can get roads built
you can change the fabric of an entire
country that the essence of what you're
doing is you need ever cheaper labor and
ever faster
machines and the problem we've run into
is we're running out of both ever
cheaper labor and ever faster
machines
so we shift gears for a minute and say I
know television avertising push push
take a good idea and push it on the
world I have a better mouse trap and if
I can just get enough money to tell
enough people I'll sell enough and you
can build an entire industry on that if
necessary you can put babies in your ads
if necessary you can use babies to sell
other stuff and if babies don't work you
can use
doctors but be careful because you don't
want to get an unfortunate Dr to
position when you're talking about one
thing instead of the
other this model requires you to act
like the the king like the person in the
front of the room throwing things to the
peons in the back that you are in charge
and you're going to tell people what to
do next that you know the quick little
diagram of it is you're up here and you
are pushing it out to the world this
Method mass marketing requires average
ideas because you're going to the masses
and plenty of
ads what we've done as spammers is tried
to hypnotize everyone into buying our
idea hypnotize everyone into donating to
our cause hypnotize everyone into voting
for our candidate and
unfortunately it doesn't work so well
anymore
either but there's good news around the
corner really good news I call it the
idea of
tribes what tribes are is a very simple
concept that goes back 50,000 years it's
it's about leading and connecting people
and ideas and it's something that people
have wanted forever lots of people are
used to having a spiritual tribe or a
church tribe having a work
tribe having a community tribe but now
thanks to the Internet thanks to the
explosion of mass media thanks to a lot
of other things that are bubbling
through our society around the world
tribes are everywhere the internet was
supposed to homogenize Everyone by
connecting us all instead what it's
allowed is silos of Interest so you got
the Red Hat Ladies over here you got the
red hat triathletes over there you got
the organized armies over here you got
the disorganized rebels over here you
got people in white hats making food and
people in white hats sailing boats the
point is that you can find Ukrainian
folk dancers and connect with them
because you want to be connected that
people on the fringes can find each
other connect and go somewhere every
town that has a volunteer fire
department understand understands this
way of
thinking
now it turns out this is a legitimate
non-photoshopped photo people I know who
are firemen told me that this is not
uncommon and that what firemen do to
Train sometimes is they take a house
that's going to be torn down and they
burn it down instead and practice
putting it out but they always stop and
take a picture so you know the pirate
tribe is a fascinating one they got
their own flag they got the eye patches
you can tell when you're running into
someone in a tribe and it turns out that
it's tribes not money not factories that
can change our world that can change
politics that can align large numbers of
people not CU you forc them to do
something against their will but because
they wanted to connect that what we do
for a living now all of us I think is
find something worth changing and then
assemble tribes that assemble tribes
that spread the idea and spread the idea
and it becomes something far bigger than
ourselves it becomes a
movement so when Al Gore set out to
change the world again he didn't do it
by himself and he didn't do it by buying
a lot of ads he did it by creating a
movement thousands of people around the
country who could give his presentation
for him because he can't be in 100 or
200 or 500 cities in each
night you don't need everyone what Kevin
Kelly has taught us is you just need I
don't know a thousand true fans a
thousand people who care enough that
they will get you the next round and the
next round and the next round that means
that the idea you create the product you
create the movement you create isn't for
everyone it's not a mass thing that's
not what this is about what it's about
instead is finding the True Believers
it's easy to look at what I've said so
far and say wait a minute I don't have
what it takes to be that kind of leader
so here are two leaders they don't have
a lot in
common they're about the same age but
that's about it what they did though is
each in their own way created a
different way of navigating your way
through technology so some people would
go out and get people to be on one team
and some people will get people to be on
the other team it also informs the
decisions you make when you make
products or Serv Services you know this
is one of my favorite devices but what a
shame that it's not organized to help
authors create movements what would
happen if when you're using your Kindle
you could see the comments and quotes
and notes from all the other people
reading the same book as you in that
moment or from your book group or from
your friends or from the circle you want
what would happen if authors or people
with ideas could use version two which
comes out on Monday and use it to
organize people who want to talk talk
about something now there's a million
things I could share with you about the
mechanics here but let me just try a
couple The Beatles did not invent
teenagers they merely decided to lead
them that most movements most leadership
they were doing is about finding a group
that's disconnected but already has a
yearning not persuading people to want
something they don't have yet when Diane
hats worked on the metrix her video that
spread all across the internet
about the way farm animals are treated
she didn't invent the idea of being a
vegan she didn't invent the idea of
caring about this issue but she helped
organize people and helped turn it into
a movement Ugo Chavez did not invent the
disaffected middle and lower class of
Venezuela he merely LED them Bob Marley
did not invent rosarians he just stepped
up and said follow me Derek cers
invented CD Baby which allowed
independent musicians to have a place to
sell their music without selling out to
the man to have a place to take the
mission they already wanted to go to and
connect with each other what all these
people have in common is that they are
Heretics that Heretics look at the
status quo and say this will not stand I
can't abide this status quo I am willing
to stand up and be counted and move
things forward I see what the status quo
is I don't like it that instead of
looking at all the little rules and
following each one of
them that instead of of being what I
call a sheep Walker somebody who's half
asleep following instructions keeping
their head down fitting in every once in
a while someone stands up and says not
me someone stands up and says this one's
important we need to organize around it
and not everyone will but you don't need
everyone you just need a few
people who will look at the rules
realize they make no sense and realize
how much they want to be connected so
Tony Shay does not run a shoe store zapo
isn't a shoe store zapo is the one the
only the best there ever was place for
people who are into shoes to find each
other to talk about their passion to
connect with people who care more about
customer service than making a nickel
tomorrow it can be something as prosaic
as shoes and something as complicated as
overthrowing a government it's exactly
the same behavior though what it
requires as Geraldine Carter has
discovered is to be able to say I can't
do this by myself but if I can get other
people to join my climate ride then
together we can get something that we
all want we just waiting for someone to
lead us Michelle Kaufman has pioneered
new ways of thinking about environmental
architecture she doesn't do it by quiet
L building one house at a time she does
it by telling a story to people who want
to hear it by connecting a tribe of
people who are desperate to be connected
to each other by Leading a
movement and making change and around
and around and around it goes so three
questions I'd offer you the first one is
who exactly are you
upsetting cuz if you're not upsetting
anyone you're not changing the Status
Quo the second question is who are you
connecting because for a lot of people
that's what they're in it for the
connections that are being made one to
the other and the third one is who are
you
leading because focusing on that part of
it not the mechanics of what you're
building but The Who and the leading
part is where change comes so you know
Blake at Tom shoes had a very simple
idea what would
happen if every time someone bought a
pair of these shoes I gave exactly the
same pair to someone who doesn't even
own a pair of shoes this is not the
story of how you get shelf space at
Neiman Marcus it's a story of a product
that tells a story and as you walk
around with this remarkable pair of
shoes and someone says what are those
you get to tell the story on Blake's
behalf on behalf of the people who got
the shoes and suddenly it's not one pair
of shoes or 100 Pair of Shoes it's tens
of thousands of pairs of shoes my friend
red Maxwell has spent the last 10 years
fighting against juvenile diabetes not
fighting the organization that's
fighting it fighting with them leading
them connecting them challenging the
status quo because it's important to him
and the people he surrounds himself with
need the connection they need the
leadership it makes a difference you
don't need permission from people to
lead them but in case you do here it is
they're waiting we're waiting for you to
show us where to go next so here's what
leaders have in common the first thing
is they challenge the status quo they
challenge what's currently there the
second thing is they build a culture a
secret language a seven-second handshake
a way of knowing that you're in or out
they have curiosity curiosity about the
people in the tribe curiosity about
Outsiders they're asking questions they
connect people to one another do you
know what people want more than anything
they want to be missed they want to be
missed the day they don't show up they
want to be missed when they're gone and
tribe leaders can do that and it's
fascinating because all tribe leaders
have Charisma but you don't need
Charisma to become a leader being a
leader gives you Charisma and if you
look and study the leaders who have
succeeded that's where Charisma comes
from from the leading and finally they
commit they commit to the cause they
commit to the tribe they commit to the
people who are there so I'd like you to
do something for me and I hope you'll
think about it before you reject it out
of hand what I want you to do it only
takes 24 hours is create a
movement something that matters start do
it we need it thank you very much I
appreciate
[Music]
it
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