Lexington, KY - Uber-business guru Seth Godin has become a best-selling author around the world by writing books that follow a similar thread: take the complex weaves of business, work, and marketing and unravel them down to the personal.
In doing so, he has changed the way businesses think and how they market that thinking. He has done the same for individ-uals. He created new buzz-words that are now standard business vocabulary - catch phrases such as permission marketing, ideaviruses and sneezers. He revealed to us that we are all marketers, no matter what our official role or title. His books, including Purple Cow, Meatball Sundae, Permission Marketing, and The Dip have created a revolution, particularly in marketing that is as uniquely vibrant as the names of these bestsellers.
In his latest book, Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us, Godin takes on another business sacred cow and leads it to slaughter: leadership.
For the first time, Godin argues, everyone has the true opportunity to lead. Leadership, in this usage, is the ability to bring people of similar ideas and purposes together to create and produce incredible opportunities and things. "Everyone is not just a marketer," Godin says. "Everyone is now also a leader."
Anyone can start a movement, bringing together individuals into a tribe - a group of people who are connected to one another, an idea and a leader. The red Kool-Aid that makes this all possible is the Internet, responsible for eliminating barriers of distance, cost and time.
Tribes have been in existence for millions of years. It is in our nature to create them, Godin suggests. To be a tribe, a group needs two things: a shared interest and a way to communicate, Godin says. In the past, tribes were dependent upon geography - a particular village, city or corporation. Now the Internet eliminates that geography. This means that tribes can not only be larger, but more numerous than ever before possible.
Tribes are everywhere - in all sizes of organizations and companies. What brings them together is the need for connection, meaning and leadership. Tribes are formed around people who care about their iphone, a particular political issue, the environment or a business concern.
While the Web can do incredible things inconceivable only a few years ago, the one thing it can't do is provide leadership. Tribes need leadership, Godin says. That is where the individual leader is of paramount importance. "The market needs you (we need you) and the tools are there, just waiting," Godin writes. "All that's missing is you, and your vision and your passion."
Godin suggests the following thesis of the need for leaders: