A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are
connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of
years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious,
ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the
Deadheads). It's our nature.
Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost,
and time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helping
existing tribes get bigger. But more important, they're enabling
countless new tribes to be born- groups of ten or ten thousand or
ten million who care about their iPhones, or a political campaign,
or a new way to fight global warming. And so the key question: Who
is going to lead us? The Web can do amazing things, but it can't
provide leadership. That still has to come from individuals- people
just like you who have passion about something. The explosion in
tribes means that anyone who wants to make a difference now has the
tools at her fingertips.
If you think leadership is for other people, think again-
leaders come in surprising packages. Consider Joel Spolsky and his
international tribe of scary-smart software engineers. Or Gary
Vaynerhuck, a wine expert with a devoted following of enthusiasts.
Chris Sharma leads a tribe of rock climbers up impossible cliff
faces, while Mich Mathews, a VP at Microsoft, runs her internal
tribe of marketers from her cube in Seattle. All they have in
common is the desire to change things, the ability to connect a
tribe, and the willingness to lead.
If you ignore this opportunity, you risk turning into a
'sheepwalker'- someone who fights to protect the status quo at all
costs, never asking if obedience is doing you (or your
organization) any good. Sheepwalkers don't do very well these
days.
Tribes will make you think (really think) about the
opportunities in leading your fellow employees, customers,
investors, believers, hobbyists, or readers.... It's not easy, but
it's easier than you think.