Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Seth Godin (Author, Narrator), Audible Studios (Publisher)

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 a 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.

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Listening Length	3 hours and 42 minutes
Author	Seth Godin
Narrator	Seth Godin
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	October 16, 2008
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B001IMTKUK
Best Sellers Rank	#2,234 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #7 in Production & Operations #17 in Organizational Behavior (Audible Books & Originals) #68 in Leadership (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

5 star		69%
4 star		16%
3 star		8%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Not now...I'm reading

I can see how this concept is better than the "factory" mindset

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2018

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I work for a small business, that is rapidly growing. The two founders/leaders of the organization gave everyone a copy of this book, and then we had to participate in discussions on it. The book is fairly easy to read as it is just bullet points and anecdotes, one right after the other. I read through it twice in order to participate in the discussion. One thing that comes to mind when reading this book is "Jerry McGuire" as the character in that movie opposes the status quo in search of real meaning and of leading people who are true fans/followers.

Other takeaways from the book: A leader of a tribe does not get permission, or follow rules, or wait to be asked - a leader just does it. A tribe follows that leader because the leader is passionate about what they are doing/creating and/or where they are going.
A tribe is not a "hierarchy" that is found in some companies with higher and higher levels of position. With a tribe, the more you want in, the more you are in.

51 people found this helpful

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Corey P

Doesn't go deep enough for me

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2019

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The author said that this could be a critical point at the end of the book and that this was indeed the point, because at the end of the day, leadership should be about doing, following your passion, and learning as you go.

However I feel like the state of leadership and the inspiration behind this book is one that came from a limited and privileged world view. And because of that it is overly simple. Idealistically, hard charging and not taking no for an answer when your vision for something better is inspirational and rooted in a personal truth and conviction should be celebrated. But this book ignores the reality that operating in this way is a luxury that people of color and women often can't afford to do without more grave consequences than the risk of someone just "not getting it". Even his example of MLK as a person that just "did it" was an oversimplification because history shows that he was a reluctant leader initially and also that he was chosen early on by clergy and members of the SCLC because he was relatively unknown in Montgomery and was therefore possibly less immune to the danger and intimidation any black leader there would experience. Add to that the fact that public opinion at that time was overwhelmingly against him and even amongst black civil rights organizations of the time there wasn't overwhelming consensual his methods were even correct or inspiring change, and I think it illustrates my point further. We celebrate King now as a martyr and representation of persistence in the face of something wrong, but at the time many people did not see it that way.

Because of this, I think mentioning more than just the power of tribe and putting it in context of other actual leadership skills and challenges of leading from a place without privilege could have added depth to this book.

38 people found this helpful

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Jordan

I consider this more of a "messaging and inspiration" piece ...

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2017

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I consider this more of a "messaging and inspiration" piece than anything with definitive steps to building a brand or setting yourself out there as a leader. It's a lot of him doing his Seth Godin thing, which is sorta ruminating on stories he's heard, people he's met, ideas that have come to him in the middle of the night. Very short little chapters that seem meant to get your mind grapes juicing, but don't expect anything concrete to work with.

40 people found this helpful

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Brenda Cobb Murphy

A Perspective Changer

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2015

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This book has become one of my favorite books, and I’m a self-help junkie. The things Seth says about a tribe and my part in it is never far from my mind. It has changed how I see my website, the books I write, my place in the world, and it has changed how I perceive myself. You know a book is a game-changer when your mind often pulls up something you’ve read from it. While I love my Kindle books I also love books I can mark up and easily refer back to so I’ve got the paper version of this one and it has lots of little Post-it flags on things that stood out (the whole book pretty much stood out but I can’t mark everything!). For example:

“Curious people count. Not because there are a lot of them, but because they're the ones who talk to people who are in a stupor. They're the ones who lead the masses in the middle who are stuck. The masses in the middle have brainwashed themselves into thinking it’s safe to do nothing, which the curious can't abide.”

“Crowds and tribes. Two different things: a crowd is a tribe without a leader. A crowd is a tribe without communication. Most organizations spend their time marketing to the crowd. Smart organizations assemble the tribe. Crowds are interesting, and they can create all sorts of worthwhile artifacts and market effects. But tribes are longer lasting and more effective.”

There are a lot of great books out there but this is a must.

59 people found this helpful

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LA_Sinatra

Inspirational book on the topic of Daring to be a Leader - not a step by step manual

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2017

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I found this to be a very inspirational book on the topic of daring to be a leader. It makes you see leaders can come in a variety of forms, they are not just made up of outgoing, exceptionally outspoken people standing in front of a crowd talking loud, being the center of attention. They can be a person in the background, creating a way for like-minded people to connect and move a cause forward. It makes you see that a person with a vision, an idea, a cause, can make real change, and why it's important to get going on what matters to you and stop waiting for the perfect time, as the time is now.
I like that most of the topics are short and to the point. He doesn't ramble on. He gives you an idea and you take it from there. He doesn't give you a step by step manual on how to lead, he gives a concept of how tribes work and you as a leader work it out from there.
Super fun book. Joined his email list as greatly enjoy his daily emails on variety of thoughts.

23 people found this helpful

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Aidan Rector

Not an instruction manual

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2015

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I recommend this book to anyone who wants to make a difference. Anyone who is sick and tired of standing by watching things happen to them and is ready for a change. I read a number of reviews that were very negative about this book just before I started reading it and read it anyway. Very happy I did! No, you won't get step by step instructions here so don't look for them. The point is you already have what you need to lead. Just get out there believe in your mission and start gathering your tribe to move it forward.

30 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer

Four hours later and I’m changed forever.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2017

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This book was recommended in a business seminar that I attended recently. I downloaded it straight away. Pondering on what direction to take my business in, it was the obvious book to read. It made me realise why I was stuck, not knowing where to focus my efforts. I was afraid of reaching out to and leading my tribe. This book made me realise that what I was in fact resisting is stifling responsibilities of management. A great leader is creative with the subtleties of leadership, is an enabler, a pioneer of change and progress. Thank you Seth Godin for helping to fill the void.

14 people found this helpful

Rj MacIntosh

Tribe or Tribes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 25, 2018

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I BOUGHT THIS BOOK for three main reasons: Seth Godin has a good reputation in the blogging world; I had heard him on Tribes in a TED talk; and I was looking for some helpful basics on how to think about putting a Blog community of supporters together.
My focus isessentially on book writing, reviewing, publishing and marketing, so initially I found Tribes less helpful than I’d expected.
In historical and anthropological terms, a tribe is "a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognised leader". (Google defn.)
A traditional tribal group generally has no written language, only the spoken word. and not unusually, there are different recognised roles for men and women (and children) in traditional societies.

But I also understand the general direction in which Godin’s 'Tribes’ is heading, and with a different definition: "A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea". Godin's understanding of present-day tribes in advanced societies focuses on members who are in possession of sophisticated hardware and software to create on-line (rather than face to face) communities. These are Godin's ‘Tribes’ who might never meet face-to-face, and are vastly different to older, anthropological communities where the lives of tribal members are constantly at risk and total commitment to a tribe is vital.
For one thing, in the new world of Godin's ‘Tribes’, we can simultaneously belong to any number of different tribes if we so choose. We can drop in and out as each one chooses. The commitment level feels very different, as the modern ‘Tribes’ are much more communities of mutual interest than communities of kinship. With so much done for free and given freely, creating a new Tribe becomes, in Godin's words 'an act of generosity'.
What struck me most is the role of leadership in the Tribes that Godin refers to.
Here, leadership is not traditional command and control, etc, but someone (or someones) who has the vision, pursues it, and draws together a community of mutual interest for the journey. It takes a great deal of leadership vision and commitment to start a new Tribe, which presumably is what every present-day author now needs to do; and the new tools are, in essence, the shifting landscape of social media platforms.
So the encouragement and vision that Godin gives is worth the 4 stars I’ve given 'Tribes'.

But, whether I am closer to my own goal to draw together and createa new ‘Tribe’ around a new theme that has multiple dimensions, is still far from clear! - Rob Mackintosh

5 people found this helpful

Sue Cartwright

Build a tribe and make something truly remarkable happen

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2018

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Did you ever feel so passionate about something you wanted to start a movement.

I know I have and this book will show you that the world needs people like you and me to do just that. The world needs people with well meaning passion to bring like-minded people together to find new ways of being, new ways of living, new ways of making the most out of this beautiful world we can call our own.

Have you ever heard the one about 'no man is an island' and how much more we can achieve if we do things together, if we join forces to collaborate to achieve things we know are right and we want for ourselves and our communities. This book will encourage you to step off your island and gather your people to you. How to reach out to people who are hungry to make connections and change things for the better.

Do you ever feel you are sleep-walking through life and it's passing you by far too quickly. That one day you'll look up and it will be too late to do anything meaningful that you can look back on and treasure. This book will show you how you can't afford to keep on complying and accepting the status quo, making do and putting up with things that get you down and make your life a misery.

If you have a passion for what you want to do and the drive to make it happen, there is a tribe of fellow employees, or customers, or investors, or readers, just waiting for you to connect them with each other and lead them where they want to go.

Go build your tribe and make something truly remarkable happen!

3 people found this helpful

MikeyT

Not Seth's best work

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2017

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A collection of thoughts and blog posts. Didn't really develop the idea of building a tribe or how to do it. Not Seth's best work. Buy his, 'Icarus Deception' instead

11 people found this helpful

Sacha Black

Cracking book to inspire leaders

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2017

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Good book, lots of common sense in there about leadership. Did he tell me anything I didn't know, not sure. But I definitely feel inspired after reading it. I like to think of myself as a heretic, which is why the book resounded so well with me. I agreed with his philosophy and loved all the examples in the book too. It was amazing and awe inspiring to read about so many different leaders - ones who's businesses I already knew of and yet hadn't heard their stories. This is a great book for anyone who has an idea and wants to lead a change.

3 people found this helpful

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