Tribes

Tribes Plot Summary

Introduction

It was a chilly autumn evening when Joel Spolsky published his thoughts on programmer management to a small online audience. He didn't know it then, but his words would spread like wildfire, connecting thousands of software developers who had been silently craving a different approach to their craft. Within months, his tribe had formed – passionate professionals who rallied around his ideas and changed how an entire industry thought about talent management. Joel didn't set out to lead a movement; he simply shared his authentic vision and gave people a way to connect around it. This is the essence of what makes tribes powerful in our connected age. Throughout human history, we've been drawn to groups that share our interests and values. But today, geography no longer constrains us. The internet has eliminated traditional boundaries, allowing us to find our people – those who share our passions, challenges, and dreams – regardless of where they live. When someone steps forward to lead these tribes with generosity and vision, remarkable things happen. The pages ahead reveal how everyday people are creating movements that matter, and how you can do the same by embracing your potential to lead others toward meaningful change.

Chapter 1: The Birth of Tribes in a Connected World

For millions of years, human beings have organized themselves into tribes – groups connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. In prehistoric times, these tribes were defined by geography and survival needs. Your tribe consisted of the people who lived near you, the people you depended on to stay alive. But something profound has changed in our modern world. The internet has eliminated geography as a constraint, creating possibilities for connection that never existed before. Today's tribes form around shared interests rather than shared locations. A tribe might be rock climbing enthusiasts in fifty countries who follow the adventures of Chris Sharma as he conquers impossible routes. It might be programming professionals who gather around Joel Spolsky's ideas about software development. Or it might be fans of artisanal wine who eagerly await Gary Vaynerchuk's next video review. What defines these tribes isn't proximity – it's passion and communication. The Grateful Dead understood this tribal dynamic decades before the internet. While other bands focused solely on selling records, the Dead created an experience designed for in-person connection. They encouraged taping at concerts and established a touring circuit that allowed fans to follow them from city to city. They gave their tribe – the Deadheads – a language, symbols, and gathering spaces. Most importantly, they created platforms for tribe members to connect with each other, not just with the band. Jacqueline Novogratz demonstrates another aspect of modern tribal leadership through her work with the Acumen Fund. She's building a global tribe of entrepreneurs and supporters dedicated to solving poverty through market-driven solutions. What's remarkable isn't just her vision, but how she connects people across continents who might never have found each other otherwise. Her leadership creates a sense of belonging and purpose that transcends traditional organizational boundaries. The tools available for tribal connection have multiplied exponentially. Facebook, Twitter, Ning, Meetup, blogs, and countless other platforms make it easier than ever to find your people and coordinate their actions. But these tools are worthless without someone who chooses to lead – someone willing to articulate a vision that others can rally around and create spaces where the tribe can thrive. This new landscape has democratized leadership in unprecedented ways. The opportunity to lead a tribe is now available to anyone with passion and commitment, regardless of formal authority or resources. The question isn't whether you could lead a tribe – it's whether you will choose to step up and do it.

Chapter 2: Leadership Is About Movement, Not Management

Lucy and Ethel's chocolate factory scene from "I Love Lucy" perfectly captures the difference between management and leadership. As chocolates speed down the conveyor belt faster than they can handle, the women frantically stuff candies into their mouths and clothing to keep up. They were facing a management problem – how to process a known quantity with given resources. Management is about controlling resources to complete a predictable process efficiently. Leadership, by contrast, is about creating change that you believe in. This distinction matters because the world has fundamentally shifted. For decades, stability was prized above all else. Kings maintained the status quo to preserve their power. Companies built hierarchies designed to control and standardize output. Even individuals sought the safety of predictable careers. The system rewarded those who followed the rules and punished those who challenged them. Management was the skill that mattered most. But marketing changed everything. It created leverage, energized tribes, and transformed markets. When consumers can choose where to direct their attention and loyalty, stability becomes a liability rather than an asset. The market now rewards the new, the remarkable, the authentic. It wants movement, not stasis. And movement requires leadership, not management. Consider Thomas Barnett, who transformed military thinking despite having no formal authority. As a researcher with a radical vision for post-9/11 security strategy, he created a compelling presentation that spread throughout the Pentagon. The Wall Street Journal noted that his "decidedly controversial ideas are influencing the way the Pentagon views its enemies, vulnerabilities and future structure." He didn't manage anyone, but he led a movement that changed how an entire institution thought about its mission. Jimmy Wales demonstrates the same principle with Wikipedia. With just a dozen employees and no significant revenue source, he built one of the internet's most visited sites. How? Not by managing resources efficiently, but by leading a movement. He articulated a vision that inspired thousands of volunteers to contribute their knowledge freely. He created systems that connected tribe members to each other and to the mission. And he gave them tools to engage with the outside world. The most valuable organizations today aren't distinguished by management excellence – they're defined by movements that matter. They're led by people who see possibilities others miss and who inspire tribes to bring those possibilities to life. In a world hungry for meaning and connection, leadership trumps management every time.

Chapter 3: Finding Your Tribe and Igniting Its Passion

Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired magazine, coined the concept of "1,000 True Fans" – the idea that creators don't need millions of casual followers to succeed. They need a tribe of people who genuinely care about their work. A true fan crosses the street to support you, brings friends to hear you speak, pays extra for your work, and connects with other fans to amplify your message. Kelly argues that finding just 1,000 true fans is enough for most creators to build a sustainable career. This insight transforms how we think about audience building. Instead of chasing vanity metrics like page views or follower counts, true leaders focus on depth of connection. Take Laura Fitton, who built a consulting career through Twitter when the platform was still new. She didn't have millions of followers, but the ones she had were deeply engaged. By consistently sharing valuable insights and genuinely connecting with her tribe, she earned their trust and advocacy. They became true fans who sought her out and spread her ideas. The wine world provides another perfect example through Gary Vaynerchuk and Wine Library TV. Gary didn't have the pedigree of traditional wine critics, but he had something more valuable – authentic passion and a willingness to speak directly to people intimidated by wine culture. His video reviews connected with a tribe tired of pretension. He didn't just push information; he created a movement around democratizing wine appreciation. The tribe grew because Gary didn't focus on selling wine – he focused on connecting people who shared his enthusiasm. Finding your tribe often starts with a simple question: Who cares deeply about what you care about? For Scott Beale, founder of Laughing Squid, this meant connecting with fellow technology enthusiasts and artists. At a conference where the official Google party had a long line, Scott found an empty bar nearby, claimed some tables, and tweeted "Alta Vista Party at Ginger Man." Within minutes, people started arriving. Soon there was a line out the door. The party didn't happen because Scott was famous – it happened because he had spent years building trust with a tribe that valued his perspective. The key insight here isn't just that tribes form around shared interests – it's that they thrive when there's a genuine connection to both the leader and to each other. Leaders who focus solely on their relationship with followers miss the critical horizontal connections that make tribes powerful. When tribe members connect with each other, the movement gains strength far beyond what any single leader could create alone. Finding your tribe isn't about manipulating people to follow you – it's about recognizing where your authentic passions align with others and creating spaces where those connections can flourish. When you lead with generosity rather than self-interest, the tribe doesn't just follow you; they help carry the movement forward.

Chapter 4: The Art of Challenging the Status Quo

When I joined Spinnaker Software as employee number thirty, I faced a daunting challenge. The company had tasked me with developing literary adventure games, but I had no staff – only three programmers borrowed temporarily from the engineering department. I needed more help to meet our Christmas deadline, but lacked any formal authority to get it. So I started a simple newsletter highlighting the work of everyone contributing to my projects. Twice weekly, I wrote about our shared mission and celebrated individual contributions. Within a month, six engineers had volunteered their spare time to help. Soon it was twenty. Eventually, virtually the entire engineering department was either assigned to my projects or moonlighting on them. We shipped five products for Christmas, all of which became bestsellers. This wasn't because I managed effectively – it was because I led a movement that people wanted to join. The engineers weren't following me; they were following a vision that gave their work meaning and connection. Challenging the status quo is rarely about dramatic confrontation. More often, it's about finding the vacuum – the empty space where movement can begin. At a cocktail party's early stages, people stand awkwardly, waiting for something to happen. In organizations, these vacuums exist everywhere – places where energy and momentum are missing. Leaders step into these vacuums and create motion. They work to generate movement that transforms isolated individuals into a cohesive tribe. This dynamic played out dramatically in an experiment I conducted with summer internship applicants. I invited 130 students who applied for a position to join a private Facebook group. Sixty immediately joined, but within hours, a clear pattern emerged. A handful of applicants took initiative – posting topics, starting discussions, encouraging others to participate. The rest simply lurked, watching without contributing. The contrast was striking: some students saw an opportunity to lead in the vacuum, while others waited for instructions that never came. Chris Sharma, one of the world's greatest rock climbers, demonstrates this principle physically. Traditional climbing demanded three points of contact with the rock at all times – a stable, conservative approach. Sharma pioneered a technique called "dynoing" – literally jumping from one hold to the next with no points of contact. This approach was initially considered reckless, even impossible. But Sharma showed it worked, and transformed what climbers thought possible. His leadership wasn't about giving orders; it was about challenging assumptions through action. Challenging the status quo isn't comfortable – that's precisely why it creates leverage. If leading were easy, everyone would do it, and the value would diminish. The discomfort is what makes leadership worthwhile. When you identify the discomfort, you've found where leadership is needed. And when you choose to step into that space despite the discomfort, you create possibilities that never existed before.

Chapter 5: Building Communities Through Authentic Connection

CrossFit, the intense fitness movement that has spread worldwide, demonstrates the remarkable power of authentic community building. These are people who voluntarily complete grueling workouts like fifteen handstand push-ups followed by one pull-up, followed by thirteen handstand push-ups followed by three pull-ups – continuing this punishing pattern for dozens of repetitions. Then they eagerly post their times online to compete with thousands of others globally. CrossFit certification courses sell out months in advance, and affiliated gyms continue opening worldwide. What makes this tribe so powerful isn't just the fitness methodology – it's the community leadership of founder Greg Glassman (known as "Coach"). Glassman understood that creating a tribe means pushing members to their limits while simultaneously providing an environment where they can connect with each other. He built platforms for sharing results, discussing techniques, and celebrating achievements. The tribe grows because members proudly segregate themselves from mainstream fitness culture, simultaneously recruiting and challenging new members. Contrast this with patientslikeme.com, an online community where more than seven thousand people with serious illnesses share intimate details about their conditions, treatments, and side effects. There's no charismatic central figure like Glassman leading the charge. Instead, members support each other directly. Yet leadership still exists – the founders created the platform that enables these connections. They identified a tribe that desperately wanted to communicate and gave them the tools to do so. The leadership comes from making the tribe tighter, even if it's less visible. The creators of Jack, an "occasional restaurant" in Brooklyn, understand this dynamic as well. Danielle Sucher and Dave Turner open their restaurant only about twenty times a year, by appointment only. Diners see the menu in advance, book online, and pay upfront. Instead of seeking random diners for their dishes, they create dishes for a specific community. Danielle, already connected to food enthusiasts through her writing for Gothamist and the blog Habeas Brûlée, uses the restaurant as a physical manifestation of the tribe – a place where members can connect in person. Authentic community building requires transparency. As tribe members become more connected, they develop an acute sensitivity to anything that feels forced or manipulative. This isn't about perfection – it's about genuine commitment to the shared mission. Wikipedia volunteers have deleted thousands of pages that don't meet the community's standards, sometimes frustrating outsiders. But this zealous protection of quality standards strengthens the community's identity and purpose. The most powerful insight about community building is that it isn't about creating something new from scratch – it's about recognizing the tribes that already want to exist and removing the barriers to their connection. People naturally seek connection around shared interests and values. The leader's job isn't to force this process but to create spaces where it can happen organically, then get out of the way while still providing guidance and vision.

Chapter 6: Overcoming Fear: The Leader's Greatest Challenge

I've met thousands of people walking around with great ideas. Some of the ideas are truly brilliant; others are merely good. There's never been a shortage of ideas. What's missing is the will to make those ideas happen. In the battle between two competing ideas, the best one doesn't necessarily win. The one with the most fearless heretic behind it does. Fear is hardwired into our brains – one of our oldest and strongest emotions. We're primed to notice stories of heretics who challenged the system and failed, losing their jobs, reputations, or worse. These cautionary tales get amplified in our minds, overwhelming the far more common stories of those who pushed through fear and succeeded. The most successful leaders don't eliminate fear – they talk themselves through it. They create an intellectual narrative about why change matters that drowns out their emotional resistance. This battle with fear explains why Dr. Laurence Peter's famous principle needs revision. The Peter Principle states that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." I'd paraphrase it: "in every organization everyone rises to the level at which they become paralyzed with fear." Leadership isn't about eliminating fear – it's about being aware of your fear and seeing it in the people you wish to lead. That awareness becomes the key to making progress. What most people fear isn't failure – it's criticism and blame. We hesitate to create innovative products, launch bold initiatives, or give provocative presentations because we worry someone will call us stupid. Even the anticipation of criticism is enough to stop us. Watch a few people get criticized for being innovative, and it's tempting to play it safe. But here's the truth: if you're doing work that matters, criticism is inevitable. Getting criticized means you've done something worth remarking on. The traditional view holds that heretics get burned at the stake – literally or figuratively. But this image is increasingly obsolete. Today, heretics get invited to Davos. They get elected to Congress. They watch their companies go public. The same forces that taught us to drink Coke for breakfast or spend $800 on a handbag are now working on the status quo, teaching us to celebrate those who challenge it. The question isn't "How do I get permission to lead change?" It's "What's holding me back from starting now?" Change isn't made by asking permission – it's made by asking forgiveness later. All you need to know are two things: First, individuals have more power than ever before in history. One person can change an industry, reinvent science, or transform politics. Second, the only thing holding you back is lack of faith – faith that you can do it, faith that it's worth doing, and faith that failure won't destroy you.

Chapter 7: Leading with Faith and Creating Lasting Change

Faith goes back to the beginning of human existence. It's what gave our ancestors resilience to face the mysteries of the pre-scientific world. Faith leads to hope and overcomes fear. It's the dividing line between humans and most other species – we have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow, that physical laws will remain consistent, that our efforts today will bear fruit years from now. Without faith, leadership is impossible. Yet there's a critical distinction between faith and religion that most people miss. Faith is the foundation that keeps our organizations together – the belief in possibilities and potential. Religion, by contrast, represents the set of rules that humans overlay on top of faith. Religion supports the status quo and encourages conformity. There's the IBM religion of the 1960s with its dress codes and presentation protocols. There's the religion of Broadway that determines what a musical should look and feel like. There's the religion of the MBA program with its prescribed career paths and success metrics. The tension between faith and religion explains why leadership is so challenging. When you challenge a particular religion – whether corporate, political, or artistic – people often feel you're attacking their faith. This defensive reaction makes change difficult. But true heretics don't challenge faith; they challenge the rules that limit faith's expression. They create new religions around enduring faith. Steve Jobs did this purposefully at Apple, as did Phil Knight at Nike. They understood that people need structures to reinforce their faith, but these structures must evolve. Nathan Winograd demonstrates this principle through his No Kill movement for animal shelters. Every year, about five million healthy dogs and cats are destroyed by shelters in the United States. The conventional wisdom (the religion) held that there was no alternative – there simply weren't enough homes for all these animals. Nathan's mentor, Richard Avanzino, challenged this assumption by implementing innovative programs at the San Francisco SPCA – foster homes, mobile adoption vans, pre-adoption spaying and neutering. When Avanzino presented his results at a conference, showing how these methods could dramatically reduce euthanasia rates, some attendees walked out in protest. The status quo defenders couldn't accept challenges to their religion. Avanzino responded by doubling down – he took the San Francisco SPCA out of animal control entirely, encouraged resistant staff to leave, and built a new tribe committed to his vision. Within a few years, San Francisco became a No Kill city, with every healthy pet finding a home. Winograd expanded this movement to rural New York, then to Charlottesville, Virginia, and Reno, Nevada – each time without significant budget or formal authority. He simply refused to kill healthy animals from his first day on the job. He communicated his vision clearly, accepted that resistant staff would leave, and went directly to the public. In each location, donations increased, volunteers appeared, and adoption rates soared from typical industry rates of 10-20% to more than 85%. The lesson is profound: lasting change happens when we honor the underlying faith while creating new structures that better express it. Everyone involved in the No Kill movement shares the same fundamental faith – that animals deserve compassionate treatment. The revolution wasn't about changing that faith; it was about challenging the religious practices that had calcified around it. By creating a new tribe united by both faith and practice, Nathan transformed an industry from the ground up.

Summary

Throughout these pages, we've witnessed the transformative power of tribal leadership through stories that span industries and movements. From Greg Glassman building the CrossFit phenomenon to Nathan Winograd revolutionizing animal shelters, from Jimmy Wales creating Wikipedia to Jacqueline Novogratz connecting entrepreneurs across continents – we've seen how authentic leadership creates movements that matter. The common thread isn't charisma, resources, or authority. It's the decision to lead. Every leader we've encountered made a choice to step forward, challenge the status quo, and connect people around a shared vision. The opportunity before you isn't about managing resources or wielding authority – it's about finding the courage to lead regardless of your position. Your tribe is waiting, whether they're your colleagues, customers, neighbors, or a global community connected by shared passion. The world needs more leaders willing to push through fear, embrace their unique voice, and create spaces where meaningful connection can flourish. As we face unprecedented challenges and opportunities, the question isn't whether you have what it takes to lead. The question is whether you'll choose to begin. The world is full of tribes searching for leaders who care enough to make a difference. They're waiting for you.

About Author

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Seth Godin

Seth W. Godin, also known as "F. X. Nine", is an American author and a former dot com business executive.

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