The one-sentence summary

Today everyone has an opportunity to start a movement – to bring together a tribe of like-minded people to do amazing things.

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS TRIBES

  • Today everyone has an opportunity to start a movement – to bring together a tribe of like-minded people to do amazing things.
  • Too many people ignore the opportunity to lead because they are ‘sheepwalking’ their way through their lives and their work – too afraid to question whether their compliance is doing themselves, or their companies, any good. Nonsheep behaviour should be rewarded.
  • Too many people are ‘stuck on stupid’. When the world changes, the rules change, and so must we. If you or your organisation is playing today’s game by yesterday’s rules, then you’re stuck.
  • If you have a passion for what you do and the drive to make it happen, there is a tribe of employees, investors, customers or readers waiting for you to connect them with each other, and lead them where they want to go.
  • Without leaders there are no followers. If you have a desire to do fresh and exciting work, then you’re a leader, and the rest of us need you.
  • Tribes used to be local, but now the internet eliminates geography.
  • The crucial question now isn’t ‘Is it possible for me to do that?’, it is ‘Will I choose to do it?’

WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT

  • This is a great call to arms and confidence booster for anyone who wants to make changes and do more with what they enjoy.
  • Tribes are all about faith, and many people are beginning to realise that it’s much more satisfying to do what you believe in. Heretics are prepared to go against the grain.
  • Stability is an illusion, and the rush from it is a benefit to enterprising individuals who can now ‘lead from the bottom.’
  • All a tribe needs is a shared interest and a way to communicate.
  • Initiative = happiness.
  • Fear of failure is overrated. If you work for someone, the organisation actually absorbs the cost of failure. People are more afraid of blame and criticism.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

  • There are no chapter divisions – it just rolls along, classic Godin-style