Tribes Book Review

July 21st, 2009

by John R. Sedivy

“Tribes” was the first book I have read by Seth Godin. That being said, I was pretty excited to dig into it as I have heard much about his work in the blogging and marketing communities. I have even seen quite a few other books reference his work, and all discussions I have come across to date have been positive.

The premise behind this book is simple – the world is changing, to include the organization of people. Individuals are self-organizing into tribes which are in need of leadership – and this new leadership could be you – should you choose to accept the obligation. Throughout “Tribes” Seth Godin discusses the nature of tribes, what it takes to lead a tribe, and how to, and how not to be a good leader. The author branches into some other areas of general interest, but everything is more or less tied to the theme of leadership.

Initial Impressions
I found “Tribes” to be a pretty simple read and breezed through it in a few hours, even with extensive note taking for later use. In the past I had read many leadership books, but “Tribes” had a fairly unique spin on this theme, so I had picked up at least a few powerful tips for later use for how to refine the art aspect of my leadership style.

Upon reflecting upon my reading of “Tribes”, I view the top strength of this book to be it’s conversation tone. “Tribes” is more or less written like a blog style, which makes for a nice afternoon read. Another strength is the strong emphasis on leadership, a bit unconventional when compared to other works, but valid nonetheless. Finally, I had noticed one of Seth Godin’s major strengths in his writing is his power with analogies. The analogies presented in “Tribes” – for example “heretics”, “the balloon factory and the unicorn”, and “sheepwalking” to name a few, have a knack of sticking and reinforcing the author’s major points. These analogies have the power to be used as industry jargon, if they have not been elevated as such already.

There were a few things that this book could have done better though. First, I find it surprising how many marketing books that I encounter are plain in nature – no visuals beside the cover. Some illustrations would have been nice in “Tribes”, perhaps enlist the aid of a designer to visually convey some of the ideas presented. Second, the examples which were used to reinforce some of the main points were not necessarily exciting. There were a few good examples – but all in all given the number of examples, many were lackluster and unimpressive.

Third, when I first started reading I was a bit confused by the book not having any defined chapters – no table of contents, no index – just headings and paragraphs. This could make it painful to use this book as a desktop reference, which I will surely do given some of the valuable information contained within. This very well could be the author’s style, as again this is the first Seth Godin book I have read, however it was a bit strange at first. Finally, the book felt a bit corporate to me – I would have liked to see more information and examples of small business, especially those businesses (or tribes) that are excellent, but intentionally small. Much of the information presented seemed to be geared towards large, corporate organizations.

Closing Thoughts
Those who are interested in marketing and leadership should check out “Tribes”. If you have a career in marketing you should definitely check it out – given the status of Seth Godin in this field. There is good advice here for both marketing and leadership, and is worth a look – I will likely continue reading his other books now that I have completed “Tribes”.

After you finish “Tribes” you should also check out “Ignore Everybody” by Hugh MacLeod and “World Wide Rave” by David Meerman Scott.

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding