Book Review: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

I finally finished Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Uber blogger, marketer and author Seth Godin. First of all, I love it when an author does not waste the readers time with a bunch of fluff. Tribes is a short book filled with lot’s of great information. Basically Seth lays out the new way of leadership. Not the stoic top-down-approach. Seth really empowers EVERYONE to lead. To me this is a vital switch that is currently taking place in our culture. I would highly recommend this book. 

BTW: I also enjoyed Michael Hyatt’s review here.

Quotes:

Leadership, on the other hand, is about creating change that you believe in. 

Leaders lead when they take positions, when they connect with their tribes, and when they help the tribe connect to itself. 

Most organizations spend their time marketing to a crowd. Smart organizations assemble a tribe.

Organizations that destroy the status quo win.

Tribes are just waiting to be turned into movements. 

The organizations of the future are filled with smart, fast flexible people on mission. The thing is, that requires leadership. 

Idea’s that spread win. Boring idea;s don’t spread. Boring organizations don’t grow. 

What people are afraid of isn’t failure. It’s blame. Criticism

Leadership is scare because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. 

So great leaders don’t try to please everyone. Great leaders don’t water down their message in order to make the tribe a bit bigger. Instead, they realize that a motivated, connected tribe in the midst of a movement is far more powerful than a larger group could ever be. 

The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond.  But the hardest thing is to initiate. 

Micro-movement: How to create a movement.

1. Publish Manifesto. 
2. Make it easy for your followers to connect with you.
3. Make it easy for followers to connect with one another.
4. Realize that money is not the point of the movement.
5. Track your progress.

The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there.

Hope without a strategy doesn’t generate leadership. Leadership comes when your hope and your optimism are matched with a concrete vision of the future and a way to get there.

Book Review: Wild Goose Chase

Mark Batterson who is the Pastor at National Community Church in DC and author of In A Pit With A LIon On A Snowy Day is releasing his sophomore book Wild Goose Chase this Tuesday. I’ve followed Mark’s blog for many years and I have a ton of respect for him. So I was excited to be chosen by Random House to do this book review along with many other bloggers. 

Now on to the review:

The purpose of the book is to encourage Christ-followers to stop living mundane lives and chase the adventures of God. As a pastor this is one of the most frustrating tensions I face. I want people to deeply live a life of adventure yet for most the reality is mostly mundane-yet even amongst the mundane we can find adventure and purpose if we “Chase The Goose.”

Mark takes the reader on a journey in order to help identify some key aspects (or cages) that can hold us back from living a “life of adventure.” 

 

1. Cage of responsibility
2. Cage of routine
3. Cage of assumptions
4. Cage of guilt
5. Cage of failure
6. Cage of fear

I think its safe to say we all struggle with at least one or two of those issues. I can see this book being very helpful in a small group setting as it causes much discussion of “REAL” issues we all face. I’m pretty certain my church will have multiple copies on our visitor tables as I know it will encourage people to love God and serve God with a deep sense of calling. 

Below are some quotes that I liked:

Instead of following the spirit, we invite the spirit to follow us.
Instead of serving God’s purposes, we want Him to serve our purposes.

…remember, ultimately it’s not about you. It’s about the One who wants to write His-story through your life. A world in desperate need can’t do without what you will bring when you become part of something that is bigger than you and more important than you: the cause of Christ in this generation. The stakes could not be higher. And like the first-century disciples, we have the opportunity to turn the world upside down.

Suffice to say I would recommend the book. If you’re a consistent reader of Mark’s blog many of these stories will be familiar and if you’re not (you should) then this book will be even that much more challenging and refreshing. 

Also if you are a fan of life goal’s I’ve attached a document that Mark created. As you read the book I think it would be valuable to set some key goals along the way.

10-steps-to-setting-life-goals