Seth Godin is an amazing author that speaks on the exact wavelength that resonates with me. He speaks of purpose in work and change and creativity in a world where most businesses are attempting to hold onto their old convictions and procedures. Tribes
is a great little book that discusses this and much more. At only 150 pages you can read it in a night or two and get yourself pumped up for whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish.
The basic premise in this book is that the internet has enabled people to form tribes more easily than ever and by understanding them and forming one yourself, you can accomplish whatever it is you set out to do. A tribe is a group of people that are connected to each other through an idea, and if you can provide the platform for that tribe to communicate you can do big things. In the book, he speaks of people that have started entire movements to do good in the world, and at first I wasn’t sure what I was going to get out of this that I could apply to e-commerce, but I realized that there are plenty of examples of this out there already. Look at Zappos, for example, they sell shoes and have absolute fanatics that have formed a tribe around them. Another one that comes to mind is Woot.com. Is Amazon buying every store that is forming a tribe? Magento has formed a large tribe, as opposed to Yahoo Stores which is actually used more widely, but doesn’t have as outspoken of a tribe. If you went out and asked industry professionals what cart to use, you’d hear Magento all day, and what better method of growth and marketing is there than that?
Anyway, the question here is how to form your tribe. Around what idea do you huddle? How do you engage people? A reoccuring idea I’ll be discussing here on this blog is the idea that working efficiently and doing things that matter with your time is the the highest form of living. Add to that a passion for continuous learning and you’ve got yourself a great concept to rally around. Since, our company aims to help people with this, I am really passionate about it. If we do a good job then we’ll form an ever larger tribe around this idea.
Seth Godin’s insights are always inspiring & brilliant, and I recommend grabbing this book when you’re up for the brainstorming that this will undoubtedly cause.
On a final note. Seth Godin’s blog is the most widely read business blog in the world. If you’re not already reading it you should start today, it’s well worth your time.
