Quotes About Community

So a leader can help increase the effectiveness of the tribe and its members by • transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and desire for change; • providing tools to allow members to tighten their communications; and • leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members.

Most leaders focus only on the third tactic. A bigger tribe somehow equals a better tribe. In fact, the first two tactics almost always lead to more impact. Every action you take as a leader can affect these three elements, and the challenge is to figure out which one to maximize.

Crowds and Tribes Two different things: A crowd is a tribe without a leader. A crowd is a tribe without communication. Most organizations spend their time marketing to the crowd. Smart organizations assemble the tribe. Crowds are interesting, and they can create all sorts of worthwhile artifacts and market effects. But tribes are longer lasting and more effective.

On the other hand, here's an example from By the Way Bakery, which my wife founded. It's the largest gluten-free bakery of its kind in the world. Their change? "We want to make sure no one is left out. By offering people gluten-free, dairy-free, and kosher baked goods that happen to be delicious, we let the entire community be part of special family occasions. We change hosts from exclusive to inclusive, and guests from outsiders to insiders." What

It's not enough to find a niche that shares a worldview. That niche has to be ready and able to influence a large group of their friends.

Marketing is not a battle, and it's not a war, or even a contest Marketing is the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem. It's a chance to change the culture for the better. Marketing involves very little in the way of shouting, hustling, or coercion. It's a chance to serve, instead.

In order to lead a tribe, no such rule applies. All you need to do is motivate people who choose to follow you.

Some tribes are stuck. They embrace the status quo and drown out any tribe member who dares to question authority and the accepted order. Big charities, tiny clubs, struggling corporations—they're tribes and they're stuck. I'm not so interested in those tribes. They create little of value and they're sort of boring. Every one of those tribes, though, is a movement waiting to happen, a group of people just waiting to be energized and transformed.

At the heart of the exclusive organization is a simple truth: every member is "people like us." Sign up for that and you gain status. Walk away and you lose it.

Marketing changed everything. Marketing created leverage. Marketing certainly changed the status quo. Most of all, marketing freed and energized the tribe.

Humans are lonely, and they want to be seen and known.

It's time to do something else with marketing. To make things better. To cause a change you'd like to see in the world. To grow your project, sure, but mostly to serve the people you care about. The answer to just about every question about work is really the question, "Who can you help?

Today, marketing is about engaging with the tribe and delivering products and services with stories that spread.

Tribes are about faith—about belief in an idea and in a community.

I hope that's not so simple that it gets ignored, because it's important. It's such an effective idea that it saves children's lives every day. All the Sternins did was find the mom with the healthy kids. And then they helped the others in the village notice what she was doing. They gave that mom a spotlight, encouraging her to keep it up and, more important, encouraging others to follow her lead.

As we saw earlier, it takes only two things to turn a group of people into a tribe: • A shared interest • A way to communicate

The communication can be one of four kinds: • Leader to tribe • Tribe to leader • Tribe member to tribe member • Tribe member to outsider

Tribes, though, aren't about stuff. They're about connection.

Through your actions as a leader, you attract a tribe that wants to follow you. That tribe has a worldview that matches the message you're sending.

This leads to an interesting thought: you get to choose the tribe you will lead. Through your actions as a leader, you attract a tribe that wants to follow you. That tribe has a worldview that matches the message you're sending.

What you won't find in a factory is a motivated tribe making a difference. And what you won't find waiting outside the factory is a tribe of customers, excited about what's to come.

When you are leading a tribe, a tribe that you belong to, the benefits increase, the work gets easier, and the results are more obvious.

We have to trust ourselves and then we have to trust the people we serve.

We can't change the culture, but each of us has the opportunity to change a culture—our little pocket of the world.