Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Wales connected the tribe members to one another with ever-evolving technology that made it easier and easier for them to engage and communicate. And he gave the tribe a platform they could use to engage the outside world. That’s it—three steps: motivate, connect, and leverage.

Compromise may expedite a project, but compromise can kill it as well.

A student can sit in a classroom and accept what the teacher is sending out, then do the work and get by. Or she can take initiative and lead. She can provoke and question and ask for more.

People want connection and growth and something new. They want change.

One person can change an industry. One person can declare war. One person can reinvent science or politics or technology.

Tribes that work better when they’re bigger get bigger.

The one path that never works is the most common one: doing nothing at all. Nothing at all feels safe and it takes very little effort. It involves a lot of rationalization and a bit of hiding as well.

Leaders are curious because they can’t wait to find out what the group is going to do next. The changes in the tribe are what are interesting, and curiosity drives them.

Part of leadership (a big part of it, actually) is the ability to stick with the dream for a long time. Long enough that the critics realize that you’re going to get there one way or another . . . so they follow.