I saw Seth Godin’s “Tribes” proven by Obama’s Election

I received an advance copy of Seth Godin’s new book “Tribes” early last month and read it before attending a semi-private dress rehearsal of Godin’s new presentation. I’d been priveleged enough to see three variations of his marketing/business/evangelist presentation, something that Godin had worked on for about seven years, finely honing down his delivery and the 110 slides used in the presentation.

Seth Godin and Tom Lewis at Seth's Forbes Gallery dress rehearsal

The dress rehearsal was held in the Forbes Gallery in New York City and there were about 25 invitees in attendance. Godin explained that he had expanded the slideshow to almost 250 slides and then he just jumped into the presentation. The theme of the presentation was leadership and the many points he brings up in “Tribes” were echoed – but what was great was that nothing was verbatim. Godin doesn’t parrot his book or his blog, his presentations are as specific as the moment and place that they occur. Godin has created his own tribe and actually probably even more than one of them (blog readers, book readers, Squidoo members, Triiibes.com members). The openness, transparency, and honest of his asking for a “safe” place for him to test out what is a big part of the job he has created for himself, is what his tribe is all about – leading by example.

“Tribes” is another beautiful little book by Godin, 150 pages of examples, principles, and inspiration. Buy one or more and pass them around. Godin’s previous books evangelised innovation, building marketing into every aspect of a business, respecting customers, etc. “Tribes” is about how to step forward in business and in life.

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The election this past Tuesday was the story of the battle of two tribes. Barack Obama’s tribe won because it was an open and honest tribe that was true to itself. From the way it gathered campaign contributions to how it messaged followers on Twitter, it was a real tribe that didn’t compromise. Check out this interesting comparison of McCain and Obama on social networks – the differences are stark and spell out the failure of the McCain camp and the success of Obama.

It’s also worth remembering that McCain went back to secure backing from hardcore conservative groups and pundits, like Jerry Falwell, who had worked to destroy his character and reputation in the 2000 primary race. These were groups that had spread vile rumors and misinformation about McCain and now they were going to make nice? Making one’s bed with porcupines will not result in a solid partnership, a situationin sharp contrast with the openness of Obama’s movement. One can easily see that Obama helped create a movement, not just a campaign and that led to the success of his campaign. It will be interesting to see if/how Obama maintains the network he established over the past two years, ones he moves into the White House.