Have you ever wondered about natural group dynamics, who actually leads them, why we’ve joined the ones we are already in, and how to effectively communicate your brand to them?

This was essentially the platform for a presentation I was fortunate enough to participate in. On Thursday, Oct. 9th I attended a day of the Catalyst Leadership conference here in Atlanta, touted as the largest gathering of young leaders. Sitting amongst 12,400 highly enthusiastic participants, I think the Catalyst folks who claim this position and produce this highly creative event might be right. Switchfoot killed it with an acoustic set.

The experience was tops – I enjoyed hearing Jim Collins, Author, Good to Great and a certifiable genius, challenge everyone with the statement “good is the enemy of great”. Ponder that for a bit. But the speaker I want to share about was Seth Godin, who probably needs no introduction to this blog’s audience. He continues his rich trail of marketing consulting with a new book called Tribes. It releases October 16^th and I received an advance copy yesterday. Also gave an extra one to my colleagues Shannon and Darren (SG fans), and told them to share. We’ll see how well that goes .

First, a definition for you. A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. They are about faith – about believing in an idea and in their community. Now, let’s consider the Internet. It has enabled these tribes to form and flourish - with blogs, social networking sites, Twitter, content, self-publishing and more. It’s eliminated geography and done truly amazing things for creating tribes. For the wine nut who follows Gary Vaynerchuck, or the microfinance enthusiast on Kiva or conscientious giver on GiftCard Giver, you know what I’m talking about.

It’s the people, people!
Seth shared so many awesome examples of the Web enabling tribes to be more effective – some close to home, some totally mind-opening. But it became clear to me that it’s not really about the Internet. I mean it is, in terms of tactics and tools, but don’t we know by now that current ones will fade away and new ones will replace them. What’s really powerful about tribes is the people. The segment of an audience. People who are in a tribe because they all believe strongly in the same cause or movement. People who communicate to each other in their tribe.

Heretics. The new leaders
Seth posited that while the Web can do amazing things to nurture tribes, it can’t provide leadership. He asked the question: Who is going to lead these tribes?

Think about the term heretic and you’ll know why he uses it. Heretics don’t let rules or religion stand in the way of what they want to accomplish. Oh, and for all my Marketing peers out there, I’ll share a simple but loaded equation to you from Seth: Marketing = Leadership and Leadership = Marketing.

He shared 7 traits of a heretical tribal leader:

1. Challenge – they challenge their tribe!
2. Culture – they intentionally create it. And I’ll add a favorite quote of mine from the brilliant Andy Crouch: “the only way that cultures change is when people make more culture”.
3. Curiosity – they’re always probing…
4. Charisma – some inherently have it, but most get it because of their leadership
5. Communicate – they talk with, not “to” or “at”
6. Connect – they make it easy for followers to connect with them and with others
7. Commit – they commit to the wellness of the tribe

Inspire you?? One other thing. You may know Seth Godin is a renowned speaker. I had heard he was one of the best presenters in the business world yet I was still blown away by his impeccable skills. His story (and it really was a story) was illustrated by no less than 70-80 slides. Each slide was a photograph, or diagram, with very few texts, all powerfully aiding his narrative. It’s the type of presentation I always strive to give, but woefully fail at…

So I’ll close with a few questions for you to think about:

• What tribe are you proud to claim membership in?
• Are you a tribal leader?
• Marketers, what are you doing to nurture tribes in your profession and provide relevant brand experiences to tribal members?

I welcome your thoughts!

Well, they say 4th time’s the charm.  I finally got my new 16GB 3G iPhone this weekend.  I really loved spending early Saturday morning in line at Lenox Mall.  Thank you Apple!  What else would I have done with those 4 hours?

So let me just say that the phrase “learned behavior” has taken on a whole new meaning for me.  I had no idea how ingrained my last 6 years of BlackBerry use was, which resulted in some awkward trials this weekend.

Don’t get me wrong, I am delighted with some of the new features my iPhone offers.  But I totally miss the way you speed dial from your BlackBerry by hitting one button (ah, the buttons…), or the amazing battery life (this once a day iPhone charge is never going to work) or the actual keypad where I was a one-handed SPEED typer.

On the flip, the iPhone display is amazing and the fully integrated apps ROCK - it’s particularly nice to consolidate my ipod mini and my phone. The email readability is tops, and I love to finally browse in style. And I thought the BlackBerry was crack.

But why can’t we get the best of breed phone? Wouldn’t that be ideal?

And has anyone else made the switch and still find themselves looking for the blinking red light on your phone?