Do you believe in an idea? Do you have passion for it? Are you willing to put yourself at the fore and lead? Seth Godin writes about this in his book “Tribes”. My friend Kevin Koym, the leader of Enterprise Teaming, turned me on to it and has been encouraging me to focus Mikons on what he calls affinity groups. I just read that book – “Tribes”. It is inspiring. It is one of the reasons for Mikons. Here he talks about it at the TED Conference.
A Mikon is a symbol about your group – your tribe. When you see someone with your Tribe’s symbol, then you know they are part of you. It is your visual symbol of connection.
But more important than a logo or a mikon is your contribution to change the world. In the video and in the book Seth offers this challenge to see if you have the mustard.
- Who are you upsetting. If you are not pissing someone off then you are not changing anything.
- Who are you connecting. If your passion does not translate into connection, then it is just a hobby.
- Who are you leading. If your passion is just in the silo of your own mind, then your are just a rebel without a clue or a cause.
Come to grips with this: If your are not changing, then you are dead – you are not contributing, you are just consuming. Seth offer his thoughts on what it takes to lead a Tribe.
- Leaders challenge the status quo.
- Leaders create a culture – a culture where change happens in the context of a shared passion.
- Leaders are committed. Leaders surrender themselves to something greater than themselves.
Finally he pleads, we need tribes, we need leaders, we need you to lead tribes that will change the world.
