One of the things that’s been of interest to me over the past few years has been the concept of ‘tribe’. Tribes aren’t new, dating back thousands of years. But ‘modern tribes’ have been redefined by Seth Godin as:
“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”
In that context, the connections we have in social media are our ‘tribes’, and the different circles of people we have are the different tribes that we’re part of.
I was reading an article the other day about tribes: How Finding Your Tribe Can Be The Key To Finding Your Ideal Career. I was quite interested in the idea of looking at my friends and seeing the common pattern of interests between them and me, and seeing how we form a ‘tribe’ based on those shared interests.
Different friends share different interests, and are often in different circles as a result. My interests are quite broad, and so is my range of friends. I’m not sure if I can call them tribes though, because there’s no defined and purposeful leadership in any of them, and that’s an important element.
It’s something that interests me, but I know I’m not a leader. I don’t have the interest or desire to lead others. It feels like something I absolutely want to avoid. Too many complications.
But I do enjoy the idea of empowering others to communicate.
I enjoy getting others talking and sharing their thoughts and feelings on what interests them. I enjoy getting people participating in conversations. I enjoy encouraging people to expand their horizons and step outside their comfort zones.
But I don’t actually want to be a leader. Maybe someone else can lead, who is inspired by what I write and promote. That would be cool.
Interestingly, in an online game called Eve Online, that I’ve been playing since 2006, I’ve always chosen the leadership path. I run my own corporation and my own alliance of member corporations. It’s what feels best for me. I’m acting as a leader in an online game, just not in real life. I lead my tribe in a virtual reality, but I have no such leadership aspirations in reality.
What’s your tribe? Do you have one or many, or none?
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