The Tribes We Lead
- Stephanie Flynn
- Oct 23, 2016
- 2 min read
In reading and watching different resources this week about tribes, I came across one particular story that really brought the idea to life for me and helped me to see the connection between tribes and my networked learning space that I've been drafting this past week. Up until that point, all I knew about tribes was that they are a community of like-minded individuals coming together for a similar reason or cause. The TEDx talk by Seth Godin titled, "The Tribes We Lead," reinforced this idea, but also helped me to see how tribes form, not just what they are.
The networked learning space assignment is all about leading a tribe of people for one reason or another. To do this it all starts with a story - the very heart and reason behind what you are doing. Next comes making connections - the initial forming of your tribe. As Seth states, it doesn't take everyone (for certainly not everyone will be interested in your cause), but rather it takes connecting the people who are genuinely interested in your cause to start to form your tribe. Once the tribe is formed, it transitions into leading a movement - connecting to other like-minded tribes, empowering new leaders for this cause, and spreading the word for why your movement is important. All of this then leads up to making a change.
Knowing all of this, it can sound daunting starting a tribe, especially to those people who feel they have little to no leadership qualities to do so. When most people are given the opportunity to be a leader, they have a moment of insecurity where they question if they have what it takes to be a leader or not. Being a good leader of a tribe isn't about having the skills at the start, but rather about jumping in, adapting, and building up those skills along the way. This is something I have to continually remind myself whenever I set out to lead a new endeavor. The other issue at hand, for my NLS anyway, with all of this is the making a change part. Currently, I can't successfully answer the question, "Who am I upsetting?" I know very clearly who I will be connecting and who I will be leading through my NLS, but I'm not sure what about our learning and spreading of knowledge will be upsetting in order to make a change. This is something I will have to think more on for sure.