Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Seth Godin has authored dozens of popular books about marketing, sociology, the Internet, and personal empowerment. He posts daily on Seth’s Blog, which was listed among the 25 best blogs by Time in 2009, and has spoken publicly at forums such as TED Talk. After studying computer science and philosophy at Tufts University, he earned a Master of Business Administration in marketing from Stanford. His early career included time at Spinnaker, an educational software company; and Yoyodyne, a company he established to explore “permission marketing.” Because Godin believed so much of mass marketing was intrusive and ineffective, Yoyodyne created ad campaigns for companies focusing on user participation and consent. In a 2013 TED talk, he remarks, “What we’ve done as spammers is try to hypnotize everyone into buying our idea, hypnotize everyone into donating to our cause, hypnotize everyone into voting for our candidate. And unfortunately, it doesn’t work so well anymore” (Godin, Seth. “The Tribes We Lead.” Ted-ed, 2013). With this perspective, Godin pioneered ethical online direct marketing.

Godin argues the Internet has helped create countless communities based around niche, personalized interests. He believes tribes have always existed, but we are in a unique era of leverage and connectivity that empowers individuals.