As I was reading Seth Godin’s blog I came across a post made on January 30th, 2008 on Tribal Management. The one line in that post that caught my attention was the following:
People form tribes with or without us. The challenge is to work for the tribe and make it something even better.
From our experience meeting dozens of marketers and brand managers, this is the one major misconception many people have about tribes. It is not something that can be built - they naturally form. It is up to the organization how to strategically tap into and support the tribe.
Unfortunately, as Seth mentions, that means that the days of the brand manager leading the charge are over. Your brand is defined and driven by your tribe. The brands that manage the tribes well will be the ones that prosper in the future.
I recommend reading Seth’s entire post.
November 14th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
thanks Malcolm!