One of my dog-eared books is “Tribes,” by Seth Godin. I’m going to share this week one short section from “Tribes” then recommend you go to Amazon.com and purchase a copy for yourself.
If leadership is the ability to create change your tribe believes in, and the market demands change, then the market demands leaders.
Managers manage by using the authority the factory gives them. You listen to your manager or you lose your job. A manager can’t make change because that’s not his job. His job is to complete tasks assigned to him by someone else in the factory.
Leaders, on the other hand, don’t care very much for organizational structure or the official blessing of whatever factory they work for. They use passion and ideas to lead people, as opposed to using threats and bureaucracy to make them. Leaders must become aware of how the organization works, because this awareness allows them to change it.
Leadership doesn’t always start at the top, but it always manages to affect the folks at the top. In fact, most organizations are waiting for someone like you to lead them.
Seth Godin – “Tribes” 2008 order at www.amazon.com
