Now a Shareholder and Director at Chartered Wealth Solutions we focussed on the area of retirement. It was then that I read Seth Godin’s book Tribes. I wanted to add extra value to our retirement clients, and in 2011, I established the retiresuccessfully.co.za website designed specifically for our clients in, at, or near retirement. The website is dedicated to supporting people in their retirement years to live the best and most purposeful life possible and is packed with practical articles and tips on making every day count. With this, I felt that I was really making a difference, connecting and supporting our tribe of clients in a place where they really belong!
I was so impressed with the book that I flew to New York to meet Seth Godin in person – and even paid extra to have dinner with him the night before the workshop. Sadly, jetlag caught up with me and I slept soundly in my hotel room through the entire dinner. On the plus side, I did make it for coffee and dessert!
My learning from Tribes
Seth Godin explains that for millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, they join or want to belong to groups of people who share commonalities such as religious-, political- or even economical- and musical-groups. These groups are now easier to belong to since the internet and social media channels have eliminated the barriers of geography, cost and time. And new tribes are born all the time! People inherently want to belong somewhere they can make a positive impact and difference to the world.
Who leads these tribes? Seth Gobin believes that anyone with enough passion and the desire to make a difference can provide leadership for these tribes. Consider for example Chris Sharma, who leads a tribe of rock climbers up impossible cliff faces, and Mich Mathews, a VP at Microsoft, who runs her internal tribe of marketers from her cube in Seattle. All they have in common is the desire to change things, the ability to connect a tribe, and the willingness to lead.