I have always been a
tribal person. The most fulfilling times of my life is when I am around and
working with groups of like-minded people. From my fellow band-geeks in
highschool to groups of colleagues now, I am just more productive when I am working
in and with groups gathered around a common goal or theme.
Recently I was
listening to a Success magazine interview with entrepreneur turned author and
speaker, Seth Godin. Seth stated that in order to have sales success, you must have
a tribal mindset. Specifically, you must Lead the tribe, Connect the tribe, and
then Ask the tribe. In other words, before you ask people to buy your product
or service, you must first lead them to who you are and what you are offering,
connect them to both yourself and other tribe members, and then (and only
then!) can you ask them to buy!
This got me thinking
out loud about how I could apply Seth’s insight into leadership. To me
leadership in this tribal mindset involves the following:
- You must first CREATE the tribe. Leadership expert John Maxwell often states no one does anything great alone. You must build your dream team to support your dream!
- You must LEAD the tribe. If you went to all the trouble to pull people together, then you better be prepared to lead them well.
- You must CONNECT the tribe. You must connect with them and connect them to each other. High functioning teams have high functioning relationships.
- You must SERVE the tribe. The greatest leaders are those that have a servant leader mindset. This involves getting up to your eyeballs in the life and issues of your team. Granted, this does not mean your micro or middle manage, it just means you share their burdens and pitch in where it will do the most good.
- You must ASK your tribe. Once leadership credibility has been established, then and only then do you have the permission to ask your tribe to support your efforts. Notice that this comes last for a reason. You cannot get to this point until you touched upon all the previous. This also points to a basic human need in that people want to feel needed. They need to know that they are important to what you are doing. So go ahead and ask them but make it a big ask, a meaningful ask, and a fulfilling ask.
The very process was used to create an incredible leadership program at Nova Southeastern University. We first created the program and connected the students to both ourselves and each other in very intentional ways. We serve this group of students by being available and always accessible to them. This gives us permission to then do great things for the university, in turn, build their own "tribes" that they can create, lead, connect, and serve.
Clearly, this is a model that you can replicate and sustain with similar results regardless of your industry or effort. So do you have a tribe
to help you succeed? Are you taking excellent care of the one you have now?
Have you asked first before serving, connecting, or leading first?
I would be honored if
you would join my tribe! If I
can serve you by helping you Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would
love to hear from you. Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies
website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will
send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your
organization! Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to
your organization (and your tribe!).
Yours
in Leadership,
Bill
Faulkner
Co-Founder
– Out Loud Strategies
Independent
Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team TM
Email = bill@outloudinc.com
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