Tribe Building

Why Malcolm Gladwell is Wrong about Chris Anderson

In a recent article, Malcolm Gladwell articulates an impressive argument explaining why Chris Anderson is wrong in his new book - “Free: The Future of a Radical Price”. Malcolm’s article led to this blog post by Seth Godin.

For the record, I’m a huge fan of Malcolm Gladwell and his awesome work. Also, Chris forgot to send me a copy of his new book for review, so I’m admitting that I’ve yet to read it. Regardless, for this discussion, reading it isn’t necessary.

Here’s why Malcolm is wrong:

First, he spends much time discussing YouTube, and the fact that it’s failed to make a profit for Google. Unfortunately, Malcolm entirely misses the point as he uses this example to shoot holes in Chris’s argument. The only real reason YouTube has failed to make a profit for Google is because businesses are too slow to adapt to new marketing. YouTube is nothing more than attention. It’s an awesome place for right-brained business people to create new ways of being noticed. My company is already having success marketing on YouTube. Give it time and YouTube will be turning a huge profit for Google.

Second, Malcolm lists a number of examples where the Free model isn’t being used and success is found, but again, he misses the point. Free is about attention, free turns heads, free can get you noticed. Free isn’t about what’s working or isn’t working today. You can fight the rule of Free all you like, but Free is sort of like gravity, you’ll spend much more energy working against it than you will working with it.

Third, and this is the main reason I believe Malcolm is wrong.  Because he doesn’t want Chris's law of Free to be right. How often have we seen it? Business leaders everywhere have refused to accept the changing nature of the world, the evolving tribal nature of people on the Net. Just like many other people, Malcolm is afraid. He’s watching the world as he’s known it change faster than any of us are truly ready to admit.

Connections and Feelings

At one time or another, everyone is a customer and everyone has feelings. In case you haven’t noticed, people are generally driven by their feelings.

Successful businesses (and people) are able to establish connections that generate good feelings in other people and themselves. Think about it, when you walk away from a business transaction with good feelings, don’t you feel more connected to the business?

So here’s the big question: If you’re looking to build a successful business, why would you ever engage in a transaction with a customer (or potential customer) that didn’t stimulate good feelings in that customer? The answer, of course, is that you would never want to do that.  Right?

If you would like to learn more about the power of connections and how those connections relate to the concept of tribes, check out my newly published manifesto on ChangeThis.com.

http://www.changethis.com/55.04.CustomerTribes

Enjoy!

One Click and a Vote

Someone needs your vote.  She's a friend of mine.  Her name is Becky.  You can go to this website and vote for "Stay Hungry".

You can read the ebook you're voting for here.  If you don't have time to read it right now, I'll need to ask you to trust me.  Becky is an excellent writer and a great friend.

Thanks,

Ed

Gold Nuggets from Joel D Canfield

Joel D Canfield, was kind enough to share some business wisdom with me.  He gave me a copy of a book he wrote - 49 Commonsense Business Observations.

Over the years, I’ve read many books - most of them being business books and self-improvement type books.  However, I found a lot of useful nuggets in Joel’s book that I had never read.  For instance, do you like weeds?  You know, the kind of weeds that come up in your garden and choke your flowers and tomatoes?  Do you understand the relationship between positive action and weeds?  More importantly, did you realize this concept is very important to your business success?  You can learn about it in this book, along with 48 other fantastic bits of business wisdom.

Just for the record, I will not write about a book unless I like it and believe others would find it to be very beneficial as well.  So, this little blog post isn’t a favor for Joel, it’s a favor for you.  And, all 49 tidbits of wisdom are useful for tribe building as well.  That’s a bonus!

Tribes Questions and Answers ebook

A few members of Triibes.com worked together to produce an awesome ebook filled with questions and answers about the concept of tribes.  Download Tribes Q&A ebook here.

Since August of this year, Triiibes members have been submerged in the concept of tribes.  We’ve been receiving a “tribal education”.  If you haven’t read it already - visit this page about tribes  - where you can purchase a great book written by Seth Godin  - about tribes and leadership.

The Q&A ebook builds upon and expands the concepts in Seth’s book.  It’s a must read and reference for anyone seeking to learn more about tribes.

Although a number of Triiibes members participated in the creation of this ebook, one member deserves a hearty pat on the back for her leadership and commitment to the goal of creating a fantastic ebook.  That person is Megan Elizabeth Morris.

Anyone familiar with Seth Godin understands that he operates in the realm of “remarkable”.  He likes to see us "raise the game".  Not only did Megan take the lead on this project, she led us and created the process at the same time - Megan "raised the game".

In addition to her work, I would also like to thank the Triiibes members who contributed to the ebook and thank Seth Godin for making all of this possible with his visionary leadership.

Last, but not least, another Triiibes member - Paul Durban - is a creative genius and he designed the ebook.  Be sure to check out his creation - Bolofeesh - for a great laugh during a stressful day.