I’m in a book! Two actually. I’m on the inside cover (along with 1,399 other people) of Seth Godin’s new book, Tribes, and a contributor to the Tribes casebook live on his blog today.

Tribes (the book) is Seth’s latest, just released today. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy, and was struck by several things (after I finished looking for my picture!).

He talks about how in the old days, the money, and the power, and the reach was all concentrated in a few hands. If you weren’t a big corporation or didn’t have lots of money, you couldn’t get access to the microphone, the newspaper, or a TV ad. Now, we all have the same tools. We have blogs, we have YouTube, we have Twitter. Anyone with an idea can spread it. We can all be leaders, we just have to be brave enough to lean into the wind (even if it’s blowing in our faces).

We don’t have to sell “average things to average people”, or try to appeal to a “mass market” (selling to everyone doesn’t work anyway, especially if you’re a small business), just those who want something remarkable. More about Seth’s book.

The e-book, the Tribes casebook, grew out of a project on Triiibes (Seth’s online social network). We all pitched in and contributed. There are studies of how companies can build their own “tribe” (followers who passionately believe in what they do), such as Apple, and also what happens when a company treats its employees, and customers badly (destroying their tribe). How tribes are built, stay together, form their own “languages”, even succeed in the midst of a terrible war.

You can get the Tribes casebook for free by clicking on the picture of the fire.