Author: whatifconcepts

Empowering those that inspire so they can excel at the work that matters.

The Post

Is there a place where your tribe can gather and mark their presence?  The days of signing a guest book have given way in many causes to virtual check-ins on Foursquare, location activation on Facebook, and real-time streaming.  Whatever the technology employed, do you have a special club for those that belong?  Augusta National Golf Club has its green jackets and Harley-Davidson its tattoo.  These are ways of standing out among the masses.  These groups also have specific locations to gather and connect.  Where is your tribes gathering place? 

Connecting

You have just landed in a city that you have never visited.  It is late at night and your senses are overloaded as you try to decode the labyrinth of the airport and find transportation to your final destination for the evening.  Suddenly, a person intersected your meandering path.  “Great game Saturday, wasn’t it'” they state.  You mind races back to the article you read on the plane about the latest travel scams, you tense.  Then the stranger points at the logo on your shirt.  You look down and absorb the fact that your hometown’s college logo is embroidered on your shirt pocket.  The stranger reveals a tattoo on his arm with the same symbol.  You relax and enter into a quick back and forth about the successes of the college football team.  Before long, you have received directions and a few insider tips on getting to your hotel.

Boise State University

What can we learn about building a tribe from college football.  Universities do it as publicly and as well as anyone else.  They gather their members every weekend in the fall to cheer on the team.  The community is full of merchants that sell the tribe’s colors and crest.  Members can connect with each other in-person and online via official and unofficial forums.  Fans plan events the rest of the year to connect outside of game day.  And if you wear the school’s logo around the world, it is assured that you will run into like minded individuals and also somebody who reminds you why failure and doom are certain to befall your warriors during the season. 

Try it someday.  Travel with a favorite college teams logo and count the interactions.

Our Language

To enhance the connection between members of your tribe, do you have a form of communicating that is unique?  Does it help draw in others with the same interest?

Those in the aviation industry would immediately recognize the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet but it might cause a miscommunication in a spelling bee.  Using customizations can be a powerful source of connection or lead to more isolation.


During Your Lifetime
Voyager 1

Voyager 1 is leaving our solar system and entering the heliosphere (real-time data here), the first man made object to reach this milestone.  During the majority of my lifetime this space craft has been on an ever expanding journey.  Had the mission commanders waited for the next generation of technology or more durable materials the launch could have been reasonably delayed many times.  Instead, a leader determined the Voyager was ready and it was launched (along with Voyager 2).  The mission has been so successful that it has been expanded multiple times.  Had the ideology of NASA and JPL been to achieve perfection, the mission would still be in the design phase.  Instead, making the impossible possible means accepting failure and misions are launched with the best ideas that can be assembled at that time.

What are you waiting to launch?