I just finished watching this inspiring presentation by Seth Godin from TED 2009 and wanted to briefly reflect on the implications of it all. So much of this presentation resonated with me that I can’t discuss every single point in detail, so instead I might expand on the overall feeling I leave this presentation with. I recommend spending the next 17:23 minutes watching this video – it’s well worth it.

What I find so inspiring about this presentation is the notion that every contribution is valuable; every action that seeks to affect change and resolve a matter of concern is a worthwhile endeavor – no matter how small, no matter how many or few people who engage in the quest as well. It’s only through action that change can occur, and according to Godin, the vehicle for change is now the tribe.

Godin argues that this pursuit of change is fundamental to who we are, saying “…what we do is we try to change everything. We try to find a piece of the status quo, something that bothers us, something that needs to be improved, something that’s itching to be changed and we change it. And we try to make big, permanent, important change.”

Further, he argues that change is most effectively pursued and achieved through the efforts of tribe.

“It turns out that it’s tribes, not money, not factories that can change our world; that can change politics; that can change large numbers of people. Not because you force them to do something against their will, but because they want to connect.”

He continues that we first find something that needs to be improved or changed: “what we do for a living now…is find something worth changing, and then assemble tribes….It becomes far bigger than ourselves; it becomes a movement.”

Significantly, Godin argues that you don’t need everyone to affect this change and mobilise movements, you only need a core group of dedicate, passionate people who tirelessly keep the momentum going and over time the movement will build and grow.

“What it is about instead is finding the true believers.”

This idea – the idea of the empowered, singular importance of the individual – is an incredible concept that I think needs to be examined, embraced and harnessed. If each of us makes a conscious effort to tap into this inherent potential and come together with like minds in pursuit of a shared goal, we are surely capable of amazing things.

Godin discussed the Kindle, and laments the fact it fails to help connect people and facilitate the organisation and mobilisation of movements. In social media and the internet we are not victims of the same static boundaries. We have at our disposal a truly incredible medium for connecting, unifying and pursuing the changes we see as important.

The question now is, what shall we change?