The Tribe is growing..

Previously,when we talk about tribe,it relates to a particular group of people from one geographical location or of a particular ethnic group or religion.Nowadays,a tribe is just a group of people with a leader and shared common values or passion and they communicate vertically and horizontally.For better explaination,kindly read the book entitled The Tribe by Seth Godin.

About ten years ago,I have started one tribe called SDARA egroup for the alumni of Sekolah Datuk Abdul Razak, my alma mater.Now, it has more than 600 members.Their mailinglist is alive and kicking with more than 1000 emails every month!

Another successful egroup I initiated with other PalmOS PDA users is now a thriving e-community for gadget lovers to discuss their hobbies ranging from PalmOS PDA(as a start) and now it goes to other OS(symbian) smart phones,moleskine journals,photography,GPS etc.It is where we share information,knowledge and experience in using our portable gadgets.

In the above two examples, we also have gathering where members meet each other a few times in a year.

However, I have my failures as well when I set up a group for books and project management for my friends.

All of us belongs to one tribe or another.A few months ago, I joined a group of cyclists whose riding base is in Putrajaya.My first ride there was with my schoolmates and friends.Later,I was introduced to night riding with more than 100 cyclists on 22nd of August,2008.They called it Putrajaya Critical Mass.That special night ride broke my fear and now I ride with them almost every weekend.I even ventured to ride a hill at FRIM.Previously,I only cycled around where I live and each ride never ever exceeded 10km.With this bike tribe who called themselves PERs(Putrajaya Easy Riders),I managed to ride 20km in Putrajaya,32km in KL City Centre and climbed Bukit Kepong at FRIM.Lately,I noticed our tribe is growing quite well when members who are having fun and enjoying their bicycle rides with us started to invite their friends.At the moment, our numbers is 30+, but I believe we can reach 100 cyclists by the year end.What Mr Seth Godin has written in his book is very true indeed.May be you canadopt and adapt the similar principles and applied to corporate environment(or academic etc) by changing the word "tribe" to "team".

There are a few cycling groups I noticed from their websites/forum in Malaysia.Each hasits own weekly or monthly activities-ranging from cross country,downhills etc.A few dare-devil ones are not suitable for me(age/skill).

One key element that leads to faster growth of these cycling tribes is the communication among members.Through forums,mailinglists and sms, they communicate regularly and this leads to create interests in cycling activities.When people are having fun,getting good exercises and have great conversations with their riding buddies,they will keep coming!