What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

The explosion of crypto communities and DAOs is ushering in an exciting milestone for humanity. Never before have groups come together like this to share in the excitement of building new possibilities together. Human history is rich with examples of groups forming tribes forming nations. However, these have historically been location-based. You could not easily leave one tribe and join another. You couldn’t be in several countries at once.

The internet and digital revolutions have erased that constraint. The social web taught us the power of connection. It no longer mattered where you sat if you could give value or friendship the whole world was yours. There’s no limit to what connections can make possible. Huge fortunes and careers were born out of the simple skill of connecting and exchanging value.

However, this was fleeting. Social connections were dependant on the networks themselves. If a platform disappeared, all connections and history were lost. Ownership and the rewards and decision-making power that goes with it belonged to a select few massive technology entities. Identity was centralized by them and possibilities limited.

Now crypto adds ownership into the equation. Now we can have our connections and keep the value we create. And we create a tremendous amount of value. Always have. Humans always tend to have a positive-sum relationship when we work together. We don’t always work together, but more on that later.

One misnomer about DAOs is that they are leaderless. I don’t believe this is true. From what I’ve seen there are always people who set the agenda and push for a vision. This is a good and natural thing. DAOs enable anyone to get involved who shares the vision. With time, those open doors can lead to anyone rising to be a leader of a DAO. This is a rise based on merit.

Seth Godin wrote Tribes in 2008 as a call to action for leaders. He called out that groups need leaders and leaders need groups. “A tribe without a leader is a crowd.” He shares that tribes will have leaders, a shared idea, and the means to communicate. So what does a leader do?

Focuses on the Tribe. Encourages connection and alignment of the shared idea. Recruits people to join. Helps people to find their place in the group. Fosters belonging.

Throughout human history, strong tribes have found ways to chose wise and empathetic leaders, build a shared narrative, and stay in touch.

DAOs are digital tribes. They may become decentralized, but they do so thanks to the strength of a shared vision originally evangelized by leaders. They can be driven by member votes, but only if the platform is configured to safely tabulate these votes under the supervision of someone who cares.

Leadership can be shared. Great leaders enable and empower other leaders. A large DAO will need many leaders focused on many parts of the community. DOAs may make it so that no one person ever has the authority or responsibility for everything. But the actions of even one person in a huge group can have striking consequences. “Good vibes” are a choice.

Tribes (the book) is a call to action for leaders to get involved with groups that align with their interests. To step up and help out. It’s a great read for anyone seeing discords and Eth hashes and feeling lost. DAOs are the current new iteration of human connection. They give us a communal table to share stories and spoils of the hunt. Don’t be distracted by the tokenomics and mooning pfp NFTs. Those are part of the story.

The shared visions and leader-empowered communities will have a much greater impact and last far longer.