It Takes a Tribe

Building the Tough Mudder Movement

By: Will Dean

Narrated by: Elliot Hill

“Who on earth wants to jump into ice baths and run through fire and wallow in mud on a Sunday afternoon, just for the hell of it?” my professors asked. My gut feeling was—plenty of people.

Will Dean, founder of extreme obstacle course Tough Mudder, shares the thrilling inside story of how a scrappy startup grew into a movement whose millions of members feel like co-owners. He shows how other companies can embrace the Tough Mudder playbook by nurturing tribes of passionate fans while constantly experimenting with new risks.

After five years as a British counterterrorism officer and two years at Harvard Business School, Dean was determined not to follow his classmates to Wall Street or Silicon Valley. Instead, he pursued his unique vision for an extreme obstacle course—a ten- to twelve-mile gauntlet pushing participants to their limits and helping them surpass those limits together. Instead of cutthroat competition, Tough Mudder would be about continual self-improvement and collective energy.

It would be about the power of a tribe.

Dean and his small team launched the first Tough Mudder event in May 2010, hosting 5,000 pioneers at a deserted ski resort in Pennsylvania. Just seven years later, more than 3 million people on four continents have participated at least once, and hundreds of thousands have done so repeatedly. More than 20,000 are so committed that they sport a Tough Mudder tattoo.

Mudders prove the power of fierce and unshakable loyalty to one another and the challenge itself. Proudly sport­ing orange headbands and team uniforms, they’ll run through mud, climb steep walls, face elec­tric shocks, and slide down the side of a moun­tain. The tougher the experience, the greater the satisfaction.

It Takes a Tribe shows you how to embody the Tough Mudder spirit and capture the same magic. As a Tough Mudder slogan says, “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

Highly recommend!

This book brings a great theory to life and business. Anyone that has run a Tough Mudder will be a little more fulfilled by reading/ listening to the story of how the business was built
and the growth of the Mudder tribe.

Entrepreneurship, building a tribe, and more

This isn't what I expected but it is much better!

If you are looking for an interesting book on entrepreneurship, building a tribe, and not following the advice of your Harvard MBA Professors, this is an excellent listen. I wasn't sure what to expect but I have always been into fitness and my youngest completed a tough mudder and recently a Spartan Sprint so I decided to try the book. It was unlike what I anticipated and focused on being an entrepreneur and building a movement and tribe. It is a fast read and is very similar to others along the same genre but it is an encouraging book. The British accent of the narrator adds a great touch.

Feeling down? Get muddy

If you have never run a Tough Mudder. after reading this book you will want to.

Not the book I expected but still good.

just more business/college related, almost autobiography related than I had expected but still good all the same

A business book

A great story, well told by the author. Should be required reading for any would-be entrapreneur.