Warlords
So, I know what some of you are thinking: “Hadji, isn’t a warlord just a fancy word for ‘trendsetter’?” Nope, there’s a colossal difference. Consider this old joke: “You know the difference between the class clown and the class comedian? The class clown runs across the golf course with a sign on his back reading, ‘19th hole’ with an arrow pointing to his butt; the class comedian is the one who put him up to it.” A trendsetter is simply the first one to announce what’s next; the warlord manifests what’s next. The trendsetter is the prophet; the warlord is the prophecy.
One of my boys in NYC runs with Reebok, Int.—his agency does a lot of RBK work (S. Carter/G-Unit shoes, etc.). A couple years back, Reebok, like everyone else was still trying to get in on the throwback and athletic gear craze (they needed a late pass, like most corporate entities trying to leverage cultural trends). Anyway, they spent mad loot developing fresh athletic styles to reach the cool kids who’d been up on this for a few seasons by then. But then the prophecy came:
Gimme a crisp pair of jeans, n****, ‘button-ups’
S.Dots on my feet make my cipher complete…”
A trendsetter could’ve never done anything like that. For example: While P. Diddy and Russell Simmons aren’t warlords, they’re among the greatest trendsetters and businessmen in recent memory. They didn’t create hiphop but they helped take it mainstream and then global. And Michael Dell didn’t invent laptops or home computing, but he was among its first prophets and became a billionaire as a result. Apple didn’t invent the MP3 format, but Steve Jobs and crew saw the light; and while everyone else was suing college kids for downloading and grandstanding, Apple dropped iPods and became trendsetters. Again, warlords create; trendsetters cheerlead creations.
Conversely, it’s not impossible for a trendsetter to evolve into a warlord. Nike’s done it to a certain extent. Back in the day, Converse was the preeminent and seemingly invincible leader in basketball shoes while Nike was just a small upstart relegated to outfitting the track and field set, mostly middle distance runners in the Pacific Northwest at that. But in addition to a couple technological advances, Phil Knight & Co. made spotted a couple tribal trends (namely a baldhead-slick skywalker from Chi); the result pushed them so far out in front of everyone else that they became warlords for basketball, casual athletic gear and for a time, urban streetwear. Oprah Winfrey didn’t event soccermoms or talk shows, but when the rest were doing celebrity sycophant-fests and white-trash circuses, Oprah flipped the nation’s you-go-girls and desperate-housewives-in-training-bras into an empire. Martha Stewart didn’t invent that WASP-y, American Beauty aesthetic, but she saw the light and not even her 2004 prison stretch stopped her shine. NASCAR really didn’t invent auto racing, but they rode it to warlord status.
Note: While certain celebrities can become warlords, most can’t because most tribes will always dislike celebrities. Tribes, being the super savvy consumers that they are, are realizing that to become a celebrity you must have the support of entities outside your tribe—companies and consumers—who won’t always have your tribe’s interests at heart. Tribes are also realizing that because money and celebrity can change people, many celebrities often become too detached from the masses to be taken seriously as authorities or advocates, which is a big part of being a warlord. But some celebrities will become warlords because they were accepted into the tribe long before they got famous. (The Olsen Twins, who are a self-contained entertainment/fashion brand, are great examples—they literally grew up with the tribes that made them half-billionaires.)
Also, unlike traditional trendsetters and hipsters, warlords have power and influence beyond the trend or advent they’ve championed. For all of Hugh Hefner’s successes, he really has no power or influence beyond Playboy; His realm is adult entertainment and even in that arena his influence only goes so far. For all of Howard Stern’s dominance, he has no real influence beyond his radio show. But warlords like Oprah, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, TD Jakes, Creflo Dollar, the DNC/RNC, etc. can influence their tribes on issues beyond their accepted areas of expertise. Why? Their tribes trust their judgment and accept their gatekeeper’s status.


















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