It Takes a Tribe: Building the Tough Mudder Movement

My professors did not get the attraction of a difficult challenge in which nobody was measured or ranked. “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?” they asked. My gut feeling was-plenty of people.

Will Dean is the unlikely founder of an even less likely global phenomenon. After five years as a British counterterrorism officer and two years at Harvard Business School, he 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 that would push participants to their limits and help them surpass those limits together. It would be about collective energy and continual self-improvement, not cutthroat competition.

It would be about the power of a tribe.

Dean and his small, cash-strapped team launched the first Tough Mudder event in May 2010, hosting 4,500 pioneers at a deserted ski resort in Pennsylvania. Just seven years later, more than 2.5 million people on three continents have participated at least once, and hundreds of thousands have done so repeatedly. More than 5,000 are so committed that they sport a Tough Mudder tattoo. All of these “Mudders” take the Tough Mudder pledge seriously:

I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge.

I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.

I do not whine-kids whine.

I help my fellow Mudders complete the course.

I overcome all fears.

Watch this video to get an exclusive look into the Tough Mudder movement:



By espousing these values, 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.

In this book, Dean shares the thrilling inside story of how a scrappy startup grew into a move­ment whose millions of members feel like co-owners. He also shows how other companies can embrace the Tough Mudder playbook by nurturing tribes of passionate fans while constantly experi­menting with new risks. As a Tough Mudder slogan says, “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

The book, It Takes a Tribe: Building the Tough Mudder Movement [Bulk, Wholesale, Quantity] ISBN# 9780735214699 in Hardcover by Will Dean may be ordered in bulk quantities. Minimum starts at 25 copies. Availability based on publisher status and quantity being ordered.