Seth Godin is the author of Tribes, The Dip, Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars, Permission Marketing and other international bestsellers that have changed the way businesspeople think and act. He's the most influential business blogger in the world and consistently one of the twenty-five most widely read bloggers in the English language. In this new book, this best-selling marketing guru helps you recognize the trap of career and corporate expectations to which many of us fall victim.
Godin is renowned for turning conventional thinking upside down. In this book he challenges the reader to become indispensable by engaging in our work with passion instead of becoming dull, monotonous "cogs" in a corporate nightmare. “The best future available to us is a future where you contribute your true self and your best work." He recommends taking charge of your own life and career to find success more on your own terms.
In bestsellers such as Purple Cow and Tribes, Godin taught readers how to make remarkable products and spread powerful ideas. This book is different. It's about you - your choices, your future, and your potential to make a huge difference in whatever field you choose.
According to Godin, a linchpin is somebody in an organization who is indispensable, who cannot be replaced—their role is just far too unique and valuable. "The only way to get what you're worth is to stand out and to exert emotional labour, to be seen as indispensable, and to produce interactions that organizations and people care deeply about." Such people he defines as “artists”. By his definition, an artist is not just some person who works with paint and brushes, but somebody who does “emotional work.”
He identifies the 7 abilities of a linchpin as:
1. Providing unique interface between members of an organization
2. Delivering unique creativity
3. Managing a situation of great complexity
4. Leading customers
5. Inspiring staff
6. Deep domain knowledge
7. Possessing a unique talent
One of Godin's longer books, Linchpin book contains 14 chapters, including a helpful Table of Contents that provides sneak previews of each. The titles of the chapters give you a feel for the book's direction; The New World of Work, Indoctrination: How We Got Here, Becoming the Linchpin, Is it Possible to do Hard Work in a Cubicle and Making the Choice are examples.
Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organisations. Like the small piece of hardware that keeps a wheel from falling off its axle, they may not be famous but they're indispensable.
A couple of quotes from the book give you an idea of its racy, easy style.
"If you want customers to flock to you, it's tempting to race to the bottom of the price chart. There's not a lot of room for profit there, though...In a world that relentlessly races to the bottom, you lose if you also race to the bottom. The only way to win is to race to the top. When your organization becomes more human, more remarkable, faster on its feet, and more likely to connect directly with customers, it becomes indispensable.... “
"Second, the people that work for you, the ones you freed to be artists [i.e. creators of unique, compelling, and substantial value], will rise to a level you can't even imagine. When people realize that they are not a cog in a machine, an easily replaceable commodity, they take the challenge and grow. They produce more than you pay them to, because you are paying them with something worth more than money....
"As a result of these priceless gifts, expect that the linchpins on your staff won't abuse their power. In fact, they'll work harder, stay longer, and produce more than you pay them to. Because everyone is a person, and people crave connection and respect." (Pages 35-36)
On résumés: "If you don't have a résumé, what do you have? How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects? Or a sophisticated project an employer can see or touch? Or a reputation that precedes you? Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up? Some say, `Well, that's fine, but I don't have those.' Yeah, that's my point. If you don't have these things, what leads you to believe that you are remarkable, amazing, or just plain spectacular? It sounds to me like if you don't have more than a résumé, you've been brainwashed into compliance. Great jobs, world-class jobs, jobs people kill for - those jobs don't get filled by people e-mailing in résumés." (Page 73)
On the power of being genuine and transparent: "Virtually all of us make our living engaging directly with other people. When the interactions are genuine and transparent, they usually work. When they are artificial or manipulative, they fail.
"The linchpin is coming from a posture of generosity; there to give a gift [no-strings support of your efforts to succeed]. If that's your intent, the words almost don't matter. What we'll perceive are your wishes, not the script.
"This is why telemarketing has such a ridiculously low conversion rate. Why corporate blogs are so lame. Why frontline workers in the service business have such stress. We can sense it when you read the script because we're so good at finding the honest signals." (Page 214)
Linchpin is full of thoughts worth re-reading over the course of years. It will become a guide for those who know they must continually learn and relearn how to see the world. It is a book that entices to think very clearly about the future. It is a book which dares readers to engage with friends, bosses, partners and colleagues. It is a book that urges you to trust your feelings on what choices you make in life.
