Review of Linchpin – Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin

Five Great Ideas from Linchpin by Seth Godin

1. Stop asking what’s in it for you, and start giving gifts that change lives.
2. Productivity and generosity make markets bigger and more efficient.
3. Seek out achievements where there are no limits.
4. Feel the fear and do it anyway.
5. Perfection is overrated, laugh at it. Benjamin Franklin discovered that perfectionism doesn’t exist.

Questions to Ponder

1. If your organization decided to replace you with someone with superior skills and far better at your job than you, what would the job ad say?
2. Do you have the confidence to make a difference in your organization, and to do work that matters? If yes, why do believe that?
3. Can you anticipate and solve your customers’ problems, even the ones they do not realize they have?
4. What do you fear? What holds you back from being your authentic self?
5. What tools do you have in your tool kit? Do they make you more productive and efficient? Do they make you remarkable?

What is Linchpin by Seth Godin About?

“Original thinker, provocateur, someone who cares, the person who can bring it together and make a difference…Someone who owns her own means of production, who leads and connects, and walks into chaos and create order” is a linchpin says marketing guru, Seth Godin in his book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Linchpins are also connectors, and they value relationships because they understand that no one succeeds alone.

While I was reading Linchpin, I kept on thinking about a statement Earl Nightingale made in his classic The Strangest Secret: “Rollo May, the distinguished psychiatrist, wrote a wonderful book called Man's Search for Himself, and in this book he says, “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice … it is conformity.” And there you have the reason for so many failures. Conformity — people acting like everyone else, without knowing why or where they are going.”

People are playing it safe and conforming, so we are living in a me-too culture, where most subscribe to the herd mentality. In Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, Seth Godin uses the term artists, but in the context that an artist is someone who changes people by the gifts they offer the world.

Reading the book will make many uncomfortable, because most people do not want to stand out and be remarkable. Why? Because it takes hard work and a lot of effort. And many do not step out of their comfort zone and do what needs to be done, because we have always been told what to do.

Historically, if people kept their heads down, did what they were told, showed up on time for work, worked hard, sucked it up and not make waves, they would eventually attain professional success. Those days are long gone. To be successful today, the new reality requires people to be remarkable, generous, make judgment calls, create art and connect people and art. This is what the global markets dictate. People have to take the initiative and do what needs to be done.

Being remarkable and doing what needs to be done will create resistance because it’s foreign. When this occurs, it’s time to move through the dip and do what Susan Jeffers says, to feel the fear and do it anyway. Contrary to what we were taught, our creations really do not have to be perfect. Most times 80 percent is good enough. As an artist, the more craft you make, the better you become.

Seth Godin deals with a very difficult topic, because to be a linchpin requires us to swim upstream. To get more customers, or increase market share, requires that we up the quality of our service offering, do what others are not doing. In what ways can you up the ante and deliver your product or service so that it changes your customers?

A good place to begin if you want to become a linchpin is to honestly answer the five questions to ponder, then take action.

1. If your organization decided to replace you with someone with superior skills and far better at your job than you, what would the job ad say?
2. Do you have the confidence to make a difference in your organization, and to do work that matters? If yes, why do believe that?
3. Can you anticipate and solve your customers’ problems, even the ones they do not realize they have?
4. What do you fear? What holds you back from being your authentic self?
5. What tools do you have in your tool kit? Do they make you more efficient? Do they may you remarkable?

Simple Application of Linchpin by Seth Godin

People often forward interesting articles to their clients for them to read. In my post yesterday I discussed how to go a bit deeper, and instead of simply sending the article, add your keen insights. This simple gesture will distinguish a linchpin from an ordinary employee. Yes, it’s more work, but it’s value added for your client. And in the process, you are making yourself more indispensable.

I recommend Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin because it will make you think.

Are you a linchpin? What are five things you could do today to add value that would change your customers’ experiences?

Further Reading

Review: Evil Plans by Hugh MacLeod

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?Tribes: We Need You to Lead UsAll Marketers are Liars: The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works–and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of AllPurple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being RemarkableThe Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into CustomersPoke the Box: When Was the Last Time You Did Something for the First Time?We Are All Weird: The Myth of Mass and The End of Compliance