Linchpin: A New Era of Work
Let’s face it: most of us hate our jobs. We do it because we have to make a living and that’s just the way it is.
Get over it.
But instead of complaining about it (most of us are real good at this), why not change the relationship you have with your job? Why not change the way you do your job to make it more rewarding for yourself and to make you more valuable to the company you work for?
Sounds like a great idea, right? Maybe a little too good to be true?
Well, Seth Godin thinks it’s the only idea. In his book Linchpin, he describes an elite type of worker that every company wishes they had more of. These linchpins are different from the rest of us because they are creative artists willing to expend emotional labor in their work.
Sound like a definition out of a dictionary? How about this: a linchpin is a cornerstone employee. He’s the one guy in the office that everyone agrees is essential:
If he leaves, we’re all screwed
I’m sure you know people like this—these people kick ass, are looked up to, and cower in fear of their ninja-like skills.
The book runs a little longer than it needs to, but it’s broken up into very small paragraphs, concepts, and ideas. You almost feel like you’re reading a really long magazine article that manages to keep your attention fairly well throughout the whole thing.
My favorite parts of the book:
- “Consumers are not loyal to cheap commodities”
- School should teach two things: solving interesting problems and leadership
- Troubleshooting is an art, and linchpins can do it
- “The greatest shortage in our society is an instinct to produce”
And two big concepts I want to focus on that really hit home with me:
Bring Art to What You Do
Think about this for a second: if you have to make a presentation tomorrow about how the budget is doing you have two choices:
- Create a powerpoint deck with the numbers and go over them…YAWN
- Tell a story. Include all the relevant numbers people need, but tell a story that depicts the one insight you want to get across.
Well put
Do the second one consistently and people will not only like you for not boring the hell out of them, they’ll actually look forward to the meetings you run. Sure, it’s way more work that just doing a powerpoint deck, but that’s the whole point.
If you make it a point to bring this art to every little thing you do at work, you are being Linchpinian. You are being cool. You are NOT being boring.
This is valuable and unique.
Fear
Fear is ever present. I’ve written about fear before and how it can drive us to make poor decisions. Well, linchpins know what to do with fear. They embrace it and they kick its ass. Very much like Steve Prefontaine and pain—linchpins accept fear, embrace it, and push through it.
So is it any good?
I really enjoyed the book. Probably because I like seeing myself as a creative artist kicking ass in corporate land. It’s just a much nicer narrative to accept. I’m also writing a guide on making yourself a more valuable employee to make more money, so this was right in my wheelhouse.
As for you, if I’ve written this review the right way, you’re probably feeling a little voice in the back of your head going, “Hey this is kind of interesting. Some of this really resonates with me.”
And then another voice, “What’s a stupid book going to do for me? Who cares…”
You know what you need to do. Now do it—that’s the difference between a linchpin and everyone else.
June 5th, 2010 at 5:32 am
Hi
This sounds like a very interesting book – I might just have to read it. I think if most people (and I include myself in this) spent the time they use moaning about their job to work out how they could do it better, both they and their boss would be a lot happier!
Approach your job as if you were in business and having to sell and improve your services all the time.