Are You Indispensable? A Review of "Linchpin" by Seth Godin

In his book — Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? — Seth Godin poses a challenge: Take your gift, whatever it is, and use it to change the world. Linchpin by Seth Godin starts with the basic premise that everyone should work to be a linchpin in their organization. This means being indispensable but it also means defining yourself as a third team in the business world. The original two are management and labor but that won’t suffice anymore. “Linchpins are people who own their own means of production, who can make a difference, lead us and connect us”.

He talks throughout the book that the way school has been designed is to encourage mediocrity and just to fit in. He says that school should teach two things – solve interesting problems and lead. He also talks about the lizard brain, fear that is instilled in us at school and poses a question that many of us could quickly answer – is it possible to do hard work in a cubicle? (you will have to read the book to find out the answer)

The Seven Abilities of Linchpins

Seth goes into great detail to show why certain people are linchpins. He says that there are seven abilities of a Linchpin:

1. Providing a unique interface between members of an organization
2. Delivering unique creativity
3. Managing a situation or organization of great complexity
4. Leading customers
5. Inspiring staff
6. Providing a deep domain knowledge
7. Possessing a unique talent

He points to an excellent example of a Linchpin, Marissa Mayer. He describes Marissa Mayer at Google. From his book “If you could write Marissa’s duties into a manual, you wouldn’t need her. But the minute you wrote it down, it wouldn’t be accurate anyway. That’s the key. She solves problems that people haven’t predicate, see things people haven’t seen and connects people who need to be connected. She is a linchpin.”

Are You a Linchpin?

I put this to you, my readers, are you a linchpin? I believe I am in some cases and in other places I could do better and become one. I recommend that you go out and buy this book or at the very least read some other great reviews below and tell us – are you a linchpin?

Related articles on this post

• Be A Linchpin Instead of a Cog – Reading Seth Godin (philbaumann.com)
• Giveaway: Seth Godin’s Linchpin (janawillworkforbooks.blogspot.com)
• Linchpin by Seth Godin – Video Book Review (chrisbrogan.com)
• What do you think about Seth Godin´s new book Linchpin? (startups.com)
• Seth Godin’s Linchpin and Mastering the Art of Social Media Policy (mintzwordz.com)
• Book Review: Linchpin by Seth Godin (bettercloser.com)

This entry was posted on Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 11:00 am and is filed under small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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