Book Review- Linchpin

The way that we are able to get paid for the work we do is changing.  The media looks at things like unemployment rates and asks “when will we get back to normal? When will this thing turn around?”  The reality is that is wont. It turns out there may be a better way.

Seth Godin says this towards the beginning of his terrific book, Linchpin:

There are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do.

In it’s essence Linchpin gives a glimpse into the artist revolution.  If you want to get paid for work you to do today you need to become indispensable.  To be indispensable, you need to be an artist.

One of the most empowering points of the book is the fact that there has never been a greater time for the average Joe to be able to create art.  In the past, the barriers to entry for creation was very high.  Now we own the means to production.

This means that we can create and put out more content than ever before which we have been doing.  Some would argue that this has diluted the amount of quality content.  Other would argue that this has allowed for greater ideas than ever before.

Linchpin touches on some the principles that you need to understand in this new work environment.

The first principles is don’t wait for someone to ask you to do more.  This is important whether you work for yourself or someone else.  Seth Godin gives countless examples of individuals who went out and made themselves indispensable when no one gave them permission to do it.

Another important principle is to focus on the work itself.  We get bogged down in our daily routines with work that is not the real work that we need/want to be doing.  Seth talks about how to eliminate those distractions.

The last important point that is covered in Linchpin is in shipping or put in other terms, getting your product/service to market.  This seems to be a point where many of us get tripped up but the book illustrates the importance of getting things out and how we can do it.

There are some points in the book that rail on the current state of affairs, particularly with regards to businesses creating systems and then plugging people into the systems to keep a business moving forward ( see the E-Myth for more on this).  However, there really is no points made on what Seth Godin would do instead.  That may be a book for someone else to write.

There are numerous good points made in this book and it really speaks to the revolution that is occurring in our work lives.  If you read this book and apply the principles, there is no doubt in my mind that your life will be better for it.