Linchpin - Seth Godin
Are You Indispensable?
Introduction
Genius: Ability/insight to find non-obvious solutions to problems.
In our society often trade genius for apparent stability.
Becoming indispensable and making great art is a choice we all have to make.
The world is full of factories that need obedient workers, but being this worker is no longer as satisfying/rewarding as it used to be.
Our lizard brain wants us to be average (and safe) and society makes us believe that we should simply follow instructions. But the world has changed. Becoming indispensable is a skill that pays off.
The New World of Work
Factory owners want productive and easily replaceable cogs, not linchpin artisans. But organizations that try to make a change need exactly those kind of free thinkers and provocateurs.
Many people want to be told what to do because they’re afraid of figuring it out for themselves.
Two ways to “win”: Be ordinary and follow a race to the bottom, or be extraordinary and disobedient and rise to the top.
Having a factory job is not the human norm and caused great upheaval when it came about around 250 years ago. Been culturally brainwashed to believe it’s the only way. Now success means being an artist, in the broadest sense. Being like a kid. Always asking, questioning, exploring, experiencing.
Even if you’re not in a “factory” you’re still doing factory work if it’s predictable, if you can optimize for productivity.
If you can describe a job in a manual, you can outsource or automate it.
Traditionally there were two types of workers, management and labor. Now there is a third: linchpins! Containing elements of both they are both rare and extremely valuable.
Attendance-based compensation is on the decline. Linchpins get payed for ideas and output. Not for being in the office.
The overabundance of mediocre content is overwhelmed by the market’s ability to spread news about really great stuff!
Thinking About Your Choice
Linchpins trained themselves to be indispensable.
Key skills: “Flexible in the face of change, resilient in the face of confusion.” Comfortable with making tough decisions.
In a factory, doing a job that’s not yours is dangerous. As a linchpin, any job that needs doing is yours.
Indoctrination: How We Got Here
Many believe mediocre obedience is genetic, but it really only appears after years of schooling.
Modern school systems are built around training factory workers, both for traditional factories as well as modern knowledge work factories.
Distinction between cogs and linchpins is largely in attitude, not training/learning.
Fear helps us learn, and schools are built around fear (getting a bad mark, not getting a job afterwards,…)
What should be taught:
Solve interesting problems
Lead
Becoming The Linchpin
Every successful organization has at least one linchpin. Sometimes up to thousands.
Linchpins create forward motion.
[bq] “The law of linchpin leverage: The more value you create in your job, the fewer clock minutes of labor you actually spend creating that value.”
Artists, people who generate insights instead of follow processes and manuals, are valued higher in our current economy than they have ever been in history.
You should see your job as a platform for generosity, expression, and art.
Linchpins embrace a lack of structure and a multitude of choices, and find a path that works.
Linchpins are troubleshooters.
If you rely on defining yourself via things that are easily measured, someone else can easily beat you at it.
[bq] “Scarcity creates value.”
Linchpins are fearless but not reckless. Perfect scores are overrated, should seek achievement in things where there is no upper limit.
Remarkable people don’t need resumes, they have extraordinary projects or writing to show, and a reputation that speaks for itself.
Linchpins imagine new opportunities where other have quit, and fully lean in. They are not afraid of getting fired for breaking the rules, because leaning in fully shows their worth to the marketplace.
Linchpins say “I don’t want any job that a non-linchpin could get.”
Is It Possible To Do Hard Work In A Cubicle?
[bq] “Emotional labor is the task of doing important work, even when it isn’t easy.”
It’s developing your skill to face fears (whether of speaking, inventing, connecting,…)
[bq] “Most artists can’t draw. But all artists can see.”
[bq] “Art is anything that’s creative, passionate, and personal.”
[bq] “Art is about intent and communication, not substances.”
[bq] “Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient."
[bq] Art is “not decoration, it’s something that causes change.”
Being a linchpin requires both passion and art. And passion is not project specific, it’s something more intrinsic you need to discover within yourself.
[bq] “It’s okay to have someone you work for. […] But the moment you treat that person like a boss, like someone in charge of your movements and your output, you are a cog, not an artist.”
The easier something is to quantify, the less it’s worth. MBAs love putting stuff in spreadsheets, but your competition is using the exact same spreadsheets.
[bq] “When an artist stops work before his art is received, his work is unfulfilled.”
[NFW: Visibility matters, and getting visibility is part of the job of an artist!]
There is a general fear of standing out and standing for something. Overcoming this is key to becoming a linchpin.
The Resistance
[q] “Creativity is an instinct to produce.”
- Bruce Ario
You want to be outside the box, but not too far, because there nothing gets done, certainly not finished. You want to be at the edge of the box, that’s where the artist’s magic happens.
[q] “Real artists ship!”
- Steve Jobs
Need to develop a discipline of shipping, otherwise our projects drag on forever and never ship because of fear, they just end up abandoned.
When you first commit to ship your art might suffer a bit, but over the long term it becomes a crucial part of the process and improves your art.
[bq] “Shipping is the collision between your work and the outside world.”
Coordination cost is a major obstacle to shipping. Should ruthlessly limit the number of people involved in a project if possible, especially people with decision capability. One person needs to clearly run things. Not co-run it. This should a linchpin.
Out lizard brain brings up resistance against artistic endeavors. It’s in a constant clash with our daemon (our genius).
[bq] “being productive at someone else’s task list is not the same as making your own map.”
Your lizard brain’s resistance loves comfort. Deliberately seeking out discomfort makes it shrink back, and give you a chance to learn and excel where others don’t dare to go.
Need to be comfortable with generating bad ideas. The fear of creating those often prevents us from generating any ideas at all.
As kids, we don’t know the resistance, it only develops through the “well-meaning, well-organized, but toxic rules at school” and “raised eyebrows from the family.”
Fear is our most important and powerful emotion. If something doesn’t go as expected, look where fear was involved, in you or others.
Fear and confidence are both self-fulfilling. Should always have multiple options and backup plans to avoid extreme fear from clouding our way.
[bq] “When the resistance tell you not to listen to something, read something, or attend something, go! Do it! It’s not an accident that successful people read more books.”
[bq] “Your job is about following instructions; The work is about making a difference.”
Can use resistance as a guide. Wherever we feel resistance, that’s where we should go, that’s where the biggest gains can be made.
[bq] “Anxiety is practicing failure in advance.”
It’s fear about fear, and always useless. It’s what the resistance uses to get to us.
The Powerful Culture of Gifts
Giving a gift without expecting anything in return creates a huge power.
Linchpins and artists, i.e. the winners in the new economy, give gifts freely.
Leadership is about building and connecting tribes, and by giving gifts you create tribes of followers.
Linchpins deliver gifts that can never be adequately payed for.
We are uncomfortable with gifts, our society has an expectation that they need to be reciprocated.
Giving gifts crates abundance, and that’s where the power lies. It crates connections. Transactions on the other hadn’t create distance between parties. If there’s no gift, there is no art.
[bq] “Art is scarce; scarcity creates value.”
The most successful givers give because it brings them joy.
Linchpins have to recognize where and by whom their gifts are appreciated.
There Is No Map
The key to leadership is forging your own path, discover a route others haven’t paved yet, making your own map.
Being annoyed/angry at people and trying to teach them a lesson for a mistake they made is usually a waste of time, like being angry at fir for being hot and burning you.
Not being attached to situations and events is the key, seeing them for what they are, always with a mindset of “hmm, that’s interesting.”
Accept the world as it is and focus on the things you can change.
Blaming someone else is much easier than taking charge and responsibility for a situation yourself, so many people default to that.
[bq] “Art is the act of navigating without a map.”
Making The Choice
Being a linchpin, an artist, is a decision. You don’t need inspiration to make the choice. Inspiration comes after you make it.
Make the choice to give the gifts of art, insight, initiative, and connection.
Linchpins don’t need authority. They step up and do what they believe is right. They don’t mind sticking out and standing for something.
Resilience is important. Art often fails. The important part is not being disheartened but go on with the next thing, learning the right lessons along the way.
The Culture of Connection
[bq] The new media punishes those who seek to mislead."
People recognize dishonesty or if you don’t believe in what you’re selling, and you will fail.
Five elements of personality, also the signs of a linchpin:
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Stability
Being good with people is extremely important.
We can all sense it when someone just follows a script. Being your true and honest self is the key to being a linchpin and giving the gift of art. We need to give genuine gifts, gifts we 100% believe in. Otherwise the receive can sense our dishonesty, our hesitation.
The Seven Abilities Of The Linchpin
Providing a unique interface between the members of the organization
Delivering unique creativity
Managing a situation or organization of great complexity
Leading customers
Inspiring staff
Providing deep domain knowledge
Possessing a unique talent
No one ever succeeds all the time, so one more key ability for when things go wrong is humility.
When It Doesn’t Work
When your art fails, the only option is to make more art.
It’s far easier now than ever before to monetize your art by yourself. But that also comes at a risk of ruining your art.