Are You Indispensable?

That’s the subtitle for the latest book from Seth Godin, Linchpin. I was fortunate enough to get a copy of this book before it’s actually released (because Seth offered a limited number of pre-orders in exchange for a donation to the Acumen Fund and a review of the book). I’ve been a fan of Seth’s writing since Purple Cow. His thoughts on marketing, business, and life have challenged me and people that I’ve worked with for several years. So naturally, I jumped at the chance to read this book early, and am humbled to share my thoughts on it.

So of course, Seth doesn’t just want me to blow smoke about how wonderful his book is. So I really tried to read it with a critical eye…but honestly, I just found myself scribbling note after note, marking up page after page, and tweeting quotes that really jumped out at me. At the heart of the book is the message that we are all geniuses with the potential to create great things–to be artists rather than cogs in a machine. Though I’ve been writing (and getting paid to do so) for more than eight years, I’ve never much thought of myself as an artist. Seth really challenged me to look at everything I do–even the stuff that doesn’t feel like creativity or art–and figure out how to do it differently, better. And the reality is, with Seth’s definition of artist, no matter what you do or who you are, you have the potential to be an artist:

“Artists are people with a genius for finding a new answer, a new connection, or a new way of getting things done.”

See, artists are the linchpin in an organization. They’re the ones who are indispensable because they “bring humanity and connection and art” to the organization.

The thing that stood out to me the most in Linchpin was the point that Seth made repeatedly about how our culture has been teaching us to be cogs and fit into the machines that are the factories (read: corporations). And while at one point in time our country was based on factory work and cogs fit very nicely, today what a company really needs in order to survive are the people who do not fit into a neat and orderly system–the people who are willing to create new ways of doing things, challenge the status quo, and shake things up.

Honestly, while I think everyone in business (and especially leadership) needs to read this book, an even more important audience would be all the school administrators who continue to crank out the same plans to create the same cogs to fit into machines that no longer exist. It’s a new world order, and in this world the linchpins will be the ones who rise to the top.