Linchpin Review – Godin’s Best Yet
February 6, 2010 by Paul Mayson · 1 Comment
I just finished reading Linchpin for the second time. Linchpin, however, is different from Godin’s previous books. For one, it’s bigger — bigger in size (check out our ‘unboxing‘) and delivers bigger ideas. Second, the ideas Seth shares are complete and interlocked. Where books like The Dip and Tribes covered a specific idea, Linchpin brings them all together in a cohesive work that, in your hands, could change the way you work, what you do, how you do it, and why.
The book opens with a look at where we are and how we got here. The shift that’s happening moving us away from the factory and back to artistry. Why the role of an easily replaceable cog/worker is dying, and, for you, is probably already dead. Quote:
“Wait! Are You Saying That I Have to Stop Following Instructions and Start Being an Artist? Someone Who Dreams Up New Ideas and Makes Them Real? Someone Who Finds New Ways to Interact, New Pathways to Deliver Emotion, New Ways to Connect? Someone Who Acts Like a Human, Not a Cog? Me?”
Yes.
So, what do we do next? Since bloggers have discovered that posts like “7 Ways to Supercharge Your Meetings” and “Change Your Life in 28 Days” work wonders with search engines and in receiving link love, many readers now look for specific, step-by-step lists to complete a task, a project, family life, or a career. Linchpin doesn’t provide lists, or how to’s. There are no specific instructions on how to be an artist, or a leader. Godin gives good reason (page 187):
Telling people leadership is important is one thing. Showing them step by step precisely how to be a leader is impossible. ”Tell me what to do” is a nonsensial statement in this context.
There is no map. No map to be a leader, no map to be an artist. I’ve read hundreds of books about art (in all its forms) and how to do it , and not one has a clue about the map, because there isn’t one.”
One of the tell tale signs of a book that shakes my foundation is the number of dog-earred pages. Usually, if I hit 10, it’s a good sign. I think in Drive, I hit around that number. Here are a couple of shots of Linchpin:
Bottom Corners
Top corners
The book also goes into an area that’s usually reserved for guys like Tony Robbins. Something covered wonderfully by Steven Pressfield in The War of Art. That is conquering things like procrastination, fear, and “resistance”. Godin not only credits Pressfield for his work, but adds his own angle by giving these barriers their own organ: The Lizard Brain. Seth says it’s in all of us, and it will bury us if we let it (see video below of a talk covering just this topic).
It’s only February, but this could be the most important business book of 2010 and maybe 2011 for that matter. The timing is dead on with everything that is happening in major industries like publishing, music, & technology. Plus, people are still getting canned from their jobs everyday. Those people could look at that as a gift. Linchpin doesn’t come with rose colored glasses, but it certainly will help readers frame exactly what’s happening, what can be done, and point them in a direction to contribute more than they ever imagined.
For you guys that LOVE summaries and lists, here’s a final shot of the summary at the end of the book. Choose your Ven diagram. Where are you? Where do you want to be?
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Check out what others are saying about this post...[...] Now I’m not trashing the MBA or post-secondary education. What I am challenging is the belief that good education is only achieved though traditional brick & mortar institutions. There are many alternatives that exist nowadays that suggest the the established education system, which has dominated the public consciousness for hundreds of years, is failing to keep up with the times. And perhaps wrongly preparing young people to be workers instead of leaders. Seth Godin writes about this in the book that I’m reading: Linchpin: Are you Indispensable?, which is already being called the most important business book of the year. He argues that there’s a shift happening which is moving us away from the factory and back to artistry, and the role of the easily replacable cog/worker is dying. See a quick but excellent review of the book on Techself.com. [...]