What Do You Want to Know about Becoming a Linchpin?

By Mark McGuinness | 7/28/2010 | 10 Comments

Cover of Linchpin by Seth Godin Seth Godin’s Linchpin is one of the two books I recommend most often to clients in search of career advice (the other one is Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod). So I thought it was a great idea when fellow creative coach Cynthia Morris suggested we do a free podcast about Linchpin and its implications for people pursuing a creative career.

Next week Cynthia and I are going to record the call, probably about 45 minutes long, and make it available for free download here and over at Cynthia’s Original Impulse blog. We’re also preparing a worksheet full of coaching questions to help you take action on the challenges Seth describes in the book – again, this will be a free download.

Edit: the podcast and worksheet are now available for download: Becoming a Linchpin.

We want to make the call and worksheet as useful as possible for you, so if you have any questions about the book or the challenges of pursuing a creative career path, please leave a comment below or zip me an e-mail and we’ll do our best to offer some useful suggestions – and questions.

If you’ve not read the book yet, here’s the basic premise:

In the linchpin economy, the winners are … the artists who give gifts. Giving a gift makes you indispensable. Inventing a gift, creating art – that is what the market seeks out, and they give us are the ones who earn our respect and attention.

(Seth Godin, Linchpin)

If you want to achieve remarkable things in your career, this is one book you won’t want to miss. To get a flavour of Linchpin, check out my piece Can Anyone Be an Artist? and the great articles Cynthia’s linked to in her post about the Linchpin call.

Here are some of the issues we’ve got pencilled in for the call — let us know if there’s something you’d like us to add to the list:

Are you (ready to be) an artist?

Are you indispensable? If not, what are you going to do about it?

What’s your gift to the world?

Are you prepared for emotional labor?

How can you overcome the Resistance to doing your best work?

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#1 | Hashim Warren | 7/28/2010 at 9:20 am

Two people who I thought were Linchpins were laid off from my job at a television network yesterday. It seems like they were chosen based on their salary and not the work they did. (Others were also let go, but it was those two who shocked us who have stayed)

I remember walking down the street, wanting to write Seth Godin an email explaining that there’s no such thing as being “indispensable”. The concepts in his book only seem to work if you’re boss also subscribes to the same logical thinking.

Toss the book out if you’re trapped in “The Office” or a “Dilbert” cartoon.

Actually, now that I think about it, Linchpin is written from an employer’s perspective. What company wouldn’t want their workers going outside of their job title and pay scale to give “gifts”.

So, that’s my question. How do you become indispensable at a job that doesn’t value anything but keeping costs low?

#2 | Mark Dykeman | 7/28/2010 at 9:27 am

Great idea guys!

Here are a few questions:

1. At what point should a linchpin decide to go from being an employee to an entrepreneur?

2. What do you do when a gift is refused or rejected?

3. Can a linchpin’s gift be the ability to help other people make and share their gifts?

#3 | Arlen | 7/28/2010 at 11:59 am

I vote for “What do you do when a gift is refused or rejected?” I have my own answers for this but given the weight it carries, I am eager to hear what others have to say.

#4 | Cynthia Morris | 7/28/2010 at 12:30 pm

Thanks, guys! Great questions. We’ll put them in the list of things to discuss on our call. Stay tuned!

#5 | Arlen | 7/28/2010 at 3:59 pm

Hashim:
I really get what you’re saying about the employer’s perspective; or at least a particular kind of employer.
Not that I don’t think going above and beyond is an important thing to; it’s just that I have learned, as you apparently have also, that we must be prudent with our gifts and be mindful of “cast not your pearls among the swine, least they turn on you”. (Does anyone recognize where that quote is from?)
So a question I would like to propose is: how do we practice wise gift giving?

#6 | Duff | 7/28/2010 at 6:36 pm

We recently had a submission of an article over at Beyond Growth that gave a critical review of Godin’s Linchpin.

Among other things criticized were the lack of a clear definition of what exactly a Linchpin is, whether becoming a Linchpin is an appropriate social solution for corporate downsizing, whether or not Godin’s notion of the internet as gift economy makes sense, and why the lack of practical advice on how exactly to become “indispensable.”

I’m not sure if links are appropriate in comments–if not, please edit this out, but I thought I’d include it in case these concerns can be addressed in your talk.

http://beyondgrowth.net/conscious-marketing/critical-review-of-linchpin-by-seth-godin/

#7 | Cynthia Morris | 7/29/2010 at 10:28 am

Duff,
I appreciate the link, since I hadn’t seen the review. I’m going to read it now!

It’s all part of the conversation.

#8 | Mark | 8/9/2010 at 2:06 pm

Thanks everyone, if you haven’t seen it already, the call and worksheet are free to download here: http://lateralaction.com/articles/linchpin-podcast-worksheet/

#9 | Mike Kirkeberg | 8/14/2010 at 4:45 pm

GREAT idea. I love the book, look forward to the interview.
Mike

#10 | Mark | 8/15/2010 at 5:09 am

Thanks Mike, the podcast and worksheet are available here: http://lateralaction.com/articles/linchpin-podcast-worksheet/