Linchpin is a book that will challenge your assumptions about work. Capitalism is no longer about tidy divisions of ownership, management and labour, instead modern technologies have created a new type of leader: The Linchpin – on whose creativity and inventiveness the future of all of us will depend.
Linchpin by Seth Godin
Seth Godin gets paid to look towards the future and write about it.
Linchpin (2010) is his take on the future of jobs and the workplace as technology renders most jobs obsolete and creates global opportunities for those who choose to be extraordinary.
Similar to Choose Yourself by James Altucher, this is a call to arms for those waking up with the reality that the traditional career is dead and plotting a course for a brighter, more entrepreneurial future.
Below are some of the key insights I took from this book:
Key Insights
- Everyone is born a genius.
- The new world offers unlimited abundance for all.
- We are moving from the American Dream to a world of Authentic Dreams.
- In a world of dispensable labour, employers and employees need to look for those who have the vision to become indispensable (Linchpins)
- Society currently reflects the dogma of the 1950s, based on a factory format society.
- Becoming indespensable is about letting go of fear based rule following and activating your creativity, emotionality, curiousity and playfulness.
- In short, we must all become Artists, doing art for art’s sake.
- “Real Artists Ship” but to do so you have to overcome resistance from your fear conditioned lizard brain which wants to keep you safe. (The War on Art)
- Both Corporations and individuals need to start thinking about the Gift Economy where you only get paid when you add value to someones life. (Purple Cow)
- To be a Linchpin, you need to be (a) passionate (b) detached. (Matrix)
- There is no map. The only way to start is to begin.
- There are 7 qualities that Linchpins possess: (1) uniqueness (2) creativity (3) handling complexity (4) leadership of customers (5) leadership of staff (6) deep domain expertise (7) building a unique talent.
- Seth Godin’s categorisation of “Linchpin” has never really taken off but we can think of these qualities as being similar to ‘Influencers’ who are changing the world dramatically.