Review of Linchpin by Seth Godin

Seth Godin is a machine. He has written twelve bestsellers and (probably) thousands of blog posts dating back to January 2002. I must have subscribed to and unsubscribed from his blog at least five times solely because I simply can't keep up with the sheer quantity and depth of his blog posts. The man will sometimes post six times in a day. He is a machine. The man ships.

In his book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Godin explains what it means to ship:

“The only purpose of starting is to finish, and while the projects we do are never really finished, they must ship. Shipping means hitting the publish button on your blog, showing a presentation to to the sales team, answering your the phone... Shipping is the collision between your work and the outside world. 

Shipping something out the door, doing it regularly, without hassle, emergency, or fear - this is a rare skill, something that makes you indispensable.” 

This is one of the key messages in the book. We all have the ability to become indispensable; we are all geniuses, we all can create amazing work, we are all artists. But the system has beaten the genius and the creativity out of us. We have been brainwashed into submission and we have become what they want us to be: cogs in a machine. When we surrender to the resistance, our lizard brain, we become easily replaced with another cheap lemming:

“You weren't born to be a cog in the giant industrial machine. You were trained to become a cog.” 

I really got a lot out of this book. Its messages were clear, almost exhaustively explained, and most importantly incredibly relevant to me. At times it was a little repetitive and felt as though I was reading something that I was sure I read not 5 pages ago - but this is probably a good thing as it really drums home the point. And the messages really struck a chord with me, with where I'm at and with what I'm trying to achieve and get out of myself and life.

So what were the messages?

Well, for me this story was pretty poignant:

“One day, Binny Thomas stood up. She stood up, spoke up, and started doing a new job. She didn’t leave her organization, didn’t even get a new title or new responsibilities. Instead, she started doing her old job in a new way. Binny stopped going to meetings with the goal of finding deniability or problems to avoid. Instead, she started leaning in and seeking out projects where she could make a difference. Suddenly, Binny was inspired. She was looking for opportunities instead of hiding from blame. She was putting herself on the line, pushing through the dip, and making things happen. The fascinating (and universal) truth is that the opportunities came after she was inspired—she wasn’t inspired by the opportunities. Binny’s old job was just fine. She did it extremely well. She followed the map, followed instructions, did what she was told and got paid what she was worth. Binny wasn’t in danger of losing her job, but she had already given up her soul. She had plateaued, this was the end. Then she changed her mind. Six weeks later, she got a huge promotion and another, even better new job than the new job she had given herself. Binny is now running a worldwide program of motivated scholars. All it took was a choice. Binny didn’t ask for permission to do her job better; she merely decided to.”

I've been in the wrong frame of mind about my work for a long time now. Note that I said wrong frame of mind. Not wrong job. Not doing something I hate or shouldn't be doing. I let myself become a cog in a wheel, a factory worker. And as long as I continued to treat what I do in this way, as though I was a puppet to my boss, my job and my situation, I was never going to release the artist within and become passionate. Indispensable. Now and for the past few weeks I've viewed my job in a similar light as what Binny does - as an opportunity. It is an opportunity create, to be passionate, to connect with my colleagues, to solve problems and to lead.

“If you can be human at work (not a machine), you’ll discover a passion for work you didn’t know you had. When work becomes personal, your customers and coworkers are more connected and happier. And that creates even more value.”

In the last week or two I've discovered that this is fact. Fact. Stop blaming the people around you, your colleagues, your boss. Stop blaming your circumstances and your habits. Become human, connect with what you are now pointing the finger at as the cause of your suffering, and you'll see you a transformation you could never have imagined.

Linchpin is about overcoming the resistance, the lizard-brain we all have that convinces us we're not good enough. It's about being an artist and giving gifts; not an artist in the conventional sense - painting and building large brass sculptures (although this could be how you create your art) - but an artist in whatever work we do. Being creative, solving problems, connecting with colleagues and customers, with passion and honesty. Give gifts, give time, give a smile, give extra effort, go the extra mile, ship, provide value, be remarkable - not just good.

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? is well worth a read, whether you're in a rut or not. It will definitely be one that I pull from the shelf in the future to read again and get inspired. Here are a few of my favourite quotes from the book (easily exported with the help of my new Kindle, which rocks!):

“Great jobs, world-class jobs, jobs people kill for—those jobs don’t get filled by people e-mailing in résumés.”

“The only way to prove (as opposed to assert) that you are an indispensable linchpin—someone worth recruiting, moving to the top of the pile, and hiring—is to show, not tell. Projects are the new résumés.”

“If your Google search isn’t what you want (need) it to be, then change it. Change it through your actions and connections and generosity. Change it by so over-delivering that people post about you. Change it by creating a blog that is so insightful about your area of expertise that others refer to it. And change it by helping other people online.”

“Perhaps your challenge isn’t finding a better project or a better boss. Perhaps you need to get in touch with what it means to feel passionate. People with passion look for ways to make things happen.”

“One way to become creative is to discipline yourself to generate bad ideas. The worse the better. Do it a lot and magically you’ll discover that some good ones slip through.”

“Once you’ve given a name to the resistance and you know what its voice sounds like, it’s a lot easier to embrace the fact that you actually are a genius. The part of you that wants to deny this is the resistance. The rest of you understands that you’re as capable as the next guy of an insight, invention, or connection that makes a difference.”

“You must become indispensable to thrive in the new economy. The best ways to do that are to be remarkable, insightful, an artist, someone bearing gifts. To lead. The worst way is to conform and become a cog in a giant system.”

“You can either fit in or stand out. Not both.”

“Don’t let your circumstances or habits rule your choices today. Become a master of yourself and use your willpower to choose.”

Now it's time to ship by publishing this post. Shipped.