I’m going to be honest with you. I know the title is confusing. Keep reading to make more sense of it. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? is a business and leadership book by Seth Godin (2010). It is a helpful read for professionals who are looking to develop their craft and become irreplaceable in any organization. 

About the Author

Seth Godin is an author, business guru, creator, educator, and economist (Godin, 2022). The list truly does go on. He is one of the most brilliant business minds of the century. He has written 20 bestselling books on business, marketing, leadership, and education. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? is Godin’s 12th book and was written in 2010. 

About the Book

In Linchpin, Godin posits that the global economy is made up of countless mediocre workers who are cogs in the machines of industry and can be easily replaced. Either by new cogs or by artificial intelligence. Godin urges his readers to become Linchpins, the opposite of cogs, in their workplaces in order to become indispensable. Being a cog is easy and comfortable. Being indispensable requires intention and skills.  

Godin hypothesizes that anyone can become a Linchpin if they take personal responsibility for their work and create “art”. Art which they “ship” to the rest of the world in order to make the world a more joyful, efficient, and ingenious place. 

Personal Takeaways

1) “Shipping” can be a challenging process. As the great scholar Scottie Pippen once said “The mailman doesn’t deliver on Sundays” (Daniels, 2020). Regular execution of valuable work (aka art) is difficult. Shipping requires a vision meets execution-centric set of traits which are rare in today’s workplace. But, shipping is possible! It is not a far flung mythical beast that has never been seen, a la Loch Ness Monster. Linchpins work on shipping their art every day. 

When you pour yourself into a project, then ship it, you will likely find that shipping is addictive! I can attest to this. In a recent “6 Types of Working Genius” (Lencioni, 2022) survey of my personal talents, finishing projects emerged as one of the elements that I enjoy the most about work. Thanks to the equally great scholar, Lucas Candy, for his help in discovering the 6 Types of Working Genius. 

Find an hour a day to “ship”. Work on a specific task that will lead to accomplishing one brilliant project per year. Investing this energy into shipping will help you to accomplish it. What an awesome accomplishment it will be. Shipping your art is how you make the world a better place. The previous sentence also serves as a one sentence summary of Linchpin. 

2) Emotional labour (EL) is required in order to be a Linchpin. EL is the hard work of digging deep inside oneself and producing something worth doing. Emotional labour is necessary labour, it is challenging, and not enough people in the world are up for that challenge every day. In order to make the world a better place, Linchpins need to do EL to produce & ship their art. ​​Most people don’t make the choice to be artists during the work day. Instead they are detached on the job and expend emotional labour into their creative outlets outside of the workplace. Godin urges his readers to not bother with work projects unless they expend EL.

On the flip side. Invest EL into your projects while keeping in mind that as a Linchpin, you are not your products or projects. You can be invested in a project, then abandon it without being personally attached because you can produce more awesome projects. You are not your projects. As difficult as this is in practice, believe me I’ve been there, master this and you and your organisation will be healthier. 

3) Godin is a fountain of professional & economic wisdom with ideas like: 

• Job flexibility isn’t just an economic trend that has been a predicted norm since the 2000s. It is a career strategy that can serve as an upgrade for both Linchips and their new workplaces. Job flexibility is possible when smart people are aware of their circumstances and prepared when the right opportunity presents itself. 
• Sprint regularly, it keeps the resistance to creating art & shipping at bay. Put pressure on yourself to get important task X done in a half hour or 5 hours. 
• Through your work, create art that you would like to see in the world. 
• Have a platform for spreading your art. This is a main reason why I have continued this blog, even after being accepted to doctoral programs. It is a creative outlet for me, through which I can ship my inspirations & art to the world. 

Next Steps

• What do you do well? 
• What skills do you have? 
• What are your passions? 
• Are there any needs for you to fill in your organization? 

Answering the questions above will help you to make moves toward being more valuable to your organization and to the world. Strive to create and ship art through your work. This will help you to be essentially indispensable. 

Find out more about Seth Godin on his blog. Check out reviews of Linchpin on goodreads.com. You can purchase Linchpin on amazon.ca. 

References

Daniels. T. (2020). Scottie Pippen Reflects on Famous Trash Talking to Karl Malone. Bleacher Report. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2891884-scottie-pippen-reflects-on-famous-trash-talk-to-karl-malone-during-1997-finals#:~:text=As%20Utah%20Jazz%20superstar%20Karl,’t%20deliver%20on%20Sundays.%22

Godin, S. (2010). Linchpin: Are you indispensable? Portfolio.

Godin. S. (2022). About Seth Godin. Seth’s Blog. https://seths.blog/about/

Lencioni. P. (2022). The 6 Types of Working Genius. Working Genius. https://www.workinggenius.com/

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. It was a pleasure spending time with you today.

Peace & Blessings, 

– Josiah