Linchpin by Seth Godin

A linchpin is a locking pin used to prevent a wheel or other rotating part from sliding off the axle. If you change a part in the machine, you have to make sure you replace the linchpins or the whole thing will eventually fall apart.

In our society linchpins are those individuals that hold things together. Yes, organizations might succeed or thrive for a while without them, but eventually as pressure is applied and structures are tested, things will fall apart. Godin illustrates that we are in a critical time of history. The age of cogs and factories worked for a while, but everything has changed. A new breed of worker and leader are now required. We need linchpins to solve our problems, keep us connected, and inspire us with art. People who are linchpins are creative, good at connecting with others, and able to see solutions like no one else. They truly are indispensable.

"The only way to get what you're worth is to stand out, to exert emotional labor, to be seen as indispensable, and to produce interactions that organizations and people care deeply about."

Godin challenges us, the readers, to become linchpins ourselves. To make the leap. To become artists. To do emotional work, whatever the sacrifice may be. It's our choice, and it's our burden. Seth won't be there to catch us if we fall, but to become the people we need to be eventually, well, we probably wouldn't want him to, anyway.

In reading Linchpin we are reminded of the other side of the economy, in which we all unfortunately participate as well, the domain of commoditization, homogeneity and anonymity. This is the domain that artists so their utmost to avoid, and better still, subvert. Of course, this economy provides a benefit too - lower price. However, a "Volkswagen-sized jar of pickles for $3" can only go so far. Commoditization undermines our very social fabric: it undermines our desire for uniqueness and special connection in a service or product that we purchase; it removes our dignity and respect when we allow ourselves to become a disposable part, a human cog, in the job machine. So, jettison the bland, the average, and the subservient, learn to take risk, face fear and become an indispensable, passionate, discerning artist - one who creates and one who gives.

"It's easy to see why people pay to hear what he has to say."
-Time Magazine

"Thousands of authors write business books every year, but only a handful reach star status and the A-list lecture circuit. Fewer still-one, to be exact-can boast his own action figure. . . . Godin delivers his combination of counterintuitive thinking and a great sense of fun."
-Businessweek

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