Seth Godin's Linchpin
Seth Godin is an Internet marketing expert, public speaker and entrepreneur. He has written several well received books. "Linchpin" is his latest book and talks about careers in todays fast-paced world. The book is a quick-read at around 240 pages, but really, there are only 50 that you MUST read.
Seth starts of by writing almost a hundred pages about how everyone is an artist and creative (in a wider sense), things that will not come as a surprise to anyone who is a Seth Godin fan. If you are interested in what he writes you probably already think of yourself as one of Godin's "Linchpins" or won't have trouble imagining yourself as one.
Linchpin's, he argues, are the third type of worker between the management and the workers — the indispensable people who bring their whole personality and creativity to work and create more value than "necessary". These are the experts and the ones who really care about their work and without a company would have very little character or chance in todays fast-paced world of creativity and innovation. To me, and I'm sure most of you, this comes as no surprise and Godin expertly clarifies why it doesn't.
The best part of the book and the real reason its worth every penny of your hard earned cash is the chapter called "The Resistance", I can't overemphasize how brilliant the insights on these 50 pages are. Its part psychology, part self-help, part kick-in-the-ass and full on awesome! The chapter stands alone and if you are a busy person or don't read much you owe it to yourself to read this — it will help you understand yourself, your friends and most of all how workplace politics become so messy at times. Basically "The Resistance" is that little voice that fills you with fear of failure and makes you rationalize why you shouldn't take risks and keep your head down. What Seth Godin has done is to pinpoint this reason for failing to be the best we can be. If you have read psychology or studied up on procrastination you'll know many of the things he talks about but he explains it so very well and ties it up into a nice package, along with how to think about it and work around it. What I also like is that he doesn't turn into an understanding therapist but he kicks you in the ass and tells you to stop worrying and start doing. Even if you already are awesome, knowing why others aren't even though they have the potential is a good thing and helps you understand the weird resistance to change that exists everywhere even though it's clear status quo is not an option.
The book continues after the star chapter with sage advice and good ideas about how to implement your plan to become a Linchpin but it pales in comparison. It's clear that Godin put a lot of effort into the chapter on resistance and it shows, as I've said several times already (Godin mentions the same in the introduction as well) — you need to read that chapter! It really should have been its very own book but obviously there's no market for 50-page books. That said, the second half of the book is well-worth your time and you should probably skim the first 100 pages until the chapter on resistance.
I heartily recommend the book and as @adamhill said on IRC when we talked about the book, lots of it is obvious and old news to Godin fan's and us internet-savvy knowledge workers, but there are lots of people who aren't there yet. I can think of a dozen friends who would benefit from reading this, so it really is a perfect gift to give intelligent people you care about!
If you want to know more about the book, you should listen to this great interview of Seth Godin by Merlin Mann, another Internet-superstar:
