Serendipity

This will be the first post in my re-launched blog.  I was inspired to re-launch the blog by a book I just read so it is only appropriate that the first post be a short review of the book.

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of Seth Godin’s latest work, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?  This was offered as a reward for donating to one of my favorite groups Acumen Fund, which I would have done anyway – so it was a great deal.  Part of the deal was to review the book, so here I am.

To be honest, I started reading the book with the idea that it would be the same old stuff – Seth Godin is undeniable a smart man who has written some must read books before – but what could he say that other such as Chris Anderson, Clay Shirky, Corey Doctrow, behavioral economists, etc hadn’t already been saying on the subject?  I read a lot of business, tech, and project management books so I was skeptical.

Well, as it turns out the answer was a lot.  In fact, all the authors above, as well as many more I’ve enjoyed reading come up in Godin’s book.  I should start with what the book is about (at least my opinion on it).  This book was a treat to read.  Linchpin is focused on you and making you the best person possible so that you can find fulfillment in work and in life and contribute your best gifts to society.  You can tell that this is something Godin is passionate about.  Some authors just tell you what you need to do – Godin shows you – even going into the psychology of the fear that holds you back from your potential – he calls it the resistance.

Linchpin starts by explaining the current situation – the raw deal that the typical working stiff gets.  As anyone who has been paying attention knows – the age of the organization man is dead.  No longer can you check the boxes (do well in school, good college, maybe a master’s, join a top notch company) and expect to have a steady job with increasing responsibility and pay over the next 40 years of your life.  Blame neo-taylorism, globalization, reduced production costs, the age of the amateur, etc – but the point is being good enough or even above average is no longer good enough in a world when companies can have the best from anywhere.  If you aren’t convinced the book gives plenty of evidence.  But instead of whining Godin lays out a better path:

“This is your opportunity.  The indispensable employee brings humanity and art to her organization.  She is the key player, the one who’s difficult to live without, the person you can build something around.  You reject whining about the economy and force yourself to acknowledge that the factory job is dead.  Instead, you recognize the opportunity of becoming indispensible, highly sought after and unique.  If a Purple Cow is a product that’s worth talking about, the indispensable employee- I call her a linchpin- is a person who’s worth finding and keeping.” – Linchpin, page 9.

Linchpin, in essence, is about becoming that person – an artist.  A good part of the book explains what an artist is, what it takes, how you develop those skills, and why it so important that you do – for yourself and for the good of society.  To solve today’s problems we need people who are engaged and independent – not color by the numbers cogs who clock in and out without caring.  The examples in the book (and there were a lot of them) were interesting and inspiring and are there to convince you that this is not some lofty goal but something everyone can achieve with a few changes.  The first step is you have to care.  Godin calls it emotional labor – giving of yourself, connecting with another person – not for a return but as a gift.   This is the essence of an artist – and it benefits the receiver and the giver.  This isn’t to say you don’t get paid – only that you value what you do:

“A day’s work for a day’s pay.  I hate this approach to life.  It cheapens us….The alternative is to treasure what it means to do a day’s work.  It’s our one and only chance to do something productive today, and it’s certainly not available to someone merely because he is the high bidder.  A day’s work is your chance to do art, to create a gift, to do something that matters.  As your work gets better and your art becomes more important, competition for your gifts will increase and you’ll discover that you can be choosier about whom you give them to.”

So how do you become an artist? Well, for one you care.  Then you pick your craft (something worth doing), practice and hone your it– but always ship.  Godin gives practical examples of how to do this and even mentions Babaula’s excellent Power of Less.  But importantly, he also points out that there is no map, no set path – that is the whole point.  A linchpin creates values, sees connections, and brings people together fully leveraging their expert knowledge in an area or areas.  You have to develop the talent, the right attitude, and keep on learning.  The new economy has created the perfect opportunity for this – even if you don’t do this at work you can create art outside of work.  Godin fully admits you will fail – and this is ok.  He included a great quote from Ralph Emerson which reminded me why the Romantics are my favorite poets. :

“If our young men miscarry in their first enterprise, they lose all heart. If the young merchant fails, men say he is mined. If the finest genius studies at one of our colleges, and is not installed in an office within one year afterwards in the cities or suburbs of Boston or New York, it seems to his friends and to himself that he is right in being disheartened, and in complaining the rest of his life. A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always, like a cat, falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days, and feels no shame in not studying a profession, for he does not post- pone his life, but lives already. He has not one chance, but a hundred chances.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance, 1841

There is also a great page of art from Hugh McLeod (who I was lucky in enough to briefly meet a few years ago at a TechCrunch party) which I’ll have to buy now for my office – “Ignore Everybody”.   Overall, this book is a treasure.  It’s not only what is said, but how it is said and brought together.  There is a ton in here which I didn’t mention – so go grab the book and read it.  Thanks to Seth and Acumen Fund for the chance to read this book early.

P.S: Another great thing about the book is the list of related books on various subjects that Mr. Godin mentions that are great reads.  I was happy to see a book by David Hounshell on the list – he’s one of my favorite professors who I was lucky enough to have for several classes during my time at Carnegie Mellon University.  In that spirit, I’ve listed below several books or articles below that I was reminded of when reading this book.

Matthew Crawford’s Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry in the Value of Work.

It argues, among other things, that one of the reasons people are so unsatisfied with their jobs is because there is no connection, no meaning, and no human bond.  It explores the beauty and satisfaction in craftsmanship, manual labor – in essence art.

John Gardner’s essay on Personal Renewal

A wonderful essay on self renewal and building a life worth living from a speech given to McKinsey and Company in 1990. Short quote:  “The thing you have to understand is that the capacities you actually develop to the full come out as the result of an interplay between you and life’s challenges –and the challenges keep changing. Life pulls things out of you.”

Michael Michalko’s Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques

A great little book on creative thinking and exercises to help you build your creative capacity.

Scott Berkin’s Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management

My favorite book on project management.  Many of the concepts dove-tail with what Godin is talking about in Linchpin.

Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger, and McKee Jake’s Cluetrain Manifesto

This book which was written over 10 years ago explores 95 theses about the effect of the internet on business and marketing.  Most of them still hold true today.

Bill Pfleging and Minda Zetlin’s The Geek Gap: Why Business And Technology Professionals Don’t Understand Each Other And Why They Need Each Other to Survive

This book is all about communication and respect and the culture gap between “geeks” and “suits”

-Anthony