Linchpin: Are you Indispensable?

Linchpin: Are you Indispensable?

Seth Godin (Author)

“Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it back. It’s time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must.” Seth Godin

Linchpins? That’s a term Seth Godin uses for anyone within an organization that makes himself indispensable, people that invent, lead, connect, figure out chaos and make things happen, no matter what their title or level in an organization is.

Introduction

Seth Godin is a well known Marketing guru, that I personally enjoy reading, famous for books such as the Purple Cow and All Marketers are Liars. In his books he talks about making remarkable products, products worth talking about and taking advantage of the connected world to engage with consumers. His approach on Marketing is in my opinion as close to Imagineering as it gets.

In his previous book, Tribes, he already takes a different direction from his pure Marketing books and writes about something different, it’s about the great opportunity that the connected world brings for anyone with the courage to lead, given the fact that a tribe is a group of people connected to each other by an idea, interest, belief or leader, it’s not that tribes are new in this world it’s just that today’s world brings the opportunity to connect to more people, faster, cheaper and easier than ever before. So this book is encouraging people to take on this opportunity to lead and challenge the idea that leading is just for CEO’s or celebrities or politicians. Not anymore.

I mention his previous book, because I think that whereas in Tribes his approach is on encouraging people to be brave enough to start their own enterprise in something they believe in, for Linchpin he focuses on employees, just remarkable people within organizations that can make a difference where they are.

The book?

For starters, I really appreciated the first chapters of the book in which he describes the New World, where we were, how we got here, changes in the economy and specially the implications for the world of Work.

The entire system we built our lives around tried to get the genius, the artistic nature, the creativity out of us. The Economy, the schools, all the great MBA´s wanted us to fit in, to think in a certain way or even to not think at all, if we could fit in, the system would take care of us.

We lived in a world built around factories (Old logic), factories that needed workers, the key to win in the old world was productivity, make the most you can with as little costs as you can, this meant that for it to work it needed low-paid, replaceable workers doing short-easy tasks, making automated decisions, people willing to trade their dreams and art and creativity for a weekly salary and stability. And it worked for a long time.

The problem is that this factory “system” is upside down, the economic crisis has hit hard and the deal is not working anymore, stability can’t be provided today. The old ways of fitting in with hard-work, with being on time, being discreet and quiet and not challenging managers with your own “crazy” ideas is no guarantee of stability, not anymore. The situation demands a new type of workers, people that can lead, communicate, make connections, create value, defy the status quo, artists. Today’s organizations require a different style of working (New Logic).

And this is where the Linchpins come in, the new deal requires employees that become irreplaceable, that put their personality, passion, art and soul into their work. Not only because it’s important for them but because companies need it, even if they don’t realize it.

The next “Big Idea” within a market will most likely come from outside the industry, by a small or even unknown company, with fresh and different ideas. And if within a company you limit your employees just to work and think in the way the CEO or the Directors think they are limiting their chances even more.

“Old Logic” Companies are struggling and strangely companies that embrace a new style of working are doing great, Apple, Google, Red Bull, Nintendo…

This book encourages people to take a stand, lose the fear, be willing to give up on the fake idea of stability, and start working with their own, personal roadmap.

Today’s world is a connected world, and a Linchpin has to be a “connected” individual, within their work unit or company but also outside, connections are key to make things happen, that’s why social skills are very important. In today’s world personality and attitude are sometimes even more important than the work itself.

Linchpins and Imagineering

It was very easy to see the connection, although the book is directed towards employees, giving them a push to work with more creativity, art, passion and joy, to become indispensable for a company by generating value, and in return getting the best jobs and more freedom to do it. As Imagineers we can use the elements in the book not necessarily to become Linchpins but to help design the new organizations in which Linchpins should be the essential building blocks.

We can refer to the theories we have studied about the “new” Leadership and Followership, and this one is a bit about both, it’s about creating value for yourself as well as the organization by being brave, smart and unique.

Linchpins are not Imagineers but I’d say that they are employees that embrace Imagineering within a company and that are not only unafraid but excited about change and new ways of working.

Loved the book, easy-reading, relevant and it really challenges people to become a part of change rather than fearing it. Insightful! A must-read for Imagineers!

Xavier Cortina