Seth Godin has pulled off yet another amazing book. If you are reading this blog you’re most likely into marketing of some kind, and if you haven’t read all of Seth’s books by now you are way behind. I received Seth’s book a few weeks early because of a charity donation deal that he was running.
When I first started reading, I was instantly hooked to it because he talks about a lot of what I’ve been thinking lately and really hammers the points home. Linchpin reminds me somewhat of Purple Cow – except instead of having a remarkable idea or product – you have to be remarkable in of yourself.
The business world as we knew it is gone, the world of factories and making a living just showing up are gone. In the past all you had to do was go to school, get good grades, work hard, keep your head down and follow orders. Those rules no longer apply, if you want to truly succeed you need to be a linchpin. It’s no longer about just showing up and doing your job – you have to challenge authority and do what you think is best.
You are not a cog in the industrial machine anymore – but the problem is we are still teaching our children to be cogs and there’s no more room for them. Whether you are an employee, or if you are working for yourself the changes are the same. We have to make our own choices, and chart our own path. We have to add value that others do not in order to succeed.
“If all you can do is the task and you’re not in a league of your own at doing the task, you’re not indispensable.”
You can be replaced at any time, by anyone. It’s not enough to be good at what you do anymore, you have to add value that the other thousands of people in your field cannot. What do you offer to your business, or to your industry, that nobody else can? If cuts were being made at your job – why would you be the one that stays?
The book has a lot of solid information in it and is a great book to read a few times. There’s a lot of books in our industry that are great reads and I think this one is up towards the top. If you have a chance, I would highly recommend you go grab it because you certainly won’t regret reading it.
It has to be good, seth godin is great.