Linchpin by Seth Godin

Linchpin by Seth Godin

Seth Godin is one of my favorite authors right now. Very few authors can hold and balance content/subject/brevity as good as Seth can. Linchpin is a great book about what makes the winners, the successful people/employees/bosses etc. He starts by defining and giving many examples. The different qualities and trates of a linchpin and why this person is so valuable both as employee, employer and friend.

He has a very interesting discussion and approach to bad/mediocre/good/great AND linchpin. If you are working with productivity and work with effectiveness of everyday life. This is really a great book for you.

Why are you a mediocre worker? How often do you feel dispensable? Are you good at following maps? Is your job your work?

The only way of being successful is to be remarkable! Remarkable at doing the actual work as well as your approach to work and life. Passion and drive are the forces for a linchpin. Focus on delivering and not the process!

If you haven’t read any of Seth Godins books, this is a good start. If you have little time or not sure about the subject try “Poke the box“.

In summary, this is a great book. Easy to read and provides lots of food for thought. At times it feels like a book of quotes. I made som many notes that most of the book is glowing yellow from the marker pen.

Here are some of my notes from the book:

• We were not born to be a cog in the machinery, we were taught to be one!
• If we can measure it, we can do it faster
  If we can  put it in a manual, we can outsource it
• Mediocre is merely a failed attempt to be really good.
• Making commitments is too scary and too much work

• The law of linchpin leverage. The more value you create in your job, the fewer clock minutes of labor you actually spend creating that value. In other words, most of the time you are not being brilliant. Most of the time you do stuff that ordinary people could do.

• Trouble shooting is never part of a job description, because if you could describe the steps needed to shoot trouble, there wouldn’t be any trouble to begin with.
• The Linchpin feels the fear, acknowledges it, then proceeds!
• The problem with Six Sigma is that it ultimately leads to 3.4 defects per million. There is no room for amazing, remarkable improvements.
• Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient.
• Certain sorts of art makes us cry without embarrassment.
• The job is what you do when you are told what to do.

• Everyone has been a genius at least once. If you can do it once, you can do it again.

• Creativity is an instinct to produce.
• Artist think along the edge of the box. Because that is where the audience is, that is where the means of production is. That is where you can make a difference.
• The only purpose of starting is to finish!
• Why is there a writers block but no engineers block?
• People focus on emergencies not urgencies.
• The barrier of success is a choice, it is yours!