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Book Review: Linchpin — Are you Indispensable? Dyan Risser, CFO/Human Relations Manager Rating:  
Most employees would like nothing better than to be indispensable. This book explains just how to accomplish this by becoming a linchpin, a person regarded as an essential or coordinating element.
In Linchpin, Seth Godin explains that there’s been a fundamental shift in what companies value in employees, and it’s not what we’ve been taught. In the past, following instructions, showing up for work on time, working hard, being a cog in the wheel was rewarded. Today, being remarkable, generous, creating art, making judgment calls, and connecting people and ideas will be rewarded.
The good news is that everyone is capable of becoming a linchpin. Everyone has talent; Seth calls it “genius and art.” It’s the choices you make and what you do with your talent that matter. Everyone also has self-doubt; Seth calls it “your lizard brain.” You need to be aware of your own “lizard brain,” since becoming indispensable is often uncomfortable and feels quite risky.
I most related to the book’s point of view on what today’s employers consider a linchpin. The Anderson Group values many of the same things in our employees—curiosity, passion, capacity to see things as they are, charting new paths, working outside a job description, being proactive, and creating order out of chaos.
If you, too, want to excel in the world today, you need to become a linchpin. Reading this book will teach you how.
I believe Seth gives some good advice, “Don’t pick a job that likes cogs. Don’t look for safety. Fall often. Fail in public. Try to find things people will criticize. Learn from your mistakes with eagerness. Do difficult emotional labor that others fear. Be generous. Connect. Have fun!” Rating: Similar to other books on the subject. Disappointing. Would not recommend.
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