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nosfredatu's review against another edition
4.0
Un livre inspirant et motivant. Quelques théories qui tiennent pas la route, mais ça donne envie de faire de grandes choses!
mgmoore's review against another edition
4.0
Few are better at what they do than Seth Godin, and I really liked this book. But, it's not his best. He rehashes quite a bit of material covered better by others, and I don't agree with some of his broadsweeping generalization (e.g. the purpose of public education is to provide a pliable workforce for the elite).
But, there are lots of great take aways as well, both for the employer and the employee. I particularly liked his discussion of art and the artist in the workplace. I'll be applying quite a few things I've heard here, and even the repeat material was a great reminder. Recommended for anyone who wants to live life intentionally, find meaning in their work and be better than average in this new world we're living in.
But, there are lots of great take aways as well, both for the employer and the employee. I particularly liked his discussion of art and the artist in the workplace. I'll be applying quite a few things I've heard here, and even the repeat material was a great reminder. Recommended for anyone who wants to live life intentionally, find meaning in their work and be better than average in this new world we're living in.
sarahellen's review against another edition
3.0
Mixed feelings on this one. There were some really great parts, but the choppy writing style was a bit frustrating for me personally. I enjoyed the last half of the book much more than the first. Specifically, the section on the Culture of the Gift was my favorite. Also as someone for whom emotional labor is already the largest part of my job, many points seemed obvious to me, though I'm sure they are not for people in other careers. Still would recommend.
schwarmgiven's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent book--easy idea presented quickly and efficiently.
Loved the Comic Book, Grateful Dead, etc. references. in fact, all of the examples are remarkably good in this book.
Strongly recommended for the repeat audible listeners...
Loved the Comic Book, Grateful Dead, etc. references. in fact, all of the examples are remarkably good in this book.
Strongly recommended for the repeat audible listeners...
foosreadsandwrites's review against another edition
3.0
I was incredibly impressed with the ideas presented in Linchpin. The idea that art is the new currency of our world was a breath of fresh air. I struggle to believe that there are CEO's and Pastors and teachers that believe in this idea like Godin, but I'm begging, praying, pleading for them to come over to this way of thinking. Not only that, but Godin presents the idea of generosity in a new way - showing that, in fact, the only way to get what you want from your work is to give your work away without any expectation of reciprocation. As always, I wish the book was a little shorter - but who can be blamed for ranting about a subject that's worth ranting about?
Separate praise for Godin as a writer:
As a Christian, I tend to make all secular books, whether business or otherwise, with a grain of salt. Godin made that need to guard myself a virtual nonissue. Of course, there are references to buddhism and other cultures, but always in the best "take what's wonderful and use it" kind of way. I didn't get the impression that Godin was a born-again believer and a disciples of Jesus or anything, but in spite of comments that most Christians would be offended by (although probably shouldn't be), Godin made himself extraordinarily accessible and open. He made himself vulnerable and presented his artwork for those who were willing to receive it. In doing so, he listened to his own advice....a rare trait.
And he only charged so he could count if his art was working or not (and hopefully, so he could fund himself writing another book and continue blogging). Buy the book; read it. It'll help you connect with people and view yourself as a one-of-a-kind gift to the world, like you are.
Separate praise for Godin as a writer:
As a Christian, I tend to make all secular books, whether business or otherwise, with a grain of salt. Godin made that need to guard myself a virtual nonissue. Of course, there are references to buddhism and other cultures, but always in the best "take what's wonderful and use it" kind of way. I didn't get the impression that Godin was a born-again believer and a disciples of Jesus or anything, but in spite of comments that most Christians would be offended by (although probably shouldn't be), Godin made himself extraordinarily accessible and open. He made himself vulnerable and presented his artwork for those who were willing to receive it. In doing so, he listened to his own advice....a rare trait.
And he only charged so he could count if his art was working or not (and hopefully, so he could fund himself writing another book and continue blogging). Buy the book; read it. It'll help you connect with people and view yourself as a one-of-a-kind gift to the world, like you are.
joelkarpowitz's review against another edition
3.0
Am I alone in thinking that every motivational work book could pretty much be summarized in two or three paragraphs? It's not that I don't enjoy them, because the style of this sort of self-help book tends to be very conversational and with lots of entertaining (or semi-entertaining) examples. But most of the time it seems like the author has about a handful of ideas designed to make you rethink your approach to your job/life/etc. and then spends two hundred plus pages belaboring the point. It's why, though these books are easy to read, I never get particularly excited about reading them.
That said, in Linchpin author Seth Godin did make some great suggestions that have encouraged me to shift the way I think about my career. In essence, Godin suggests that the real key to success, career satisfaction, and (though he downplays it) profit is to make yourself an indispensable part of your organization, to figure out what "art" you have to offer the world/your company/your clients/etc. and then not be afraid to go "off script" and make human connections doing so. He talks about getting out of the mindset that all work is about exchange (I do a service, you pay me) and being taken care of and should be about giving gifts and blazing trails. It's all very shiny, happy, "let's hold hands and sing songs and realize how special you can be if you'll get out of your comfort zone," and some of his advice is still a little pie-in-the-sky (e.g., the best linchpins don't need resumes because their work and what they've accomplished is their resume--they don't fit in as an easily replaceable cog, so why would they apply for the same jobs that everyone else with a resume does), but I like rethinking my job as a teacher as art, and I like rethinking how I teach.
I got an email this week from a former student who was amazed and thought I would need to know that he got his first college essay assignment and that the teacher said they didn't want a standard five-paragraph essay. This was a student who I had repeated conversations with about understanding the form and organization and why it mattered. I wrote him back to tell him that--shocker--I agreed with his teacher. The five-paragraph essay is boring, it's flat, and any "formula" for good writing eventually grows stale and, well, formulaic. But the basics of learning how to write a five paragraph essay (what I had hoped I was teaching him) give you the groundwork to explode the formula. Once you know how to organize and clarify your thoughts, you can go a million different directions with them. Yes, I also stopped (for the most part) writing five paragraph essays after high school. But that's because I knew how to structure my thoughts in ways that were (for the most part, I hope) clear and understandable. Once you can do that, then it doesn't matte whether you're writing one paragraph or a thirty-page essay. The form provides a base, but the art comes from the ideas and insights that the form helps you to make clear.
I wonder if I'm teaching my students that enough. I don't want my students to all produce the same end product. I want them to discover their own voices and ideas. Every essay, even with tenth graders, I try to tell them that there's not a "right" essay that I'm looking for. There's not a single answer to an essay prompt, there are many. It's taking their unique insights, supporting them, and presenting them in a clear, meaningful, and convincing manner. I think that's what Godin's getting at. Quit thinking that you have to be the same kind of teacher (or web designer, banker, etc.) as everyone else, and figure out what you have to bring to the table that's unique. That's your art, and that's what you can nurture and develop and share with the world. Doing so turns you from a cog into a linchpin--and what do you know, it makes your job more enjoyable as well.
That's not a bad message. It's one that has had me reconsidering how I approach my subject and what it is I want my students to walk away from my classes thinking, feeling, and understanding. It's got me thinking about what unique abilities I have as a teacher that I can bring to bear more fruitfully--things like patience, and my sense of humor, and my expectations, and my tech savvy-ness, and so on and so forth. So I guess, for all the fluff, I like what Godin's saying here. (And what do you know, I explained it in five paragraphs after all.)
Grade: B
That said, in Linchpin author Seth Godin did make some great suggestions that have encouraged me to shift the way I think about my career. In essence, Godin suggests that the real key to success, career satisfaction, and (though he downplays it) profit is to make yourself an indispensable part of your organization, to figure out what "art" you have to offer the world/your company/your clients/etc. and then not be afraid to go "off script" and make human connections doing so. He talks about getting out of the mindset that all work is about exchange (I do a service, you pay me) and being taken care of and should be about giving gifts and blazing trails. It's all very shiny, happy, "let's hold hands and sing songs and realize how special you can be if you'll get out of your comfort zone," and some of his advice is still a little pie-in-the-sky (e.g., the best linchpins don't need resumes because their work and what they've accomplished is their resume--they don't fit in as an easily replaceable cog, so why would they apply for the same jobs that everyone else with a resume does), but I like rethinking my job as a teacher as art, and I like rethinking how I teach.
I got an email this week from a former student who was amazed and thought I would need to know that he got his first college essay assignment and that the teacher said they didn't want a standard five-paragraph essay. This was a student who I had repeated conversations with about understanding the form and organization and why it mattered. I wrote him back to tell him that--shocker--I agreed with his teacher. The five-paragraph essay is boring, it's flat, and any "formula" for good writing eventually grows stale and, well, formulaic. But the basics of learning how to write a five paragraph essay (what I had hoped I was teaching him) give you the groundwork to explode the formula. Once you know how to organize and clarify your thoughts, you can go a million different directions with them. Yes, I also stopped (for the most part) writing five paragraph essays after high school. But that's because I knew how to structure my thoughts in ways that were (for the most part, I hope) clear and understandable. Once you can do that, then it doesn't matte whether you're writing one paragraph or a thirty-page essay. The form provides a base, but the art comes from the ideas and insights that the form helps you to make clear.
I wonder if I'm teaching my students that enough. I don't want my students to all produce the same end product. I want them to discover their own voices and ideas. Every essay, even with tenth graders, I try to tell them that there's not a "right" essay that I'm looking for. There's not a single answer to an essay prompt, there are many. It's taking their unique insights, supporting them, and presenting them in a clear, meaningful, and convincing manner. I think that's what Godin's getting at. Quit thinking that you have to be the same kind of teacher (or web designer, banker, etc.) as everyone else, and figure out what you have to bring to the table that's unique. That's your art, and that's what you can nurture and develop and share with the world. Doing so turns you from a cog into a linchpin--and what do you know, it makes your job more enjoyable as well.
That's not a bad message. It's one that has had me reconsidering how I approach my subject and what it is I want my students to walk away from my classes thinking, feeling, and understanding. It's got me thinking about what unique abilities I have as a teacher that I can bring to bear more fruitfully--things like patience, and my sense of humor, and my expectations, and my tech savvy-ness, and so on and so forth. So I guess, for all the fluff, I like what Godin's saying here. (And what do you know, I explained it in five paragraphs after all.)
Grade: B
shanzberg's review against another edition
2.0
ugh. i wanted to like this and get something out of it, but it was not great. i was expected research-based, anecdotes, etc., and instead, it was seth godin's ramblings about art and giving it away and blah blah blah. it also struck me as having a very upper-middle class/affluent edge, even though he did try to make the case that even janitors can be linchpins. the sentiment is nice, but it's not reality. clunky at times, there were some interesting ideas, but i think this was also written for an older generation. a lot of the ideas struck me as what my generation has been trained to think about, but always good reminders. disappointing read, with some good tidbits.
jdintr's review against another edition
3.0
This was a frustrating but ultimately rewarding book for me.
Godin's shtick is re-imagining business-ese, the "lynchpin" (TM) in the title is an example of his approach. The challenge, comes, though, in chapters where monikers add to monikers and the reader can't follow Godin's argument--if there ever is one.
For example, the chapter "Becoming the Linchipin" seems to have a pretty forthright aim: leading the reader to build the skills that the book is about. Yet Godin hops around from anecdote to anecdote, moniker to moniker, and completely loses the point. To "linchpin" he adds terms like "emotional labor," and "leverage," which of course leads to "linchpin leverage" (TM) and continues on to a trichotomy (?) of the terms fearless, reckless and feckless.
Every blog-sized anecdote unwinds counter-intuitive observations, but they pile upon each other so much that the point is lost. I found myself underlining key ideas, then immediately realizing how ridiculous they were, as on page 53, when, after underlining, "it's the art and the insight and the bravery of value creation that are rewarded," I wrote in the margin, "BS, but looks so good on the page."
Of course, anyone who has five or more years of real-world experience knows that "linchpins" are appreciated, at times, but they are never valued and seldom, if ever, rewarded. At some point, most "linchpins" realize they are nothing more than cogs--often after they ask for higher pay or more responsibility in the organization. Perhaps Godin's book could be given along with a Timex watch as a going away present for those who have learned just how "indispensable" they actually were.
With that said, I did find actionable ideas from Godin's book, and I feel that--while it won't help me in my full-time job one whit--it did encourage me to pursue freelance projects that might eventually produce the rewards that being indispensable in any organization will not.
That's why I'm sticking with three stars for this uneven book.
Godin's shtick is re-imagining business-ese, the "lynchpin" (TM) in the title is an example of his approach. The challenge, comes, though, in chapters where monikers add to monikers and the reader can't follow Godin's argument--if there ever is one.
For example, the chapter "Becoming the Linchipin" seems to have a pretty forthright aim: leading the reader to build the skills that the book is about. Yet Godin hops around from anecdote to anecdote, moniker to moniker, and completely loses the point. To "linchpin" he adds terms like "emotional labor," and "leverage," which of course leads to "linchpin leverage" (TM) and continues on to a trichotomy (?) of the terms fearless, reckless and feckless.
Every blog-sized anecdote unwinds counter-intuitive observations, but they pile upon each other so much that the point is lost. I found myself underlining key ideas, then immediately realizing how ridiculous they were, as on page 53, when, after underlining, "it's the art and the insight and the bravery of value creation that are rewarded," I wrote in the margin, "BS, but looks so good on the page."
Of course, anyone who has five or more years of real-world experience knows that "linchpins" are appreciated, at times, but they are never valued and seldom, if ever, rewarded. At some point, most "linchpins" realize they are nothing more than cogs--often after they ask for higher pay or more responsibility in the organization. Perhaps Godin's book could be given along with a Timex watch as a going away present for those who have learned just how "indispensable" they actually were.
With that said, I did find actionable ideas from Godin's book, and I feel that--while it won't help me in my full-time job one whit--it did encourage me to pursue freelance projects that might eventually produce the rewards that being indispensable in any organization will not.
That's why I'm sticking with three stars for this uneven book.
naida_'s review against another edition
5.0
What I wouldn't say about this book is that it's "well written". It's often repetitive, the structure was on occasion difficult to grasp, and more than once I wished I had an outline to remind myself which section I was on.
Still, in my opinion it deserves five stars (or even more) simply because of the importance of the message it's conveying. Reading it made me think about a lot of people and their potential (including myself), and that's reason enough to believe the author is onto something.
Still, in my opinion it deserves five stars (or even more) simply because of the importance of the message it's conveying. Reading it made me think about a lot of people and their potential (including myself), and that's reason enough to believe the author is onto something.
deeparcher's review against another edition
5.0
Read this book. Yes, you. Make arrangements right now to borrow, buy or just read the entire thing huddled up in the bookstore. You owe it to yourself and everyone else to read this one.