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A review by jaclynday
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin
4.0
Although prone to repetition, Godin’s book about becoming an indispensable, creative thinker is motivating and inspiring.
While reading, I underlined passages that stuck out—there are a lot of one-liners—and realized that even if Godin’s advice is watered down to appeal to a wide range of industries, it’s particularly applicable to marketing and communications. (I work in marketing.)
At heart, Linchpin is about turning your work (whatever it is) into art. It’s a confusing message at first, since “art” brings up images of paintings or music or whatever. Godin’s premise, though, is that art is just an easy way of saying that work should be more relationship-driven and enriching. Instead of a purely transactional moment, “art” elevates a business-prospect relationship to one that’s more trusting and mutually beneficial.
I enjoyed Godin’s razor-sharp focus on the perceived connection between prospects and organizations, and how content marketing is an essential building block to changing that culture for the better. His points on shipping—getting the product out the door on time no matter what—were clear and actionable and important to any company, no matter what they’re selling.
“Outsourcing and automation and the new marketing punish anyone who is merely good, merely obedient, and merely reliable.”
While reading, I underlined passages that stuck out—there are a lot of one-liners—and realized that even if Godin’s advice is watered down to appeal to a wide range of industries, it’s particularly applicable to marketing and communications. (I work in marketing.)
“As customers, we care about ourselves, about how we feel, about whether a product or service or play or interaction changed us for the better.”
At heart, Linchpin is about turning your work (whatever it is) into art. It’s a confusing message at first, since “art” brings up images of paintings or music or whatever. Godin’s premise, though, is that art is just an easy way of saying that work should be more relationship-driven and enriching. Instead of a purely transactional moment, “art” elevates a business-prospect relationship to one that’s more trusting and mutually beneficial.
“Consumers are not loyal to cheap commodities. They crave the unique, the remarkable, and the human.”
I enjoyed Godin’s razor-sharp focus on the perceived connection between prospects and organizations, and how content marketing is an essential building block to changing that culture for the better. His points on shipping—getting the product out the door on time no matter what—were clear and actionable and important to any company, no matter what they’re selling.