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A review by lapistella
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin
4.0
This book explores ideas about how to be indispensable in a commodity based marketplace. Godin says, “You must become indispensable to thrive in the new economy. The best ways to do that are to be remarkable, insightful, an artist, someone bearing gifts. To lead. The worst way is to conform and become a cog in a giant system.”
He proposes that it’s no longer enough to just be able to do your job as prescribed, the workforce as defined by the industrial revolution has peeked. The white-collar work-a-day job is being phased out because of globalization and efficiencies in technology. And experimental work solutions, like the Amazon Turk, are a glimpse at a future of a componentized base-skill labor pool.
Godin offers seven abilities to aid in making yourself indispensible in the face of these changes. I won’t cover them all, but I feel strongly that I can implement some of them in my current role:
- Provide a unique interface between members of the organization.
- Manage a situation or organization of great complexity
- Inspire staff
- Offer deep domain knowledge
By the time I finished this book, I was fired up and even more excited about my new role at IBM. I love my job, and feel empowered to exert emotional labor and produce interactions that people care deeply about—to be a linchpin.
Godin also says, “You can’t always do what you love, but you can always love what you do.,” which reminds me a little bit of that Joplin song, love the one your with. I recommend this book for anyone looking for a new perspective on their own labor of love.
He proposes that it’s no longer enough to just be able to do your job as prescribed, the workforce as defined by the industrial revolution has peeked. The white-collar work-a-day job is being phased out because of globalization and efficiencies in technology. And experimental work solutions, like the Amazon Turk, are a glimpse at a future of a componentized base-skill labor pool.
Godin offers seven abilities to aid in making yourself indispensible in the face of these changes. I won’t cover them all, but I feel strongly that I can implement some of them in my current role:
- Provide a unique interface between members of the organization.
- Manage a situation or organization of great complexity
- Inspire staff
- Offer deep domain knowledge
By the time I finished this book, I was fired up and even more excited about my new role at IBM. I love my job, and feel empowered to exert emotional labor and produce interactions that people care deeply about—to be a linchpin.
Godin also says, “You can’t always do what you love, but you can always love what you do.,” which reminds me a little bit of that Joplin song, love the one your with. I recommend this book for anyone looking for a new perspective on their own labor of love.