• Linchpin

  • Are You Indispensable?
  • By: Seth Godin
  • Narrated by: Seth Godin
  • Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (4,876 ratings)

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Linchpin  By  cover art

Linchpin

By: Seth Godin
Narrated by: Seth Godin
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Publisher's summary

There used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there’s a third team, the linchpins. These people invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order out of chaos. They figure out what to do when there’s no rule book. They delight and challenge their customers and peers. They love their work, pour their best selves into it, and turn each day into a kind of art.

Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations. Like the small piece of hardware that keeps a wheel from falling off its axle, they may not be famous but they’re indispensable. And in today’s world, they get the best jobs and the most freedom. Have you ever found a shortcut that others missed? Seen a new way to resolve a conflict? Made a connection with someone others couldn’t reach? Even once? Then you have what it takes to become indispensable, by overcoming the resistance that holds people back.

As Godin writes, “Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it back. It’s time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must.”

©2010 Seth Godin (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"It's easy to see why people pay to hear what he has to say." (Time)

"Thousands of authors write business books every year, but only a handful reach star status and the A-list lecture circuit. Fewer still - one, to be exact - can boast his own action figure. . . . Godin delivers his combination of counterintuitive thinking and a great sense of fun." (BusinessWeek)

"If Seth Godin didn't exist we'd need to invent him - that's how indispensable he is! You hold in your hands a compelling, accessible, and purpose-filled book. Read it, and do yourself a big favor. Your future will thank you!" (Alan Webber, Founder, Fast Company)

What listeners say about Linchpin

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

I was expecting more

If you went to the bookstore and bought a bunch of books with motivational phrases, took those books home, cut out each phrase and put them in a pillowcase, and then shook that pillowcase, and then pieced each phrase back together at random, you would have something more coherent than this book.
It's like when you are awake at 3AM and there's nothing on TV except infomercials.
The idea of being a linchpin is a worthy idea and well worth pursuing. The problem is that this book doesnt even try to understand what exactly a linchpin is. At best, everything is anecdotal, strung together with feel-good hollow statements like 'resist the demon'. I think that was from Rocky III.
I was expecting something a bit more scientific, maybe a personality exploration of the linchpin in his or her native habitat. Nope. How about a story detailing how a regular Joe goes from regular to linchpin? Nada.
This book will underwhelm you.

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48 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Sophomoric Rant

Heard great things about Godin, but I think I should have started with an earlier book. This is a very silly, sophomoric rant chock full of Terminator 2 language like "The Resistance" used ad nauseam. The author spends an exhaustive amount of time talking about "creating art," and yet, at the end of the book, the term "art" is still left just as ambiguous as words like "success" or "happiness." Fun to talk about (cue the violins) but ultimately, not at all actionable. Godin suggests that people should fight against "The Resistance" by not using bullet point in their power point presentations and by not answering emails. These are the non-conformist dreams of a high school student convinced he's going to wear torn jeans and run the world. If you want to be indispensable, what you need to do is outperform everyone around you. Period. No book needed. And you had better be able to answer emails and had better be able to use bullets in your Power Points. It's not romantic, fun or as ambiguous as creating "art," but that's how stuff gets done. Renegades have and will continue to shape business, sure, but they first understood it. They knew the rules before they broke them. And first and foremost they had SKILLS. Today's cookie cutter workforce is only possible because people lack real skills. They have B.S degrees that are totally worthless in practical application. They can't chop wood or weld iron or write well or paint. So they come to an office and answer phones or go to a factory and gut chickens. Or they manage a Starbucks for the heath benefits. This is only sad if you assume that people HATE those jobs, and that's not an assumption you can make. Millions of people are happy as clams to put parts on a conveyor belt, thrilled to bits to sort mail, and totally content getting told what to do (you'll find, most people thrive with strong authority).

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Maybe you missed the point...

For those reviewers who found this book unsatisfying, I suspect they missed the point. This is easily Seth Godin's most important and insightful book since "Purple Cow". The point is, you are unique and capable of so much more than you have been sold to believe; you are ro can be a "Linchpin". This book/audiobook helped me make it through the most difficult year of my professional life. Saying that this book is "Inspiring" doesn't do it justice. Listen to it, accept the reality that Seth shares, and take control of your life.

Also, if you're familuar with Seth's previous audiobooks, this is easily his best performance. I love them all, but his audiobook performance has come a long way from "Purple Cow".

Thank you Seth Godin...

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39 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Um.. Yeah... Then what?

I enjoyed listening to Seth Godin read his book--meaning, I liked his voice and reading style--but honestly, it felt like he was reading unconnected blog entries in no particular order. Sometimes it seemed as though the title of the "chapter" was as long as the "chapter." This is a made-up example, but a lot of the book sounds like this: Title: To be a Lynchpin is to be Indispensable. Body: If you are an Artist, and do only what you can do, then you are indispensable. You are a Lynchpin.

Despite this, I patiently waded through the 4.5 hrs. of what I determined to be "Malcolm Gladwell lite" hoping for some sort of payoff. A call to action, a step-by-step plan--even a decent recap of what I'd just spent 3 weeks trying to get through. Anything! I won't be a spolier, but let's just say that I was laughing so hard at the way the book ends (because I felt like such a sucker) that I almost drove my car off the road.

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

I was looking forward to this book after hearing an interview with Seth Godin, but there is very little in the 4 1/2 hours that isn't self evident to any reasonably educated professional. The book may be valuable at the high school or early college level in exposing students to ways of thinking about a career/profession.

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31 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Are You Also a Godin Fan?

It seems whatever Godin is selling I'm buying. Gotta give him credit for that. My advice for Linchpin is to make it through the first half of the book - as the second half is really where the action is. Stick it out. Godin might have something to sell, but that does not mean he is wrong. His basic point that, that the economy has ripped away any security of careers or institutions, and that we need to change our outlook towards work, is probably exactly right. The question is what do we do with this knowledge. I like Godin allright, some folks may hate him, I think he is worth reading to generate a great discussion.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

This book is great. You don't need this book to tell you "how to" be indispensable, but it will come naturally once Seth Godin has INSPIRED you to be indispensable! It's about how to approach and execute your "job" functions so the net result of your performance day to day expresses who you are and what you can be. You are unique and indispensable, and deserve to experience and enjoy all of the gifts that you can give and receive through your life's work. I am encouraged, inspired and optimistic and have been recommending this book to everyone.
Plus it is read by the author, who miraculously does not have an annoying voice.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Linchpins only need to know WHAT to establish HOW

This book is fantastic at outlining WHAT needs to be done in order to be a Linchpin. However, it does not tell you HOW. That is why there are some reviewers who will not like this book. Seth even addresses this type of thinking in this book by stating the fact that a map for implementation/leadership does not exist because if it did, then anyone could do it and it would cease to be a true work of art. A Linchpin is able to see WHAT needs to be done and makes their own map as to HOW to get it done and shipped.

If you want a step-by-step book of what it takes to be incredible, this is not your book and I would be highly suspect of any book that claims that it can contain a template for original creative greatness.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

What?

After listening to this book nearly twice already, I still don't know what in the world he's talking about. I would suggest that anyone wanting to read this get to know Seth Godin first. Read up on him and find out more about him and where's he's coming from. I would also read a couple of his other books as well. I'm sure once I put this book into some context it will start making sense. I really wanted to like this book after it was recommended by Dave Ramsey. I've listened to nearly all of Dave's recommended books and never been disappointed before. I'll listen to this a third time and maybe it will sink in then.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

It gets better

Lots of good information, though some of it, like the concept of resistance, are "borrowed" from other authors. Most notably Steven Pressfield. The first part of the book is a little tough to get through, but he brings it all together in the second half. Well worth the listen.

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8 people found this helpful