Introduction
Linchpin is a personal manifesto about art, work and how to become indispensable by Seth Godin. It is inspirational and I hardly know where to begin in reviewing the book. If you liked Godin’s last book, Tribes, you’ll definately like this. It leaves you filling happy, motivated and thinking that you can take over the world. It isn’t about marketing, the field of business that made Godin famous as a business writer. You meet interesting people, face plenty of difficult questions and more. There’s a lot here in the book, so I’m only going to touch on a few aspects of it: art, shipping and emotional labor. Before that, let’s do the history. Godin argues that the “factory system” of work where you simply follow instructions, do your job and go home. That’s a recipe for being replaced by either technology or outsourced labour. The old system promised: “If you learn how to be one of these workers, if you pay attention in school, follow instructions, show up on time, and try hard, we will take care of you. You won’t have to be brilliant or creative or take big risks.” Godin argues that’s not going to work anymore. So what’s left? Make art, ship it and add emotional labor; then you will be on your way to becoming indispensable. There’s also plenty of fun illustrations (some NSFW) by Hugh MacLeod of Gaping Void, who pioneered the art of making outrageous cartoons on business cards.
Art: Creating Change in Another
In Linchpin, art is much bigger than paintings and music. It is about change: “art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does… Art is a personal act of courage, something that one human does that creates change in another.” (83-84). In his development of the idea, what you do in life should produce change in somebody else. That’s an interesting and really challenging way to think about the work you do. That’s one reason I like doing reference librarian work with students. When help somebody through, when they make that transition - from being confused and a little lost to understanding how to research, it is kind of magical. That’s one reason to keep doing it. Where the concept gets even more tricky (and challenging) is Godin’s argument that art is a gift and cannot really be commercialized without some kind of corruption.
Shipping: Done is the engine of more & Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done
Starting doesn’t matter very much – everything comes down to finishing. Things happen when you finish them; don’t worry about being perfect. Yeah, I know that this all sounds very simple and obvious but there’s much to it. If you want a longer elaboration of the idea, you can get out this 18 minute talk where Seth Godin explains it. There’s also the cult of done manifesto that is well worth a read. You choose a deadline and then you deliver the project and that’s all there is to it. Unfinished ideas, books and essays just sit around and don’t do anything. I love that idea. Perfect order is attractive to many librarians, authors and academics but it can be the enemy. This has me wondering is the conservative nature of academic and scientific publishing works breaks ideas. I’d rather see drafts, ideas and notes go up in rough form rather than never see those ideas.
Emotional labor: producing generosity and exposing creativity
Godin argues that almost all work worth doing involves doing emotional labor. And when you skip the emotional labor, you get terrible results. Ever worked with somebody who is a drone? Ever called a customer help line and the person answers and you’re not sure if they’re a recording or a machine? That’s a sign that emotional labor is lacking. The concept was coined by Arlie Hochschild in her book The Managed Heart. Godin describes it like: “Emotional labor is the hard work of making art, producing generosity and exposing creativity… You get paid to go to work and do something of value. But your job is also a platform for generosity, for expression, for art.” (57). I think of those times, back when I used to work in tech support at a university, where I’d get up from the desk (we were under standing orders not to leave our desk) and actually walk somebody over to where they needed to be and sometimes I’d even explain their request to another staff person to get them on their way. I liked doing it and the person benefited, even if it is not one of the official duties.
And now for a final extended quote from the book on resumes (71-72):
Do You Need A Resume?
This is controversial, but here goes: if you’re remarkable, amazing, or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a resume at all. If you’ve got the experience in doing the things that make you a linchpin, a resume hides that fact. A resume gives the employer everything she needs to reject you. Once you send me your resume, I can say, “Oh, they’re missing this or they’re missing that,” and boom, you’re out. Having a resume begs for you to go into that big machine that looks for relevant keywords, and begs for you to get a job as a cog in a giant machine. More fodder for the corporate behemoth. That might be fine for average folks looking for an average job, but is that what you deserve? The very system that produced standardized tests and the command-and-control model that chokes us also invented the resume.
If you want more reviews and comments on the book, check out the Linchpin Posts.
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