Book 22: Linchpin
I generally dislike business books. Often, the salient points can be summarized in a dozen pages, and the rest of the book just feels like filler, restatements of the same points, over and over, because you can’t sell a 12-page book. Linchpin began as no exception, except that in this case, the message was compelling enough for me to overlook the repetition (which there is a lot of, don’t get me wrong). Certainly, in the early chapters, I found the book extremely tiresome, and a little patronizing in its use of cutesy terms like “Lizard Brain” (another thing I dislike).
I stuck with it, however, because I agreed to read it with a woman I am mentoring, and I am glad that I did! By the time I was done reading, something had clicked for me. The point of the book is to illustrate ways to become a “linchpin”, an indispensable employee who is highly sought-after, and to call out typical impediments to that goal. Lofty, but I believe misguided. Very few people are ever truly indispensable, and I’m betting you aren’t one of them. However, in attempting to achieve linchpin status, the book argues for a different way of approaching your work, and your life. In essence, the book challenges the reader to match your passion to the job you have to do, and to do it with ingenuity and creativity. The result is a work of art that you have produced, to be given as a gift to your boss, your co-workers, the world. For me, this means doing the best you have to give, for yourself, so that you feel proud of what you are giving.
It’s a different approach than trying to do a particular job as well as you can within the bounds of what you’ve been given to do. It means seeing beyond the limits of the task at hand and adding something of yourself to the work. And that work is then given as a gift, without expectation of reward or compensation (beyond what you already are paid to do the job, of course). You do it simply because that’s how gift-giving works.
This idea of treating your work-product as a gift creates an important distinction. It means you aren’t trying to please your boss, in return of gratitude or accolades. It means you are trying to please yourself. I like this. It changes the game to something over which you have complete control. If people reject your gift, so be it. Give them something different the next time, just like you would with any gift.
Rating: Borrow it and take notes.
