• Understand what it takes to be a linchpin
• Meaning of ‘lizard brain’ and how to overcome it
• Why to always put your best foot forward, at your workplace
• Importance of developing new talents, creating opportunities and delivering
• Importance of gifting people your time and energy in a selfless manner

Linchpin Book Summary

“Done is the engine of more” This quote from the book wonderfully showcases Godin’s merit as a writer. There is a world of truth in this small phrase. If you wait for things to be absolutely perfect you will create less. However, if you can put out quality work quickly and consistently, you will rank much higher than peers and competitors. This is actually written about is great detail in the book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.

Focus on output. Efficiently create more, and consistently finish products. Get all thrashing (changes, ideas, and the struggle to get things perfectly in place) done. Flush it out of your system and iron out wrinkles because once you get to the later stages of the project you cannot thrash anymore. It is then the time to finish. This section is a lesson in preparation and careful planning before starting. Another wonderful book about this by Godin is Leap First: Creating Work That Matters.

Seth Godin says thrashing in the later stages is the sign of a lizard brain. The lizard brain prevents us from creating things that are new, and prevents us from putting ourselves out there and doing what you want to do. Control your lizard brain and enjoy the liberating feeling of trying to do great things and release your art to the world. For more on this topic read the book Get Sh*t Done by Jeffrey Gitomer.

Godin makes a case in point about J.K. Rowling, the renowned author of the Harry Potter series of books. She had written a whole book and decided not to publish it. She threw it away because of her lizard brain. She worried about how people would respond to her book. Fear paralyzed her!

"The resistance is afraid. The closer you come to unleashing the thing it fears, the harder it will fight”.

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Nervous energy prevents you from moving forward as you go closer towards finishing something that you have undertaken. The voice in the back of your head calls it silly, juvenile, imperfect, wrong, foolish, etc. It talks you out of it and you prefer to remain in the safety of your comfort zone. Jean Case calls this fear and talks all about fighting it in the book Be Fearless.

It is this lizard brain that you need to overcome and put yourself out there. Fighting the lizard brain will lead you to stand out and become a Linchpin, someone who is pivotal to an organization or irreplaceable. Much more about becoming irreplaceable in the book Think And Grow Rich.

Seth Godin talks about how different people have different gifts, especially unique to them. He says, "You need to find your right gift, and then you will really take off. Gifts not only satisfy our need as artists, they also signal to the world that we have plenty more to share."

Develop an identity of a person who freely shares his gifts and you will find people gravitating towards you and attracted to you.

This book is easily considered a marketing book. Seth is a legendary writer in marketing and in this book he shares the perspective that people do not buy commodities, they buy stories, relationships, or as he puts it: “magic.” A big element of it is trust. Consumers are determining whom they can trust and work with. The ultimate book on why customers buy certain products or services is Competing Against Luck.

This book talks all about what it takes to be a linchpin. What you can do specifically to be successful in life, business, relationships, and more. It's about the characteristics of a linchpin, and how to apply these characteristics in your life and work. Start doing things differently and change the way you function on a day-to-day basis. Buy stories, invest in relationships and trust in magic happening all around you. Know to trust and work with the right people and learn to keep at bay the things and people wrong for you. Tim Ferriss talks about making these choices in his book The 4 Hour Workweek.

Imbibe all the qualities and characteristics of a linchpin within yourselves. Produce art (work) consistently and freely share it to help others. Do not allow the lizard brain to sabotage thoughts and hold you back. Short term comfort should never be allowed to override the efforts required for long term success. And that is a lesson expanded on with great examples in the book GRIT.

The changing dynamics of the world are signaling that only linchpins will survive. Concentrate all your efforts to become one. Become the indispensable one – The Linchpin.

About The Author Seth Godin

Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, marketing expert, author, and overall business guru. On his website, Godin says that his most important role is that of teacher and Godin has spent much of his career educating the world on the business principles that have made him successful.

Godin is best known for his innovations in the world of business and direct marketing. His advances in the world of marketing, internet-based marketing, and business marketing have been widely hailed as revolutionary, particularly in the age of the internet.

Godin is also an accomplished author. He has written eighteen books that deal with a wide array of topics, including marketing innovation, business philosophy, and personal growth. Many of these books have become best-sellers, with books like Purple Cow selling more than 150,000 copies.

Godin's business prowess is borne from experience. His career in entrepreneurship started more than thirty years ago, in 1986, when he left his job and used his savings to form Seth Godin Productions, a business that focused on book packaging and marketing. Shortly afterward, he met Mark Hurst. The two formed a partnership and founded Yoyodyne, an internet-based direct marketing company. The business was ultimately acquired by Yahoo in the late 1990s, during the height of the tech-boom. Godin also founded Squidoo in 2006. This website was based on a revenue-sharing model in which users would create articles, also known as "lenses." The website was sold to HubPages in 2014.

Godin's professional success has translated into numerous awards, including introduction into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame and the Marketing Hall of Fame. On his website, Godin notes that he may be the only person in the entire world who holds a membership in both of these prestigious organizations.

Godin remains active in the marketing world, and continues to speak, blog, and operate a successful podcast.

Godin is married to his wife Helene. They have two sons and live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.