From Seth Godin's Linchpin : are you indispensable?
You Can't Get Far Without One. A linchpin is an unassuming piece of hardware, something you can buy for sixty-nine cents at the local hardware store. It's not glamorous, but it's essential. It holds the wheel onto the wagon, the thinger onto the widget.
Every successful organization has at least one linchpin; some have dozens or even thousands. The linchpin is the essential element, the person who holds part of the operation together. Without the linchpin, the thing falls apart.
Is there anyone in an organization who is absolutely irreplaceable? Probably not. But the most essential people are so difficult to replace, so risky to lose, and so valuable that they might as well be irreplaceable.
Entire corporations are built around a linchpin, or more likely, a scattering of them, essential individuals who are worth holding on to.
1. Your business needs more linchpins. It's scary to rely on a particular employee, but in a postindustrial economy, you have no choice.
2. You are capable of becoming a linchpin. And if you do, you'll discover that it's worth the effort.
The easiest linchpin examples to find are CEOs and entrepreneurs, because they're the ones who get all the press. Steve Jobs at Apple or Jeff Bezos at Amazon or Ben Zander at the Boston Philharmonic or Anne Jackson at flowerdust.net. We look at these leaders and say, "Of course they're the linchpin. That organization wouldn't be the same without them."
Linchpins do two things for the organization. They exert emotional labor and they make a map. Those contributions take many forms. Here is one way to think about the list of what makes you indispensable:
1. Providing a unique interface between members of the organization
2. Delivering unique creativity
3. Managing a situation or organization of great complexity
4. Leading customers
5. Inspiring staff
6. Providing deep domain knowledge
7. Possessing a unique talent
You Can't Get Far Without One. A linchpin is an unassuming piece of hardware, something you can buy for sixty-nine cents at the local hardware store. It's not glamorous, but it's essential. It holds the wheel onto the wagon, the thinger onto the widget.
Every successful organization has at least one linchpin; some have dozens or even thousands. The linchpin is the essential element, the person who holds part of the operation together. Without the linchpin, the thing falls apart.
Is there anyone in an organization who is absolutely irreplaceable? Probably not. But the most essential people are so difficult to replace, so risky to lose, and so valuable that they might as well be irreplaceable.
Entire corporations are built around a linchpin, or more likely, a scattering of them, essential individuals who are worth holding on to.
1. Your business needs more linchpins. It's scary to rely on a particular employee, but in a postindustrial economy, you have no choice.
2. You are capable of becoming a linchpin. And if you do, you'll discover that it's worth the effort.
The easiest linchpin examples to find are CEOs and entrepreneurs, because they're the ones who get all the press. Steve Jobs at Apple or Jeff Bezos at Amazon or Ben Zander at the Boston Philharmonic or Anne Jackson at flowerdust.net. We look at these leaders and say, "Of course they're the linchpin. That organization wouldn't be the same without them."
Linchpins do two things for the organization. They exert emotional labor and they make a map. Those contributions take many forms. Here is one way to think about the list of what makes you indispensable:
1. Providing a unique interface between members of the organization
2. Delivering unique creativity
3. Managing a situation or organization of great complexity
4. Leading customers
5. Inspiring staff
6. Providing deep domain knowledge
7. Possessing a unique talent
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