Linchpin, Seth Godin

We are surrounded by bureaucrats, note takers, literalists, manual readers, TGIF laborers, map followers, and fearful employees.

   

Artists are people with a genius for finding a new answer, a new connection, or a new way of getting things done.

That would be you.

   

There are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do.

   

Lift > Hunt > Grow > Produce > Sell > Connect > Create/Invent (Hierarchy of value)

   

   

   

On top of this if you do great work you gain the reward of knowing you're doing great work. Your day snaps into alignment with your dreams, and you no longer have to pretend you're mediocre. You're free to contribute.

   

She didn't get assigned either of those jobs. She just did them.

If you could write Marissa's (in Google) duties into a manual, you wouldn't need her. But the minute you wrote it down, it wouldn't be accurate anyway. That's the key. She solves problems that people haven't predicted, sees things people haven't seen, and connects people who need to be connected.

   

Troubleshooting is never part of a job description, because if you could describe the steps needed to shoot trouble, there wouldn't e trouble in the first place, right? Troubleshooting is an art, and it's a gift from the troubleshooter to the person in trouble. The troubleshooter steps in when everyone else has given up, puts himself on the line, and donates the energy and the risk to the cause.

   

If the game is designed for you to lose, don't play that game. Play a different one.

   

Instead, she hired friendly people and motivated them to perform emotional labor.

   

Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.

   

Passion isn't project-specific. It's people-specific. Some people are hooked on passion, deriving their sense of self from the act of being passionate.

   

The easier it is to qualify, the less it's worth.

   

Passion is caring enough about your art that you will do almost anything to give it away, to make it a gift, to change people.

   

If you appreciated a gift, consider saying, "thank you and …"

Thank you and I dog-eared forty of the pages.

Thank you and I told your boss what a wonderful thing you did.

Thank you and here's record my band and I recorded last week.

Thank you and you made me cry.

Thank you and I just blogged about what you did.

Thank you and here's a twenty-dollar tip; I know it's not much, but it's all I can afford right now.

Thank you and how can I help you spread the word?

Thank you and can you teach me how to do that?

Thank you and you changed me, forever.

   

Respect is the gift you can offer in return.

   

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