You need to read Seth Godin’s Linchpin. Or be a cog in the machine. Your choice.

by Josh Bernoff

Seth Godin’s Linchpin is a remarkable book. You should buy a copy. (It’s available on January 26.) Unless, of course, you’re enjoying that rut you’re in.

First of all, let’s acknowledge that Seth is a polarizing figure. He is the god of small business, and his books like Permission Marketing have transformed the way people think about marketing. But his books are written to persuade and inspire, and rarely have the kind of the gritty proof and statistics that hard-edged businesspeople demand. This leads many leading business thinkers to write him off.

The kind of impassioned plea that Seth writes doesn’t work if you don’t buy the original premise. As a result some recent efforts, like Meatball Sundae and Tribes, haven’t really hit the mark. But Linchpin does, in my opinion. I think Seth has discovered a fundamental truth about work.

Seth’s premise is that today’s organizational structure is a throwback to the days of factories, with interchangeable parts and interchangeable workers. Basically, this means that if you do your job as you’re told, then you’re easy to replace. Seth wants you to "become indispensable" instead. There are several elements to this. First, you need to make a choice — wake up and stop being a sheep. Second, you need to do your work as a gift — as art — because it makes you happier, not just to please your boss. Third, you need to triumph over your lizard brain — the part that wants you to conform and avoid dangerous actions that might make you stand out. Fourth, what you start or imagine doesn’t matter — a real linchpin ships products, completes the task.