My regular readers know of how strongly I feel about Seth Godin. I consider him a friend who I actually know (I don’t), but he is very gracious to write emails to me when I reach out. We’ve had various short conversations, so I think of him fondly. Almost everything he has written I have loved. I have several copies of his books and have given many away as presents.
Linchpin, however, was the one thing he’s written that I actually didn’t like. It was quite awkward because he had sent me an advance copy asking for a recommendation on my blog site (of course, he did the same with dozens of other people as well). I couldn’t do it.
My biggest complaint is that he seemed to send the signal in Linchpin that everyone can do some secret amazing work that will pay them big money, enough to live on at least, and won’t mean working in that “mindless job” you have.
I do keep reading his work because I think there is still more to learn about what he is trying to say. I know for him, or it appears to me that he is thinking that the Internet allows for such global connectivity that anyone truly can go and do anything, and be successful at it. I disagree. This belief of mine connects to how I perceive education and higher education. I will write more about this at another time, but the short version is that I believe our country has fallen under a spell about success and life that misunderstands what the purpose is of higher education.
I suppose Seth’s point (if I have read him correctly) bugs me most because I think it sends the same false signal to people, creates the same myth, that many of our students arrive on a College doorstep with—-“I am due vast financial success and you will give it to me by giving me a degree…with little real effort on my part…once I have a college degree then I can become wealthy because anyone can get any degree to do any job.” I disagree with this and think it is actually cruel to tell people this.
My sister had deep dreams of being a doctor. She certainly cared far more about school than I—my parents will tell you that I was the far more intelligent (as far as those tests seem to imply) but I was lazy and my sister would work far into the night to finish her schoolwork. I agree (at least on who worked the hardest); I was content to skate by on my (perhaps) intelligence and just do enough to get a certain grade. Tina was determined to get the highest score she could. When she reached college, however, Chemistry destroyed her. It simply wasn’t a strength and no amount of “hard work” or tutoring or positive thinking was going to make her a “linchpin” in medicine.
She simply couldn’t do it.
She was disappointed, but accepted the inevitable with grace and has made a fabulous life in other arenas. Do, if Seth’s idea here (his and others) implies that anyone can do anything and be amazing at it, then I guess we have to say my sister (and millions of others) is a failure.
However, there could be another possibility.
One of my friends also read Linchpin and her impression was that Seth meant more that where a person happens to work, there they should be positive and do good work and in that place become a linchpin for the organization.
That is good, not only for my sister who is absolutely a Linchpin where she works, but for younger people who are seeking for a future. Instead of thinking that they need to quit their jobs in order to find this mysterious amazing future where they can be a Linchpin doing exactly what they want making as much money as they want, we can be instructed better about how to make the most of where we are. Sure, for some of you my readers, you do need to be brave and step out into the unknown. You know that you are not living up to your full potential where you are at currently.
However, for most of us, that sense of boredom or soul-sucking feeling is really just our own unwillingness to step up boldly in our workplace, in our own lives. Decide today to rise up and be the very best at you work. Go be amazing at your tasks, making each moment special, focused deeply on each other human that you interact with!