Linchpin is a book  for the ambitious, for those who fear getting lost in the crowd. It urges you to shed the safety of mediocrity and embrace the greatness. It asks you to ignore the lizard brain ,angry and afraid,asking you  to seek the comfort of being average. Quoting David Marnet,Godin says”Do not internalize the industrial model.you are not one of the myriad of interchangeable pieces, but a unique human being and if you have something to say, say it and think well of yourself while you are learning to say it better.”

Like scared civilians eager to do whatever a despot tells them,we give up our freedoms and responsibilities in exchange for the certainty that comes from being told what to do. For companies, he says there are only two choices. Win by being more ordinary, more  standard and  cheap.  Or win by being faster, more remarkable and more human.

Average is over, he says ominously. Leaders don’t get a map or a set of rules. Living life without a map requires a different attitude.It requires you to be a linchpin.In today’s world there is no space for those who merely show up. Today there is a lot more riding on bloggers, musicians, writers and others who don’t need anyone’s support or permission to do their thing. So a blogger named Brian Clark makes a fortune launching a new theme for WordPress. Today the only way to get what you’re worth is to stand out, to  exert emotional labor, to be seen as indispensable, and to produce interactions that organisations and people care about.

I liked this particularly”Great  teachers are wonderful. They change lives. We need them. The problem is that most schools don’t like great teachers. They’re organised to stamp them out, bore them, bureaucratize them and make them average.”The new American Dream is not about being obedient or showing up , its about being remarkable , being generous , creating art , making judgement calls and connecting people and ideas.

I was going to write a review ,but there’s so much to quote that it seems impossible for me to write what I felt about the book. Its easier to just go with the author and try and not distort what he has said so beautifully.