Linchpin

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Being a Linchpin is not an easy task as it entails being dependable, trustworthy and indispensable. If accomplished, it enables one to be far too valuable, unique and strongly meaningful in all the tasks he or she does. This takes time to be achieved and with beginner's mind, we need beginner's time. Seth Godin, in his book, he mentions that one needs to think differently in the modern world (information age) versus prior to 2000 (industrial age) as we have now different business tools, paradigms and minds.

One way to be a Linchpin is to get rid of randomness, and be systematic and structured in your work. Creating a To-Do list is a good step, but creating a Not-To-Do list is a great step. This is said, because many various tasks might accumulate over the course of a specific project and being a transparent with your team and manager is important. For example, one can create a 90-Day strategic plan to show an high-level overview of the tasks one needs to accomplish during his or her first 90 days at a new job and not to perform work not related to his or her job.

"Emotional Work" is a term Seth Godin mentioned in his book that emphasizes a person should do a job that really matters to him or her and the person should put his/her heart and soul into this work. You do this by being an artist that makes a meaningful impact on the organization, by improving a set of aspects in your department or company continuously and delivering work of high quality. For instance, a contrarian optimist is a true artist as he or she questions mainstream ideas to reach excellent conclusions and come up with counterintuitive solutions.

Speaking counterintuitively, being good at making mistakes is fundamentally important because this is when learning happens naturally, if the mistakes are turned into learning opportunities. Additionally, going out of your comfort zone is necessarily significant for developing skills that make an individual unique.

Last but not least, following manuals at work is bad because here you meet expectations and if you do you are not indispensable. An excellent problem solver does not have a manual that he or she follows to solve all the tough or challenging problems at work, otherwise he or she is not a Linchpin. However, this does not mean manuals or procedures are bad, they just limit creativity and out-of-the-box thinking that most prestigious companies demand.

Without being indispensable, your work becomes hard to see as valuable and unique. This will not give you recognition and will not motivate you to perform more challenging tasks.