Marketing podcast with Seth Godin (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download – subscribe now via iTunes

I had the pleasure of visiting with Seth Godin for this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. Seth’s new book Linchpin is out today and, as we discussed in our time together, this is probably his most personal message and book to date.

The message of Linchpin, to workers everywhere, is pretty simple: “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 organizations and people care deeply about.” A Linchpin is someone who can walk into a room and create order out of chaos. They are special people who view the world differently and who may or may not have the title applicable to the value they bring.

Godin is telling you that you must become that indispensable linchpin in today’s world of work or you’ll become the drone easily replace by the mechanical drone. (In fact on page 15 of Linchpin he recounts an interaction that he and I had about a year ago that drives this very point home – The Law of the Mechanical Turk) In a way Godin is also telling those would be Linchpins, the people inside organizations that do view the world differently, to rise up and make your role as a leader tangible – to make a choice.

There is no instruction manual for becoming a linchpin, although in Godin’s words, if you have a job where you wait around for someone to tell you what to do next, you’re giving up the chance to create value. There is plenty of evidence, however, that creative workers, problem solvers, those who can lead customers and inspire staff are on the path to becoming linchpins.

In true Seth fashion he has made the launch of Linchpin, as with any book he writes, a lesson in marketing. He has an uncanny knack for tying the central message of his books to the promotional tactics of his launch. Linchpin is being reviewed not by the traditional media factory, but by a thousand you and we, linchpins in our own little world. You can read more reviews and interviews on the Linchpin Squidoo lens.

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