Posts Tagged ‘Linchpin’

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”

— Henry Kissinger*

This is a great quote, one of many that speaks to a simple aspect of Leadership.  It is hardest for leaders who must lead themselves to a place they’ve never been, as well as those who follow.

Consider two basic circumstances.  As a new manager, hired from outside the organization, it can be easier to see ‘where’ their new team(s) should head.  A view from outside brings new perspective to an organization.  Those new, unexplored ideas can often be the new injection of life a team or organization may need to get moving again.

The challenge for the new manager is to build relationships, develop trusts, and describe a new path.  Only with solid relationships, albeit new, in place can the leader hope to lead an organization forward.  Carrot and Stick approaches, regardless of positional authority, can last only for very short periods.

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I was catching up on blogs today…been away from my reading awhile…and saw one of Seth Godin’s dozens of philosophical questions.  The crux of his article was about doing indispensable work and cheating the clock.  We face more distractions, greater demands, more complex lives than ever before—nothing new there at all.  You also cannot work more than 24 hours in a day.  Too many folks work 10-12 hours a day, or, at least they’re ‘there’ that long.

One of his questions struck me as being worth discussing with my readers: What If…you were only allowed 5 hours a day to do your job?

Here are some suggestions:

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[Hey! They made me:)] I’m rather tickled actually.  This week I received word that Alltop has added this blog (www.jtpedersen.net) to their Leadership section.

This is something of a big deal for me, personally.  It shows you’re not alone in feeling there’s content here worth reading…adding value.

So, here’s my thanks to Alltop, to Guy Kawasaki & Team, for including www.jtpedersen.net in an increasingly important site.

Cheers!

From my perspective, Seth has written perhaps his most impactful book yet. The Linchpin is a new category of person, one who engages their personal ‘art’ in what they do, who can see the course to take when a map doesn’t exist.

This book is a mix of looking at how we think; how we decide; how we got here; and, what is going to be needed to be successful moving forward.

To become a linchpin is to become indispensable.

Seth does a good job encouraging the reader to apply their ‘art’, that ‘extra something’ you enjoy doing, to become indispensable, to leader your organization forward–regardless of your position within it. Rather than simply be a cog in the boss’ machine, do more, be more, whether you reap direct reward (e.g. $$) or not.

Along the way, you might learn a few other things. One of which, led me to post, "Mid Life Crisis Explained.”

The world has changed. Permanently. We can struggle to maintain status quo, or, at least contemplate the options Seth presents.

Recommended.