Linchpin notes Part II

by Seth Godin.

• Two ways a linchpin can use "no." 1. Never use it (manage to find a way to do it. It's done. YES.); 2. No because we have the strength to disappoint you now in order to delight you later (when used with good intent, this negative linchpin is also priceless.)
• Like in nordic skiing, the person who leans forward the most wins the race.
• The cog is standing by, waiting for instructions.
• The physical (and mental) posture of someone creating art both changes and causes change. Art changes posture and posture changes innocent bystanders. 
• of 38 factors that motivated them to do their best at work -- the top 10: 1. challenge and responsibility; 2. flexibility; 3. stable work environment; 4. money; 5. professional development; 6. peer recognition; 7. stimulating colleagues and bosses; 8. exciting job content; 9. organizational culture; 10. location and community.
• only one is clearly extrinsic motivator (#4 money): interesting thing about money is that there's no easy way for an employee to make it increase, at least not in the short run. Most of the other elements, though, can go through the roof as a result of our behavior, contributions, attitude, and gifts. 
• And yet, cynical management acts like a factory, figuring that the only motivators are cash and freedom from scolding. 
• If you need to conceal your true nature to get in the door, understand you'll probably have to conceal your true nature to keep that job. 
• Emotional labor is the task of doing important work, even when it isn't easy.
• Volunteer to do emotional labor -- even when we don't feel like it.
• "The gift is to the giver, and comes back to him..." - walt whitman.
• When you do emotional labor, you benefit. The act of the gift is in itself a reward. Also, you benefit from the response of those around you.
• The essence of any gift, including the gift of emotional labor, is that you don't do it for a tangible, guaranteed reward. 
• "Most artists can't draw." -- Roy Simmons. "But all artists can see." - seth godin.
• Art is anything that's creative, passionate, and personal. And great art resonates with the viewer, not only with the creative. 
• An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artist takes it personally. 
• Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn't matter. The intent does.
• Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another. If there is no change, there is no art. If no one experiences it, there can be no change. 
• Art is the product of emotional labor. If it's easy and risk free, it's unlikely that it's art. 
• Art is unique, new, and challenging to the status quo. It's not decoration, it's something that causes change. It involves labor, emotional labor of doing something difficult, taking a risk and extending yourself.
• Passion is a desire, insistence, and willingness to give a gift. An insistence on doing important work. This relentless passion leads to persistence and resilience in the face of people not accepting your gift. 
• "Wait! Are you saying that I have to stop following instructions and start being an Artist? Someone who dreams up new ideas and makes them real? Someone who finds new ways to interact, new pathways to deliver emotion, new ways to connect? Someone who acts like a human, not a cog? Me?
• Yes.
• Poverty Mentality: If I give you something, it costs what I gave you. The more you have, the less I have. The more I share, the more I lose. 
• When you give something away, you benefit more than the recipient does. The act of being generous makes you rich beyond measure, and as the goods or services spread through the community, everyone benefits.
• Art is the ability to change people with your work, to see things as they are and then create stories, images, and interactions that change the marketplace.
• Perhaps i don't need a new job or project or boss. Perhaps i need to get in touch with what it means to feel passionate. People with passion look for ways to make things happen. The combination of passion and art is what makes someone a linchpin.
• Gifts allow you to make art.
• In everything you do, it's possible to be an artist, at least a little bit. If you're willing to suspend your selfish impulses, you can give a gift to your customer or boss or coworker or a passerby. And the gift is as much for you as it is for the recipient.
• Vital to know whom you are working for. Understanding your audience allows you to target your work and get feedback that will improve your work. Also, it tells you whom to ignore. Art for everyone is mediocre, bland, and ineffective.
• Moment you treat that person like a boss, like someone in charge of your movements and your output, you are a cog, not an artist. 
• Nobody cares how hard you worked: It's not an effort contest, it's an art contest. Emotional labor changes the recipient, and we care about that.
• Future of your organization depends on motivated human beings selflessly contributing unasked-for gifts of emotional labor. 
• Easier it is to quantify, the less it's worth.
• Job is what you do when you are told what to do. Your art is what you do when no one can tell you exactly how to it. Your art is the act of taking personal responsibility, challenging the status quo, and changing people. Process of doing your art "the work."
• The job is not the work. The job is not the work; what you do with your heart and soul is the work.
• Artists have the chance to make things better. 
• Passion is caring enough about your art that you will do almost anything to give it away, to make it a gift, to change people. Part of the passion is having the persistence and resilience to change both your art and the way you deliver it.
• Passion for your art also means having a passion for spreading your art.
• If ideas don't spread, if no gift is received, then there is no art, only effort. 
• Art, at least art as i define it, is the intentional act of using your humanity to create a change in another person. 
• Thrashing is the apparently productive brainstorming and tweaking we do for a project as it develops. 
• Thrash late and you won't ship.
• Missed deadlines: creators didn't have the discipline to force all the thrashing to the beginning.
• Coordinating teams of people become exponentially more difficult as the group gets larger. So projects stall as they thrash.
• Relentlessly limit the number of people allowed to thrash. Formal procedures for excluding people. Need secrecy. Appoint one person (a linchpin) to run it. 
• Lizard brain is the source of the resistance.
• Going out of your way to find uncomfortable situations isn't natural, but it's essential. Road to comfort is crowded and it rarely gets you there. Discomfort brings engagement and change. 
• One way to become creative is to discipline yourself to generate bad ideas. Worse the better. Do it a lot and magically you'll discover that some good ones slip through. 
• "Well-paying employment requires that workers possess unique skills, abilities, and knowledge. It also requires that the labor be non-commoditized. Unfortunately, journalistic labor has become commoditized." -- media economist Robert Picard.