Seth doesn’t write abstractly about his ideas. Instead his writing is like a conversion in which he is talking directly to you, but he doesn’t demand anything in return. He piques your curiosity with seemingly simple ideas which could have profound impacts.

The most obvious example is the title. He never made a point to define what a linchpin was, but he uses it throughout the book to make a point. Essentially, a linchpin is an innocuous and fairly ubiquitous item that can be purchased at any hardware store very cheaply. However, it’s critical to a wagon – it holds the wheel to the cart. Then entire wagon could not function without the linchpin.

I have only read a small part of the book thus far, because I actually had to put it down for a while. There are so many ideas I almost felt overwhelmed…like reading a month’s worth of his blog postings in a single sitting.

Through it he quotes Hugh MacLeod; by far my favorite cartoonist in the business card medium. And my favorite section: Will You Still Be Loved? In which he says, “It’s entirely possible that once you choose to become indispensable, you will no longer be loved.” Which really struck a chord with me until he wrote, “But (and I know it’s a big hurt but) either those people will come around, or they never loved you in the first place, did they?”

Now I’m wondering, can a company become a Linchpin, instead of just a person? Can we collectively fill that space and hold everything together for another company? And if we do, how will we know?