Anyone with any interest in business books is already aware of Seth Godin’s latest book, Linchpin.  That’s because Seth is a phenomenal marketer, and he has a gift for putting one vital idea at a time simply and provocatively.  His earlier books include Purple Cow and Tribes, and they are similar in the sense that each contains one idea, phrased forcefully and memorably. 

In Linchpin, Seth argues that we’re all artists, or at least those of us who want to be indispensable and not just average workers in average factories.  And by the way, those average jobs in average factories are going away and never coming back, so you’d better think about becoming an artist.  Seth indicts the whole ‘scam’ as he calls it of factory worker jobs, whether those are white or blue collar, so I don’t think he’s particular sorry that they’re going away. 

In Seth’s view, an artist is someone who is passionate about creating something.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be a traditional work art – it could be a customer experience, a way of looking at rental cars, a bagel. 

You can see Seth talking about tribes and other things here: http://bit.ly/XJVL0.

As a speaker, Seth is funny and insightful.  I recommend both the new book and the speaker highly.