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.

Thus opens the book jacket to Seth Godin’s Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? In it, Godin talks about the ways in which the world of work is changing. I believe that we see it every day in the numbers of newly unemployed as well as those who cannot find work. While corporations are looking for ways to cheapen and trivialize jobs, and to replace men with machines, the only way to help safeguard is by stepping above and beyond the job description and creating art in your everyday work environment.

Don’t worry, neither Godin nor I are talking about drawing pictures, creating sculpture, or designing wedding invitations. Well, unless that is what you do for work.

You get paid to go to work and do something of value. But your job is also a platform for generosity, for expression, for art.

Every interaction you have with a coworker or customer is an opportunity to practice the art of interaction. Every product you make represents an opportunity to design something that has never been designed, to create an interaction unlike any other.

For a long time, few people were fired for refusing to understand that previous paragraph. Now, though, it’s not an option. It’s the only reason you got paid to go to work today.

But wouldn’t it be simple if that’s all that we had to do? Unfortunately for every one of us, we have to deal with fear and instinct, which comprise The Resistance. It’s the fear of standing out, the fear of the unknown, the fear of making a choice. It’s the voice in the back of your mind screaming, “Get back in your seat and shut up!”

It’s evolution.

Getting Things Done could actually help you get things done. A Whack on the Side of the Head could help you be creative. Sales training could in fact help you make more sales. There are books and classes that can teach you how to do most of the things described in this book. And while many copies are sold and many classes attended, the failure rate is astonishingly high.

It’s not because the books and classes aren’t good. It’s because the resistance is stronger.

Few people have the guts to point this out. Instead, we turn up our noses at the entire genre of self-help. We cynically ridicule the brown-nosers who set out to better themselves.

I wish I could say that I didn’t recognize myself in that last block quote. I am the cynic. I was the cynic before reading Linchpin. Linchpin isn’t a self-help book though: it’s a book about self realization. Maybe I see it that way because I read it at just the right moment in my life. I was seeking internal validation about my choice to resign from my position and strike out on my own as a technology consultant.

They do more than they’re paid to, on their own, because they value quality for its own sake, and they want to do good work. They need to do good work. Anything less feels intellectually dishonest, and like a waste of time. In exchange, you’re giving them freedom, responsibility, and respect, which are priceless.

Godin was talking to Managers in the above quote. For me, though, it describes why I felt untrusted, underappreciated, and unvalued at nearly every job that I have held to date. For those of us who do the best work that we can do, who look for constant improvement, and who have the ability to plan and make rational decisions – the old way of work will never be enough. We simply rock the boat way too damn much.

Linchpin isn’t a book for consultants and entrepreneurs alone, though they are Godin’s perfect market. Seth uses many examples where unassuming linchpins are creating unassuming art. Think of that barista who leaves the counter to tidy the coffee station and make conversation with customers. Or perhaps the librarian who does more than point to a computer catalog. Or in the case of the SQL Server community, the professionals that blog, present and give away knowledge to any and everyone.

There are many forms of equity, and few of them involve cash. When you invest time or resources into someone’s success of happiness, and your payment is a share of that outcome, you become partners.

I’d like to think that this is why we push to create value in our jobs and in the community – that it’s more than just a way to get ahead. Getting ahead isn’t a bad side effect either. But that when you put others first, when you give your art away, you’ll find yourself getting ahead without trying because you’ve become a linchpin. You’ve made yourself indispensable and more valuable to your company and those around you.