I’ve been digging into Linchpin, by Seth Godin (it’s my first Kindle formatted book) and I’ve been enjoying it immensely. As usual Seth delivers the goods. I’ll be providing a full review like I did for Tribes, once I’ve finished it. However, I came upon a truly powerful passage that I felt compelled to write about.
In a section titled, “Saying No” Seth riffs on the power that comes from being the person who can say, “No.” Now think about that for a second. We usually demonize these people. After all, we want the “can do” person…the person for whom no mountain is too tall. Check out the passage and then I’ll offer up some thoughts.
“There are two ways the linchpin can use ‘no.’
The first is to never use it. There’s a certain sort of indispensable team member who always finds a yes. She always manages to find a way to make things happen, and she does it. It’s done. Yes.
Those people are priceless.
Amazingly, there’s a second kind of linchpin. This person says “no” all the time. She says no because she has goals, because she’s a practical visionary, because she understands priorities. She says no because she has the strength to disappoint you now in order to delight you later. When used with good intent, this negative linchpin is also priceless. She is so focused on her art that she knows that a no now is a worthy investment for the magic that will be delivered later.”
I was always the yes person. This isn’t to say i was a “yes man.” No, what I mean is, I believed that anything was possible. And why not? I enjoyed delivering the impossible. There is a thrill that comes from that. But, of late, I’m leaning that sometimes you need to say no. Saying no allows you to focus. It allows you to prioritize. It allows you to make even more progress than you could have from saying yes to every request.
It took my roughly 14 years in this business to learn that sometimes saying no leads to better productivity and better results. But, I’m finding now that I’ve learned it, I’m becoming a much more useful cog in the wheel.
Head of Social Media at Walgreens. Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy. I'm always up for a spirited conversation. These are my thoughts and ramblings, not those of my employer.
