I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin, which should be available on January 26th in the event that you are curious enough to take a look. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I donated some money to the Acumen Fund, and in response, Seth mailed me his book a few weeks early so I could write a review of it.
I have a confession to make, however. I’m a really slow reader—even of Godin’s books. And since, as a result, I may not be finished with the book in time for it’s release, I figured I would offer some glimpses as I go.
Tonight as I was reading I kept thinking of a linchpin I encountered today. It was lunchtime and my family and I decided to eat at a little place called, Trolley Dogs.
I didn’t notice anything too out of the ordinary at first other than a good variety of hot dogs for less money than you would spend on a meal at McDonald’s. As I’m looking at the menu, some guy standing next to us tells us that he spent hours creating it by hand.
The next thing I know, the guy is standing behind the counter wearing a weird-looking hot dog hat and describing the different ways he can make your hot dog. You would think that Superman just ran to his phone booth, except he hopped out as Hot Dog Man instead.
He took our order and told me how wierd I was for ordering an Italian Sausage with krout—something about Italian mixed with German—and offered the correct pronunciation for giardiniera at my request.
During our meal, the guy, whose name is Joe and owns the place with his brother, continually checked on how we were doing, bussed tables, brought out a bowl of Goldfish crackers for my 2 year-old son and also made him a balloon animal.
When I was about to go and find a knife to cut up my son’s hot dog, he told me to sit down and had a hot dog brought out for him that was cut up to look like two octopuses. He told us that he was experimenting with some different combinations of toppings and hoped he could figure them out before he weighs 300 lbs.
Why is he a linchpin? Because he took lunch at a hot dog place and turned it into an experience; unscripted, from the heart, full of joy. How many people at other restaraunts do that? How about companies in general? How often have you dealt with someone behind a counter or on the phone who was just doing their job to collect a paycheck?
Who knows? Maybe you’re that person.
After lunch today, I think the world needs more people like Joe, and from what I’ve read, Seth’s book goes a long way toward inspiring us to answer the call.