Linchpins Are Everywhere: Raise the Flag Meetup

In anticipation of seeing Seth Godin at the Live on Tour! event in Boston, I participated in the worldwide-meet-the-tribe-of-Linchpins day, on June 14th last week, in Cambridge, MA.

On Mon. night, about thirty attendees gathered at the Microsoft New England R&D Center (N.E.R.D.) to meet fellow linchpins and to discuss all things Seth Godin.

Godin announced the one-time worldwide meetup at his own blog, where he stated that one of the first linchpins he ever knew was his 3rd grade teacher. The teacher’s daughter was born on Flag Day, and in her honor, Godin selected June 14th as Linchpin Day.

Godin described the purpose of the Linchpin Meetup in this way:

“Here’s a simple, fast and free way to find other Seth fans in your community. Meet other people who talk about this blog, read the books and want to make an impact on the universe. Find people who ship.”

Attendees mingled awhile, before the more formal part of the program began. In introducing ourselves, the most common reason participants expressed for coming was wanting to meet other people who think like linchpins.

Organizer Lorenzo Geraci soon broke the group down into three interest groups: entrepreneurs, professional services, and education|general. (For volunteering to lead a group, I received an autographed copy of Linchpin to join my growing collection of autographed books. Very cool.)

The educational|general interest group launched an impromptu and lively conversation, on what each of us found of value in Linchpin. Topics were fluid. On education, the group agreed that the new economy requires a  different kind of education than the compliance-based programs of the factory-age. Instead, problem-solving and leadership must move to the center of the curriculum. We also discussed various challenges facing linchpins in organizations and referred to Godin’s advice to start small and build on incremental success.

Other topics included a discussion on how the organization and promotion of the Meetup and Live on Tour! event later in the week, fully illustrated Godin’s principles of permission marketing and tribes. There were also good insights related to blogging, networking, Seth’s blog—and how Godin often answers e-mail…(Good to know.) We also had time to tangentially mention our respective business goals. Everyone seemed genuinely interested in each others’ initiatives, both personally, and as examples of linchpins in action.

So far, there have been 792 meetups, with 5,844 attendees, in 90 countries. You can still catch 100 upcoming meetings, so make sure to check out the Meetup site.

For Boston linchpins, plans are already in the works for future meetups. For information, see the Boston Linchpins site.

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