Okay, I know I’m going to upset a lot of people … but Seth Godin is overrated. Yes, he’s at times brilliant. Yes, he has a keen grasp on trends. Yes, he’s a talented blogger.

But he’s a lousy author. His books are little more than a series of blog entries. Thus his books tend to repeat themselves (sometimes multiple times in the same page), and almost none of his proclamations are thoroughly researched.

Somebody suggested Linchpin to me, and I really wish they hadn’t. If you are in a job that’s going nowhere, then maybe this book will push you to take a risk on something else. But beyond that, the book just doesn’t say much.

Seriously, do we need another book that tells us to be different, think different, and become indispensable? Isn’t that all old news? For that matter, isn’t that all common sense?

And how, exactly, are we to do these things? Godin gives anecdotal stories about how others have done it, but very little pragmatic help for the rest of us (aka “the non-indispensible”, I suppose).

Well, maybe I’m being too hard on him. He does have good insights from time to time. I read his popular blog regularly because the occasional gems are worth it. But I still say he’s overrated.