If you follow this little digital screed I like to call the Capitalist, you know that I've written a couple of reviews touting some of the ideas included in Seth Godin's new book - Linchpin.  I love the book, and you should check it out as a road map for making yourself indispensable - whether you want to be indispensable to your customers, your company, or whatever else is important to you.

So being indispensable is a good thing, right?  Without a doubt, that's generally true, but there's a dark reality if you don't become indispensable in the right way.  If you hoard the secret sauce that makes you a linchpin to your customers or your company, you'll have job security alright - but no ability to grow.  More from the small business section of Time:

"Take, for example, the avid photographer who starts her own business. She shoots weddings, expectant moms, family portraits, ball teams and prom queens. Her passion for photography is contagious, and her customers love her work and tell their friends about the wonderful photographer who shot their wedding pictures. Word spreads, and the photographer gets busier. Mistaking her personal success for that of her business, she hires a junior photographer to share the load, but customers like the owner's work, not her underling's. Customers who are referred ask for the owner herself. Returning customers ask for her too. Soon she is busier than ever, and her young helper is underutilized."

That's a great example of someone who is indispensable but unable to grow as a result of their position on the "critical path" of life.  For some, it's an inability to see the game and understand in order to grow, they'll need to let go and teach others what they know or hire people with the ability to grow into a form of indispensability themselves.  For many in the corporate world, it's a form of knowledge hoarding that's the result of a fear of becoming dispensable and losing their job once others know what they know.

The point?  In either situation, it's impossible to grow unless you're willing to bring others into the fold and make them part of the equation.

The bottom line?  If you're indispensable to others, great job.  Whether you own your own business or work in corporate America, if you want to grow you can't stop there.  You have to become a coach by bringing others into the fold and teaching them what you know.  It's the only way for you to remain indispensable and create space that allows you to do other things. 

Let's close with this - Imagine that what makes you indispensable is a product.  In order to spread that product and grow other people, you have to grow those people.  Here's what needs to be present according to Time, which was written for small business owners but is relevant for the corporate employee/manager as well:

"Scalable products meet three criteria:

They are teachable. You can explain your process to someone or program technology to deliver your system while you sleep.

They are valuable. Customers want what you're hawking.

They are repeatable. For the same reason technology companies give away their printers so you'll become hooked on buying their toner, a scalable product needs to have a consumable element that forces customers to repurchase it regularly.

What makes you indispensable is uniquely yours.  To really become indispensable, you've got to give the gift of coaching and help others become indispensable in a similar way - with no fear of losing your own status.