LYNCHPIN has been a favorite concept of mine with a plethora of meaning, purpose, and motivation. For thousands of years, the lynchpin has been the marvelous “connector” which was created during the Roman Empire and understood to be the most incredible device and entity which kept great things like horse carriages and chariots together while simultaneously preventing mishaps and calamities. Lynchpin is a rather simple but remarkably innovative multi-dimensional gift to life. In Roman times this simple fastener prevented a wheel from sliding off an axle. The basic theory of lynchpin is entrepreneurial in that it does not take long for us to metaphorically identify value words, quotations, and people who somehow transition and begin to change the world! What quickly comes to mind are the valuable word(s) of President Calvin Coolidge “perseverance“ is the #1 most important attribute for mankind, now and forever. Another is flexibility, often recognized with an antidote, “Blessed are they that are flexible, they will never be bent out of shape”. Resiliency which can best be understood as a “value” through the persona of an individual like Saint Pope John Paul II who lived under the cruel and malicious dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, and following these atrocities was daily confronted by atheistic communist rule until it completely fell when President Ronald Reagan confronted and commanded the enemy to “tear down this wall”! During that time, renowned leader of freedom, Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years in South Africa because he too believed in freedom for all people.
Though I never had the opportunity to meet the leaders mentioned above, my renowned teacher and friend psychiatrist/psychologist Dr. Victor Frankel endured the Auschwitz concentration camp (a complex of 40 terrible punishment, extermination, and death camps) for 3 ½ years and within these horrific walls, Dr. Frankel found his greatest purpose and meaning of life, service to others, no matter where they are “imprisoned”. Each of these remarkable individuals, though very different from each other, became renowned and impactful leaders because they chose to become, their best self, a lynchpin!
My very first encounter with the word lynchpin came in the early 70s, when my wife Clare and I, as newlyweds in Gallatin, Tennessee, began the first community mental health center for Sumner County. It was not long after that we purchased a house in the country with 6 acres and the bonus which came with the house was a broken down, Ford 8N 1952 tractor. This tractor became a lifesaver for us not only mowing but providing the necessary assistance with new discoveries, like fallen trees to move and cut up for firewood, and in the spring, disking and plowing for a little garden, which became a bigger garden with the help of two wonderful children.
Nothing stayed connected to this old tractor unless it was attached with a lynchpin. Ironically printed on my first business card as I entered private practice after 12 years of developing a successful mental health center, was a strong reference to lynchpin ,“developing business leaders, developing lynchpin success and most importantly “holding chariots and significant things together for thousands of years”. This was my summary about the importance of psychotherapy and business consulting.
It didn’t take very long developing a mental health center that the Community needs exponentially grew along with the need for a competent staff. I recall often saying to a colleague, “I’ve never seen so many resumes which look so similar as if they utilized the new software to construct a perfect résumé. I became frustrated with the anomaly, lack of truthfulness in what we say and write. It didn’t take long for me to formulate a template of what’s important for those whom we serve. In the assertive model/template, I discovered the lynchpin’s essential attributes: always be respectful, always be honest (not only in words but behavior which equates to responsibility), integrity (always do your best, whether someone’s watching or not). Be transparent and authentic (be the person you are always) courageously be present (the word for fear/courage in Greek come from the same root word…. we arrive at courage by going through our fears).
For many years there has been a funny saying which captures the essential thought of the lynchpin: there are three kinds of people in this world… those who make things happen…. those who watch things happen… and finally those who wonder what happened!
No doubt, almost all of us have been at a point in life when we acted like “who am I, where am I going, do I really look that clueless”? This analogy probably fits most of us at one time or another as we sort to find ourselves while sitting in “the bleachers of life”, perhaps at prestigious Wrigley Field or your favorite sporting event, where we very slowly “wake up”, perhaps for the first time as we step into the “batter’s box”, and our inner voice says. “I can’t believe that I’m here, what am I to do?… Long pause, What’s in my hand, a Babe Ruth, or Yogi Bear baseball bat. Am I going to play ball”? I step into the batter’s box, and I give it all I have, no doubt I knock it a little bit outside the box but before long it’s a double or triple and eventually a home run, because for the first time I have altered my limiting beliefs with a new belief that I can do whatever I choose to do. My goal is excellence whether I am a blue-collar worker, white-collar worker, or whatever…. I stepped out of my job, into my career… into my lynchpin life!
To speak with Dr. Tim Lynch, PhD., you can call him at 615-504-4357, or email him
at tdlynch@bellsouth.net If you want to know more about Dr. Tim check out Psychology Today Practice Directory, or his web: www.thelynchgroup.net
