The art of good decision making is looking forward to and celebrating the tradeoffs, not pretending they don't exist.
Evolution is the most popular way we have for dealing with change.
Fear for a linchpin is a clue that you're getting close to doing something important.
You can't control other people, and giving them the power to decide if you will continue to produce good work is foolish.
Catering to the passionate is exactly what you should do.
If failure is not an option, then neither is success.