Customer Rating:  
Summary: A Great Insight into the Changing Economy
Comment: Over the past few months I have been developing the idea of what I call the "new entrepreneur". This is someone who starts their own business, not because they have the entrepreneurial drive to start businesses, but rather because they provide a service and they prefer to work in an independent capacity. Some of them might not even have a choice, as corporations downsize and contract out much of their work.
Upon hearing about my idea, my friend Betsy recommended that I pick up Daniel Pink's Free Agent Nation. Daniel had examined the process of more and more people leaving the employ of large corporations and going out on their own. He calls these individuals "free agents" because they are free to work on their own terms, and their experiences can vary from a temp working as a secretary to a graphic designer running their own media company. Many of these individuals fall into my description of the new entrepreneur.
Daniel points out 4 factors that have helped shift many people into free agency during the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century:
1. The social contract of work (security for loyalty) crumbled .
2. The means of production were democratized (cf. The Long Tail).
3. Prosperity allowed people to work for meaning, not just money.
4. The half-life of organizations shrunk.
What this has really done is changed many work relationships from vertical (working in a hierarchical corporation) to horizontal (working with equal partners to accomplish specific objectives). And with the continuing changes in the American economy, I think that this pattern will become more prevalent in the near future.
One thing that stood out strongly was the free agent org chart. It's something that I've been seeing in my business and my clients' businesses over the past few years. It involves a revolving set of business relationships that coalesce over individual projects. It reinforces that one of the most important components to success as a free agent is the strength of a person's network. The network creates opportunities for referral business, but more importantly it creates connections to the "partners" that can help the free agent complete a project.
Daniel makes me feel good about my career choice by pointing out the importance of coaches in a work/life structure that's very fluid and exposes individuals to a lot more risk (no more hiding behind a veil of corporate security). As he says: "In a sense, coaches are shrinks without the couches, management consultants without the flow charts, and sympathetic bartenders without the shot glasses" (pg 181).
Did you know that the American system of tying health insurance to your job is an historical accident, and doesn't have logical precedent (the US is the only Western country that does this)? It keeps a lot of people tied to jobs they're not happy with and are unproductive in. Another reason for health care reform!
The idea of blending vs. balancing is very powerful and gives me a great way to talk to my clients about how to manage their time when they are working on their own. I've seen it a lot already, where a person will work in spurts throughout the day to include family responsibilities. For example, they create their work schedule so they can take their kids to school and pick them up in the afternoon. I think that looking at the process as blending is a lot less stressful than trying to create balance. The idea of creating balance seems to stress people out more because they think they have to work at it (and their afraid they'll fall out of balance).
I think this is a fun read for someone who is a free agent, or for someone in corporate HR who is wondering how to work with the ever-increasing population of free agents. Daniel does a bit of predicting, which even in the 5 years since Free Agent Nation was written has been pretty off. Besides that, though, he provides a great snapshot of the dynamic process of economic evolution in the U.S. in the last twenty years.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting.....not compelling......
Comment: At a macro level Dan Pinks view of the "free agent nation" is interesting. The information is well presented and opens a vault of thought and consideration for taking a closer look at micro business. I was looking for more case studies. A peek into a few more examples of how individuals were making sustainable transitions away from the main stream. I looked to this title for inspiration and it didn't deliver to my expectations. A good read, but not compelling enough to re-visit.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Enlightening and Motivational
Comment: I found this book inspirational in the sense that before the four-minute mile barrier for running was broken, people felt it couldn't be achieved. However, once the record was broken, others were inspired to strive for their own sub-four-minute records.
As Dan Pink presents the stories and lessons in Free Agent Nation which he gleaned from interviews with numerous "free agents" I felt my pace quicken in the self-employed race I run daily. It is motivational to run with the knowledge that I'm not running solo but part of a growing number of free agents striving for our own four-minute miles. And the summary of free agent guidelines at the end of the book gave me the confidence that I'm on the right track.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Optimistic Jew
Comment: By varying accounts there are 25-30 million free agents at present in the United States. Most of these work from home. Add millions of micro-businesses and one comes to the conclusion that the 20th century will be known as the first and last century in which most working people were salaried. Up until the 20th century most working people were small farmers, merchants and independent professionals. If present trends continue - and there is every reason to believe they will - then by the middle of the 21st century most working people will be self-employed in one form or another. This will have revolutionary impact on politics, tax and social policy and the economic balance of power. Cultural attitudes that encourage innovation and risk-taking will have tremendous advantages in this emerging reality. This is why I claim that: "No people on earth (referring to the Jews) are better prepared by virtue of education, temperament and historical adaptability to embrace the challenges of the 21st century". This book provided me with much of the information that enabled me to open my own book "The Optimistic Jew" with the above lines.
Customer Rating:
Summary: SOCIAL COMMENTARY DISGUISED AS A HOW-TO GUIDE
Comment: Free Agent Nation by Daniel H. Pink is not entirely what it seems.
Daniel Pink is a former speech writer for Al Gore. He wrote for him when Al Gore was serving as Vice President, but not during the campaign for president.
When Mr Pink left the White House and became, as it were, a Free Agent, he was surprised at the number of people who earned income from running their own small business. It became apparent to him that if the Republican Party was the party of big business and the Democratic Party was the party of labor unions, then the growing demographic of the self employed had no real representation.
Therefore, Mr Pink explored who these people were, what they were doing, and what they needed. Of course, Mr. Pink is no economist or statistician. Therefore, his analysis seems a bit heavy on the anecdotal. Likewise, this is not a how to book that will tell you step by step what needs to be done to start up your own business.
Regardless, this is an interesting book that explores a growing social phenomenon of the post-industrial world.
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