Free Agent Nation

Saturday, May 26th, 2007

I’m currently reading Free Agent Nation, by Daniel Pink.  It’s nice to know that there are other people out there who wouldn’t find our current lifestyle weird.    I happen to think that we’re merely at the forefront of a transition from a 20th century working style to a 21st century one, and one that has far more in common with historical modes of economic activity.

The 9-5, single employer, job-for-life model may have made sense during the later stages of the industrial revolution, when large corporations had stable business models, and lifespans measured in decades, and economies of scale were all-important.  However, all of these conditions are currently being overthrown.

Whilst my father graduated from University, and started working for the same employer that he would eventually retire from, I have never worked for the same employer for more than 2 years.  Now I’ve moved even further into the new way of working – I have various clients that I provide services for, rather than a single employer.

Pink makes the very good point that while previous generations looked to their employers for security, these days in the job market as in any other, diversification is the key to risk management.  Having multiple clients and a wide talent set is what is going to count.

So now the biggest problem facing me is answering the question ‘what do you do?’

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