Free Agent Nation: Thriving In The New Economy

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Free Agent NationThriving In The New Economy
Pathfinder
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Why This Topic?

• At Pathfinder, I am constantly working with
  clients on the topic of Free Agency, and the New
  Economy called the Knowledge Age.
• Whether career coaching clients, or executive
  coaching clients, the issue of how to navigate in
  this new economy comes up again, and again, and
  again.
• Question How do we succeed thrive in this
  new economy?

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Context How Did We Get Here?

• Agrarian/Trades Age
• 1600s to 1940s
• Individual, subsistence production barter/trade
• Industrial Age
• 1780s to 1980s
• Mass production - standardization
• Knowledge Age
• 1989 to ???
• Technology, Internet, Virtual Work

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The Knowledge Age Defined

• Launched with the Internet in 1989
• Shift from mass-production to customized-services
  (think banking or shipping)
• Shift from large corporations to nimble
  businesses (27 million workers in
  micro-businesses)
• Shift from life-long organizational men to
  contingent workers, many of which are operating
  virtually (free agents - remotely)

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Knowledge Age Trends

• Downsizing smaller is better
• Off-Shoring can be done cheaper in Asia
• Digitization automate low value-added positions
• Transparency Accessibility share all with
  your employees and customers
• Constant Change learn, adapt, reinvent

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Time of Personal Challenge

• Whether we like it or not, the Knowledge Age is
  upon us.
• Whether you embrace change or deny change, change
  is now a constant and occurs rapidly.
• Food for thought

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CHANGE?!?!?!

• If you dont like change, youre going to like
  irrelevance even less.
• -General Eric Shinseki
• Chief of Staff
• U.S. Army

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Whats Different?

• Pace of Change
• Accelerated Anticipated
• Structure of the Workplace
• Generations Genders
• Concept of the Virtual Workplace
• Technology Tevas
• Global Nature of the Workplace
• Worldwide Web

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Tom Peters

• Insights from his new book, Re-Imagine
• Corporate Responsibility vs. Individual
  Responsibility
• Me, Inc.

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Death of the Organization

• The organizations we created have become
  tyrants. They have taken control, holding us
  fettered, creating barriers that hinder rather
  than help our businesses. The lines we drew on
  our neat organizational diagrams have been turned
  into walls that no one can scale or penetrate or
  even peer over.

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Example

• As of 2001, fewer than 1 in 10 Americans now work
  in a Fortune 100 company.

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Birth of Me, Inc.

• We need the will and passion and the know-how to
  take on the responsibility that is falling to us
  whether we welcome it or not.
• Put me in charge! Make me the Chairman CEO
  President COO of Tom, Inc. Thats what I ask
  (beg, in fact)!

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Growth Rate of the U.S. Labor Force
Note Values for 2010s are projections.
Source Jackson, S. Schuler, R. (2006).
Managing Human Resources Through Strategic
Partnerships, 9th Edition. Mason, Ohio Thomson
Higher Education. (ISBN 0-324-28991-X)
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Changing Age Demographics of the U.S. Population
Percentage Change In Population
Source Jackson, S. Schuler, R. (2006).
Managing Human Resources Through Strategic
Partnerships, 9th Edition. Mason, Ohio Thomson
Higher Education. (ISBN 0-324-28991-X)
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Employees Working as Contingent Workers in the
U.S. Workforce
Independent contractors, temporary employees,
freelancers, and consultants.
Today, Contingents or Free Agents are 50
million strong!!
Source Jackson, S. Schuler, R. (2006).
Managing Human Resources Through Strategic
Partnerships, 9th Edition. Mason, Ohio Thomson
Higher Education. (ISBN 0-324-28991-X)
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Thomas Friedman

• Insights from his new book, The World Is Flat
• Triple Convergence
• New Players
• New Playing Field
• New Processes Habits Focusing on Collaboration

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New Players

• Fall of the Berlin Wall
• India China
• Outsourcing
• The Three As
• Called Dell lately?

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New Playing Field

• Technology
• World Wide Web
• Internet Accessibility
• Whats in your pocket?

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New Processes Habits

• Collaboration
• Open Access
• Public Domain
• Heard about IBM patents?

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Daniel Pink

• Insights from his books, Free Agent Nation and A
  Whole New Mind
• 50 million dis-organization men and women
• Contingent workforce
• E-tirement

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Contingency

• 50 million contingent workers
• Well-educated
• Free Agents
• Employers are tapping into this labor force
• Virtual nature of this labor force

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E-tirement

• Not retirement but e-tirement
• Over 65 does not mean out to pasture
• Well-educated, highly-motivated workforce
• Traditional labor pool dwindling baby boomer
  workforce exploding

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How Does This Impact Me?

• Adapting to Rapid Change
• Think Constant Change
• Whats New?
• Adapting to the New Workplace
• Think Dis-Organized
• Think Work not Job
• Think Career not Employed You are TALENT!
• Think Virtual
• Think Streams of Revenue

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NEXT STEPS

• Read! Learn!
• Engage in your professional associations
• Tap into the younger generation in your workplace
  
• Consider ways to adapt your workplace
• Virtual Access Flexible Work Schedules
• Untapped labor pools Parents, Baby Boomers
• Create Me, Inc.
• Join the contingent workforce
• Create multiple streams of revenue
• Contact Pathfinder for assistance

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References

• Bridges, W. (1994). JobShift How To Prosper In
  A Workplace Without Jobs. New York
  HarperCollins. (ISBN 0-201-62667-5)
• Bridges, W. (1997). Creating You Co. Learn To
  Think Like The CEO Of Your Own Career. Reading,
  MA Addison-Wesley. (ISBN 0-201-41987-4)
• Friedman, T. (2006). The World Is Flat. New
  York Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (ISBN
  0-374-29279-9)
• Peters, T. (2003). Re-imagine! Business
  Excellence in a Disruptive Age. London Dorling
  Kindersley. (ISBN 0-756-61746-4)
• Pink, D. (2001). Free Agent Nation How
  Americas New Independent Workers are
  Transforming the Way We Live. New York Warner
  Books. (ISBN 0-446-52523-5)
• Pink, D. (2006). A Whole new Mind Moving from
  the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. New
  York Penguin Group. (ISBN 1-573-22308-5)
• Whyte Jr., W. (1956) The Organizational Man. New
  York Simon Schuster.