Free Agent Nation: How America's New Independent Workers Are Transforming the Way We Live

Overview

Hip and hopeful, meticulously researched and joyously iconoclastic, Free Agent Nation will change your thinking--and maybe even change your life.

In this landmark book, Daniel H. Pink offers the definitive account of this revolution in work. He shows who these free agents are -- from the marketing consultant down the street to the home-based "mompreneur" to the footloose technology contractor -- and why they've forged a new path.

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Free Agent Nation: How America's New Independent Workers Are Transforming the Way We Live

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Overview

Hip and hopeful, meticulously researched and joyously iconoclastic, Free Agent Nation will change your thinking--and maybe even change your life.

In this landmark book, Daniel H. Pink offers the definitive account of this revolution in work. He shows who these free agents are -- from the marketing consultant down the street to the home-based "mompreneur" to the footloose technology contractor -- and why they've forged a new path.

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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
Author Pink argues that athletes aren't the only Americans who are renouncing traditional team allegiances. Citing the country's 25 million self-employed workers, he predicts the incremental undermining of conventional corporate society. The job that your parents knew, he contends, is defunct. Pink believes that post-baby boomers subscribe to creating their own destinies, not to old company loyalties. Instead of looking to mega-corporations, he says, they think small, noting for example that since 1994, firms with fewer than 20 employees have created 80 percent of new jobs in our economy. An eloquent manifesto about a glacial shift.
Scott Adams
Free Agent Nation will turn your notion of a career upside down. It might even set you free. It's the defining book on the untethered workforce.
Paul Orfalea
FREE AGENT NATION ought to be on the reading list of anybody who runs a business... a smart book that is this fun or a fun book that is this smart... an original!
Naomi Wolf
A groundbreaking book ...for the new digitocracy, this book represents both a readable and persuasive benchmark.
Stephen M. Case
The trend Dan Pink writes about so knowledgeably is already transforming the future of business. FREE AGENT NATION is the shape of things to come in the Internet Century.
Alan M. Webber
A brilliant book. Pink defines...with the keen eye of a trained sociologist, the literary skill of a masterful prose stylist, and the irreverent wit of a stand-up comic...a must-read — an instant contemporary classic.
Library Journal
Not all "free agents" are highly paid athletes whose main skills are dunking a basketball or hitting a baseball. In fact, as Pink (contributing editor, Fast Company) reveals, over 25 million Americans are now self-employed, and fewer than one in ten works for a Fortune 500 company. This excellent work synthesizes the seismic shift in attitudes about and patterns of work in the economy from the early 1950s era of William Whyte's The Organization Man to today's independent worker, the free agent. Pink astutely summarizes what this major shift in the definition of employment now means to millions of Americans and explains the various types of free agents (including soloists, temps, and those involved in their own microbusiness). Other chapters cover examples of how self-sufficiency works so well for numerous life situations, while in many cases free-agency employment does not work well at all. This work may not be rooted in empirical research, but Pink's thorough review of the literature and his extensive roadwork interviewing hundreds of independent workers successfully merges psychosocial data with pragmatic reality. This major contribution to better understanding the trend toward independent contract work is highly recommended for all university libraries and larger public libraries. Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Soundview Executive Book Summaries
Over the past decade, in nearly every industry and region, legions of Americans are abandoning one of the Industrial Revolution's most enduring legacies -- the "job" -- to become free agents -- as self-employed knowledge workers, proprietors of home-based businesses, temps, freelancers or independent contractors. Daniel H. Pink spent a year traveling the country, talking with hundreds of these workers. The composite sketch Pink reveals in Free Agent Nation displays the political, economic and personal effects these individualists are having on all our institutions.

Pink explains that the American working economy for several generations had a single, human emblem -- the "Organization Man," so dubbed after the 1956 book of the same name by William H. Whyte, Jr. The label described what was then the quintessence of work in America - an individual (nearly always male) who ignored or buried his own identity and goals in the service of a large organization, which rewarded his self-denial with a regular paycheck and job security. Organization Men abided by what Whyte named a Social Ethic, a secular theology that placed the organization at the center of the universe, and defined entrepreneurs as "selfish type[s], motivated by greed."

Beginning in the 1980s, conditions and attitudes changed. Companies that had formed the bedrock of American work began winnowing their work forces in response to economic stimuli, corporate restructuring, and technology that could do people's work for less money. Pink writes that the social contract of job security was broken; the Organization Man was relegated to the annals of history. What replaced him as the archetype of work in America is the free agent - the independent worker who operates on his or her own terms, untethered to a large organization, serving multiple clients and customers instead of a single boss.

Pink explains that free agency has already begun overturning many of today's central assumptions about American work and life, among them the following:

  • Loyalty is dead. It's not dead; it's different. Instead of up-and-down loyalty that runs from individual to institution, free agents practice side-to-side loyalty - an allegiance to clients, colleagues, teams, projects and industries.
  • The work force is adrift, operating without a broad social contract. The implicit employment promise that reigned in the days of the Organization Man has disappeared, replaced by a new one that trades talent for opportunity.
  • The free-agent economy makes workers less secure. As free agents compile a diverse portfolio of clients, customers and projects, they often find themselves in a more secure position than traditional workers.
  • Parents must try to balance work and family. Corporate and government efforts to be more "family-friendly" offer a one-size-fits-all approach to the work/family balance. Free agents tend to erase the boundaries between the two, blending, rather than balancing.
  • "Empowerment" and "retention" are wise strategies for corporate managers. These concepts are built on the fact that organizations hold all the power. In a free-agent economy, organizations need individuals more than individuals need organizations, which can inspire and challenge people, but cannot "empower" or "retain" them.
  • Rampant individualism is fraying our social fabric. Critics claim our common culture is corroding, and the free agent economy is speeding the problem. In actuality, it may be providing a solution, mending bonds and repairing our concepts of community.


Through his experience and research, Pink has found that most free agents are at least approximations of one of three basic free agent species - soloists, temps and "microbusinesses."

Pink writes that the most common variety of free agent is the soloist - someone who works for him- or herself, generally alone, moving from project to project, selling his or her services. Over the years, soloists were termed "freelancers" in the cultural vernacular; "independent contractors" in legal vernacular; and any one of a dozen or more terms for self-employed soloists.

If soloists are free agents by design, Pink explains that temps are often free agents by default. Many of the 3.5 million workers in the temp population would rather have a "permanent" job with a company, but coldly efficient corporations, temp agencies looking after their own interests, and the temps' own lack of ambition or ability conspire to pin them to the bottom of the economic ladder.

Erupting across the Free Agent Nation is a blaze of enterprises that are smaller than the typical "small business" - sometimes consisting of only two or three people. Pink explains that these microbusinesses are a growing force - more than half of American companies today have fewer than five employees.

While many pundits bemoan the loss of a sense of community in the business world (and elsewhere), Pink writes that free agents are, as a result of and in response to their independence, finding ways to create their own communities, with their own infrastructure, and their own network of professionals whose business it is to make their lives and work easier. He writes that it is in part due to these things that the Free Agent Nation continues to grow, not just in numbers, but also in richness and depth of community.

Why Soundview Likes This Book
Free Agent Nation delves into a current trend that has transformed the way people think about work and working, and captures a fresh perspective on the transformational effects that entrepreneurship is having on the modern working world. Managers, business owners, and anyone thinking of becoming a free agent will want to understand this powerful new demographic and its impact on the business landscape. Copyright (c) 2002 Soundview Executive Book Summaries

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780446525237
  • Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
  • Publication date: 4/26/2001
  • Pages: 355
  • Product dimensions: 6.36 (w) x 9.26 (h) x 1.18 (d)

Meet the Author

Daniel H. Pink
Daniel H. Pink
Daniel H. Pink is a former White House speechwriter and the author of the bestseller Free Agent Nation, A contributing editor at Wired magazine, he has written on work, business, and politics for The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Slate, Salon, Fast Company, and other publications. He has also lectured to corporations, universities, and associations around the world on economic transformation and business strategy, and has analyzed commercial and social trends for dozens of television and radio programs.
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Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1THE CRUX: In the second half of the twentieth century, the key to understanding America's social and economic life was the Organization Man. In the first half of the twenty—first century, the new emblematic figure is the free agent—the independent worker who operates on his or her own terms, untethered to a large organization, serving multiple clients and customers instead of a single boss. The rise of free agency shatters many ironclad premises about work, life, and business in America— from how companies should operate, to how we structure our health care, retirement, and education systems, to which values guide our lives. To truly understand the new economy, you must first understand the free agent.

THE FACTOID: The largest private employer in the U.S. is not Detroit's General Motors or Ford, or even Seattle's Microsoft or Amazon.com, but Milwaukee's Manpower Inc., a temp agency.

THE QUOTE: "This book is about the free agent. If the term is vague, it is because I can think of no other way to describe the people I am talking about. They are free from the bonds of a large institution, and agents of their own futures. They are the new archetypes of work in America."

THE WORD:Tailorism. The free agent's approach to work; descendant of Taylorism, Frederick Winslow Taylor's One Best Way method of mass production. Under Tailorism, free agents fashion their work lives to suit their own needs and desires— instead of accepting the uniform values, rules, and structure of a traditional job. Opposite of the One Size Fits All ethic of the Organization Man era. (Synonym: My Size Fits Me).

Copyright (c) 2001 by Daniel H. Pink

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Table of Contents

Prologue 1
Part 1 Welcome to Free Agent Nation
Chapter 1. Bye, Bye, Organization Guy 9
Chapter 2. How Many Are There? The Numbers and Nuances of Free Agency 27
Chapter 3. How Did It Happen? The Four Ingredients of Free Agency 47
Part 2 The Free Agent Way
Chapter 4. The New Work Ethic 59
Chapter 5. The New Employment Contract 85
Chapter 6. The New Time Clock 103
Part 3 How (and Why) Free Agency Works
Chapter 7. Small Groups, Big Impact: Reinventing Togetherness in Free Agent Nation 123
Chapter 8. Getting Horizontal: The Free Agent Org Chart and Operating System 143
Chapter 9. The Free Agent Infrastructure 161
Chapter 10. Matchmakers, Agents, and Coaches 171
Chapter 11. Free Agent Families 183
Part 4 Free Agent Woes
Chapter 12. Roadblocks on Free Agent Avenue: Health Insurance, Taxes, and Zoning 199
Chapter 13. Temp Slaves, Permatemps, and the Rise of Self-Organized Labor 213
Part 5 The Free Agent Future
Chapter 14. E-tirement: Free Agency and the New Old Age 233
Chapter 15. School's Out: Free Agency and the Future of Education 317
Chapter 16. Location, Location ... Vocation: Free Agency and the Future of Offices, Homes, and Real Estate 261
Chapter 17. Putting the "I" in IPO: The Path Toward Free Agent Finance 271
Chapter 18. A Chip Off the Old Voting Bloc: The New Politics of Free Agency 287
Chapter 19. What's Left: Free Agency and the Future of Commerce, Careers, and Community 301
Epilogue 313
Notes 317
Appendix Results of the Free Agent Nation Online Census 339
Acknowledgments 345
Index 347
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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews
  • Anonymous

    Posted October 26, 2001

    Powerful Insights for Free Agents AND Employers

    Reading this book was irritating! I've developed a habit of turning down the corners of pages when something on that page is particularly interesting to me. I discovered that I was turning down practically every page of Free Agent Nation! Daniel Pink has accomplished what most readers of non-fiction books desire: he's put solid value on almost every page. Your thoughts will be constantly stimulated as you move through this book. Our lives have changed substantially since William Whyte wrote The Organization Man in 1956. The work environment experienced by today's generation-and tomorrow's-is radically different. Instead of being captives of the organizational mode, income-earners are now free agents, including some 30 million freelancers, temps, and microbusiness owners. The lifestyles and philosophies of this growing group will impact the labor pool, retirement, education, real estate, and politics. Daniel Pink's name will go down in literary history for Free Agent Nation because he has so effectively covered the underlying philosophy of a generation. Free Agent Nation, an engaging, smooth read, is organized into five parts. The first part introduces us to what Free Agent Nation is all about. Chapter 2 gets right into 'Numbers and Nuances' to give the reader a deep understanding. Chapter 3 explains how free agency happened. 'Four ingredients were essential: 1) the social contract of work-in which employees traded loyalty for security-crumbled; 2) individuals needed a large company less, because the means of production-that is, the tools necessary to create wealth-went from expensive, huge, and difficult for one person to operate to cheap, houseable, and easy for one person to operate; 3) widespread, long-term prosperity allowed people to think of work as a way not only to make money, but also to make meaning; 4) the half-life of organizations began shrinking, assuring that most individuals will outlive any organization for which they work.' Part Two explores The Free Agent Way, the new relationship between worker and employer. Part Three gets into How (and Why) Free Agency Works. Pink explains how people get connected-with work opportunities and with each other. While many free agents work alone, they are not alone. There is a growing community of mutually-supportive independent members in an evolving new design of society. But, all is not rosy in Free Agent Nation; this is not Camelot. Part Four examines the problems that arise from laws, taxes, and insurance. An interesting chapter (13) on Temp Slaves, Permatemps, and the Rise of Self-Organized Labor reveals the seedier side of this picture. Pay careful attention, and you can almost feel the changes that are coming. Part Five engages The Free Agent Future. Chapter 14 addresses E-tirement, confirming that older members of our society will be playing much different roles than in previous generations. The chapter on Education gives some initial insight into some different approaches to lifelong learning. Educators take note: your lives will be changing . . . are you ready? Concluding chapters explore free agent finance, politics, and how free agency will influence commerce, careers, and community in the years ahead. With all that said, let's take a look at who the author is and how this book was put together. Daniel Pink is a former White House speech writer and Contributing Editor to Fast Company magazine. To research this topic, he invested more than a year on the road conducting face-to-face interviews with several hundred citizens of the Free Agent Nation. He met with real people, who are quoted and cited by name in most cases. The text comes alive with the insightful stories of people who are living-and often loving-their free agent status. These case studies are beautifully interwoven, producing a delightful fabric for the reader to caress. Warning: you'll find your mind leaving the page and floating into day dreams and contemplations numerous times. To

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 30, 2001

    How the Talented Are Creating a Better Life

    The term, free agent, is borrowed from sports. It describes the players who are most talented and for whom other teams bid. As a result, they often command enormous salaries, perks, and influence. Recently, the term has been applied to people like free lance software programmers who are sought after because of their special expertise. In Free Agent Nation, the term is applied more broadly to describe all those who rely on project assignments outside of being directly and permanently employed by someone else. This group includes lots of professional free lancers as well as people who work through temporary agencies with few skills at deadly dull tasks. The ideal in the 1950s was to work for one employer, to be loyal to that employer and to receive loyalty in return. Steady progress would follow as seniority grew. Keeping the ship afloat came before the individual's needs. This world was described in the classic book, The Organization Man by William H. Whyte, Jr. Since then the world has changed quite a bit, and Daniel H. Pink's Free Agent Nation is the conscious updating of the working ideal to reflect today's growing free lance economy. This ideal emphasizes freedom, work satisfaction, flexibility, accountability, self-defined markers of success, and being authentic in your own eyes. It's the ultimate of wanting to do good and to do well. Mr. Pink draws on his own experiences, hundreds of interviews with free agents, qualitative surveys, and his review of the literature on this subject to weave together the best integrated story on how independent work is becoming a norm as well as an ideal in the United States. Mr. Pink's strength is that he is a great communicator. He deftly weaves his various sources into a tautly connected story that will make sense to anyone who reads it or has lived it. He connected quite a few dots for me that I have never thought of as being connected before. The book will be of most value to those who are thinking about leaving traditional employment to become a free agent. Free Agent Nation does a good job of describing what the benefits are once you have made the shift. On the other hand, the book almost totally ignores the difficult transitions that most people go through. If you are looking for advice on how to make the shift, some of what is in here will help, but you would do well to talk to some people who are doing what you would like to do first in order to get their ideas on how to transition. The book describes who the free agents are, estimates how many of them there are (a lot more than you probably suspect), how this work style emerged, and why people like it. Essentially, the model described here is a return to the agrarian model of a family growing its own food and always being in close touch. The main change is that people use technology to work from their own homes to meet their material needs rather than farming. Mr. Pink also connects this trend to the rise in home schooling, by showing the traditional school and university to be more similar to the factory model than today's society and economy. The best part of the book for me was the description of how people are making free agency work and the problems they run into. Basically, loyalty is being reborn into loyalty to a rolodex of contacts and clients rather to an employer. An infrastructure is being built up to support free agents (from Kinko's to agents and coaches). Increasingly, two free agents head a family with children. In these cases, the children (such as Mr. Pink's daughter) don't understand that some people have offices outside the home. The weakest part of the book is his scenarios of the possible future for free agents. He is closest in his estimation that free agency will probably eliminate retirement to the rocker on the porch. It is less clear to me that high schools and prestigious universities will be eliminated by home education and on-line learning. His speculations about being able to

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