Rating: 
Summary: My yellow marker went dry!
Review: Wow, I loved this book. If you have any interest in knowing more about the most significant professional, personal and financial trend of this decade and beyond, you must read this book. You may discover that you are, or will eventually be, an active member of this growing movement. I discovered that 2 decades ago I was an early settler in the Free Agent Nation. Back then others advised me to "get a real job". Today, there's no other way of life for me, and 30+ million others. I also appreciate all the research, patience and passion it took to prepare such a comprehensive analysis of the independent workers that are transforming the American lifestyle. BTW, "The Box" (a brief summary) at the end of each chapter made it so easy to read that I read them all first, and then sat back and enjoyed the entire book. Tom Peters said Free Agent Nation was so original and comprehensive that he "grew exhausted from underlining". Well, my yellow marker went dry. Enough said.
Rating:
Summary: This is My Life!!!
Review: I didn't know there was a name for what I did until I read Free Agent Nation. Pink talks to a variety of Free Agents across the country to discover how they work. He also talks about the other industries that are springing up because of Free Agents, such as Matchmakers, Agents and Coaches (of which I'm one} Just knowing there are many others out there that are living my life and it's growing is comforting. I recommend this book to my clients' who are looking to create the life they want.
Rating:
Summary: Corporate leaders beware!
Review: This is a fantastic read. For those of us who've accelerated up the career curve in traditional organizations and found a big pile of emptiness at the end of the track... this book offers great insights around the current state of the free agent nation and future trends and opportunities. It also acknowleges the fact that it's NOT CRAZY to feel dissatisfied with a big title, corner office and steady paycheck! This is a must read for any corporate leader who is struggling with the challenge of keeping his or her best and brightest engaged. Unless organizations heed the warnings that Dan Pink is raising, they risk losing their high performers and being left with a workforce filled with mediocrity. Appealing to the motivational needs of the free agent workforce is something that corporations MUST address to win the war for talent longterm.
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK! It changed my whole outlook
Review: Every next page of this book made my choices about my "free agent" working style legitimate. It has validated in print my choice and also my reasons for the choice. (I'm not a slacker, Mom, I'm a free agent!) It articulated all the things I have felt - and felt compelled to do - that I could never explain to people in any way that didn't sound like I was making excuses. It has been so overwhelming and freeing to read about others making the same choices for the same reasons. I have always felt rebellious and guilty like a bratty little kid for how I was working and living. Now I feel like a woman out on the cutting edge, a woman of the 21st century, instead. This book has cleared the deck, has unhooked me from the idea that "the corporation woman" is the only legitimate choice I could make for myself. I feel bouncy and cocky and hip instead of guilty and slightly embarrassed. It's changed my whole outlook, and I'll be forever grateful to Dan Pink.
Rating:
Summary: Great book / excellent analysis - Easy to read too!
Review: This book does an excellent job in showing how the U.S. employment market is truly changing in modern times. Instead of being captives of the corporation 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. While Daniel Pink terms the phrase "Free Agent Nation" to describe the current economy he basically hits on the fact that the U.S. economy is a more knowledge-based, service-oriented economy without using all the economic jargon. While Pink doesn't focus on the evolution of the U.S. economy (agricultural to industrial to service & technology) he focuses heavily on "big picture" issues that will arise from such an economy. While I wish he explained to everyone the increase in our societies wealth and standard of living from such an evolution he doesn't. But it helps the flow and makes it a lot easier and fun to read, that is for sure! Pink does an excellent job in assessing why our economy is evolving. Free Agency is a post-industrial phenomenon that thrives in areas where innovation and flexibility are the only means of survival. Pink concludes that our current evolution is a function partially of what William Whyte wrote in "The Organization Man" in 1956. Today's worker, if properly educated and full networked has the ability to specialize and participate in the U.S. economy in a radically different way than in the past. If you are considering working for yourself, especially if you are a college-educated individual who considers the corporate route the only way to go, I would highly encourage you to read this book. Other books of interest about "big picture" workplace issues are Peter Drucker's Management Challenges for the 21st Century and As the Future Catches You by Juan Enriquez, which does an excellent job (in a very brief chapter or two of the book) to show why rich nations are pulling further and further ahead of other countries and what it means in the long-term to the training of a countries workforce.
Rating:
Summary: Defining New World of Work for the Self Employed
Review: This book is about independent freelancers merrily toiling away
in their underwear in a home workspace, as Pink states, in HOHO,
or "His Office/Her Office". He seems to delight in creating new
terms to define what is increasingly common for self-employed
professionals -- independence.
Here're some Pinkisms, emphasized in chapter-end "boxes":
* "Nanocorp. A microbusiness that remains 'ruthlessly small' --
as both a personal preference and a competitive strategy."
* "Digital Marxism. With inexpensive computers, wireless handheld
devices, and ubiquitous low-cost connections to the internet,
workers can now own the means of production."
* "Corporate Yenta. An entity that matches independent workers
with firms or projects that need their short term help."
The first few pages introduce the thesis that we're becoming
a Free Agent Nation where the old idea of the "Organization Man"
is giving way to the concept of "e-lancers" holding meetings
at Starbucks coffee houses and home schooling their kids.
He sweeps up the dust of our tired old ideas as he continues
to show us how the "industrial economy separated work and
family." While ... "The free agent economy is rejoining them."
He illustrates change by reporting that "My size fits me" has
now replaced "One size fits all" of not only work but education
as well.
Pink is well known for his prognostications on the future for
Fast Company Magazine and leaps right out there with a few
shocking ideas indicating massive changes in the economy by
suggesting entrepreneurs will sell shares in themselves to put
the "I" back in IPO's with F.A.N. (Free Agent Nation) bonds.
Financial instruments that emphasize talent and creativity over
the more common mass of corporate safety and financial bulk.
He wraps up by suggesting that women will replace the "Old Boy
Network" and rule the landscape of a new economy because they
are better suited to community and sharing rather than the
old male "conquer and topple" model of business success.
Maybe it's the only way men can be seen as equals, when we have
to out-think women rather than bully and threaten them. Now I'm not sure he's got it all right, but damn! The next
few years will be nothing if not exciting as they unfold to
expose the flower of this budding new world as seen by Pink!
Rating:
Summary: Great book for tough times
Review: I bought this book a few months ago, but never found time to read it. Then I got laid off for the second time in four years (which meant I had lots of time to read it.) It might have been my lucky break. Nearly every page in this book has a fact, an idea, an argument, or a piece of advice that I felt compelled to underline. In addition, Daniel Pink (the author) is a very engaging and funny writer. Free Agent Nation changed my whole outlook on work and careers. Thank you, Daniel!
Rating:
Summary: Wave of the Future
Review: This book examines the "free agent" phenomenon in the U.S. and illustrates how the world of work is truly changing. It is extremely well written and focused. "Free agency" is a post-industrial phenomenon that thrives in areas where innovation and flexibility are the only means of survival (e.g. information technology). I enjoyed this book because I consider myself to be a free agent. It is very encouraging for those of us who strike out on our own.
Rating:
Summary: For those who dare to change.......... paths
Review: It was in September that I actually began to read this book and now more than ever I think it is a timely book to recommend since its core argument is that more people now and in the future will be their own boss, either contracting themselves out or working as stand alone smaller partnerships. One of the most positive aspects of the book is the last page of each chapter. It is akin to the notes we have all taken at a lecture etc that we refer to for the breakdown of what was shared. In this section he presents The Crux; The Factoid; The Quote and The Word. You will have to read the book to see the value of this, since it is of great value.
In Chapter 19, page 310 he really addresses this issue. This is really important for those who think a business needs "managers." In this chapter responding to a question about what will happen to managers in a world of free agency, will they become obsolete? He replies that most managers are toast already and that we need to remember what the "traditional" managers job has been anyway. Surveillance on employees and filters for the operation. That in the future as is often the case now, many employees work offsite and that tattletales as I call them or (smiling) teachers pets, stifle creativity and create an aura of parent which in turn really is a bummer for morale. And I had my interest perked tempted what have you when I began to read Chapter 16 on page 261 where he discusses Location, Vocation, Free Agency etc and the Future of the Office. Why? Because he lists an add for a home for sale in a "homeschooling community" and being homeschoolers I figured that the guys was the typical liberal hostile to those of us who have homeschooled . And it is an excellent chapter about how some of us are or have sought shelter and work at home from rural areas, that in decades past would have been for the well to do only. Now, I have to admit I almost didn't read the book since it begins by noting the author was a speech writer for Al Gore. Since Al Gore never struck me as very warm or convincing when he spoke I questioned whether the author was going to be much better. Then my husband reminded me that no writer could succeed in making a tree sound to literate no matter how hard they tried. And then the author proceeded to convince me my husband was right.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT book!
Review: This informative and witty book has become the "cornerstone" of my base of knowledge on the new Free Agent economy. Laden with statistical information, first-hand interviews, and hilarious anecdotes and analogies, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in becoming a free agent.
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