Rating: 
Summary: Excellent analysis of the new nature of work
Review: As someone who has been a free agent for 12 years and also struggled with what Pink and others (most notably Charles Handy) call a "(con)federation" of free agents, I found Pink's analysis accurate, deep, thorough and insightful. I found myself nodding "yep that fits" a lot and also gained some very useful insights I didn't have before. His work goes much further than that of Charles Handy which, up to now, was the best analaysis I had found.A very useful roadmap for anyone who is, or is contemplating becoming, a free agent. I wish he had written it 10 years ago - it would have saved me a lot of angst! Rhett Sampson
Sydney, Australia
Rating:
Summary: FAN Haiku Review
Review: Free Agent Nation by Daniel Pink is a timely survey of free agents across America. Their case histories are amplified through the lens of his extensive knowledge. The book shines light on events "organization men" do not want to see, events they will not admit are taking place. People are taking control of their work lives whether or not they are employed by large corporations, by government or by large associations. Mr. Pink uses several Japanese language terms to flavor certain significant points. One example is the word "karoshi". Karoshi describes a phenomenon many of us who have worked in large organizations have experienced, namely "death from overwork." Pink's frequent use of Japanese word-images combined with the fact that many excellent reviews have already been written about this book (another standard review might not be productive) stimulated our creative juices. At the risk of being excessively creative, what follows are some of the points we have gained from the book and resonate with our experience. They are written in the form of a 17-syllable haiku (but with no seasonal or nature images as was traditional) and occasionally we use the longer 31-syllable tanka. PROLOGUE
Daniel Pink wrote the
Free Agent Nation for all
who control their work
or need to and leave behind
false security and lies.
PART ONE
WELCOME TO FREE AGENT NATION
Near karoshi, Pink
barfed in Veep's office (almost).
Left jobs forever.
CHAPTER 1
Bye, Bye, Organization Guy
Organization
Man dominated progress
past but no longer.
Shattered by Free Agency
Tailorism not Taylor.
CHAPTER 2
How Many are There?
The Numbers and Nuances of Free Agency
Soloist, temp and
microbusiness abound,
all ruthlessly small.
CHAPTER 3
How Did It Happen?
The Four Ingredients of Free Agency
Digital Marxism
destroyed need for big, secure,
corporation work.
Free Agent work is meaning.
Free Agent work outlives them.
PART TWO
THE FREE AGENT WAY
New wonder, new way
new clock, new name all coming
to all those who dare.
CHAPTER 4
The New Work Ethic
Now work is fun with
the Peter-Out Principle.
Maslow, Maguire speak!
CHAPTER 5
The New Employment Contract
Security for
loyalty bargain crumbled.
Now redirected.
CHAPTER 6
The New Time Clock
Work-time karoshi.
Death no more from overwork,
Free Agents own time.
PART THREE
HOW (AND WHY) FREE AGENCY WORKS
Free Agent engine
small groups, Golden Rule, Starbucks, Kinko's and the net.
CHAPTER 7
Small Groups, Big Impact:
Reinventing Togetherness in Free Agent Nation
Free Agent Nation
Confederations sprang up.
Board and therapy.
CHAPTER 8
Getting Horizontal:
The Free Agent Org Chart and Operating System
Free Agent Org Chart
is fluid relationships,
enlightened self-interest
CHAPTER 9
The Free Agent Infrastructure
Centrally planned gone
Free Agent infrastructure
new self-organized.
CHAPTER 10
Matchmakers, Agents and Coaches
Economy's most
important resource talent
replaced capital,
corporate yenta collateral
worker match project.
CHAPTER 11
Free Agent Families
Balancing work and
family now
more natural
my size fits me
PART FOUR
FREE AGENT WOES
Obsolete laws and
policies harm Free Agents.
Change them together.
CHAPTER 12
Roadblocks on Free Agent Avenue:
Health Insurance, Taxes and Zoning
Free-Agent vicious
laws unjustly punish them.
F.A.N. response: Freedom
of choice is number one and
nobody dictates to me.
CHAPTER 13
Temp Slaves, Permatemps and the Rise of Self-Organized Labor
Freedom and independence
flip to anxiety
and insecurity
new worker organizations are emerging
PART FIVE
THE FREE AGENT FUTURE
Future scenarios
unfold. Free Agents thrive: Old, young, all between.
CHAPTER 14
E-tirement:
Free Agency and the New Old Age
E-net platform
for senior soloists
to get and do global work
CHAPTER 15
School's Out:
Free Agency and the Future of Education
Poor international
test scores:
"If we're so dumb,
how come we're so rich?"
CHAPTER 16
Location, Location . . . Vocation:
Free Agency and the Future of Offices, Homes and Real Estate
Virtual teaming
and "heads-down" work,
holographic teleconferencing
and Face-to-face with colleagues
New Age offices
CHAPTER 17
Putting the "I" in IPO:
The Path Toward Free Agent Finance
Free Agents finance:
Borrow, sell stakes, issue bonds
on themselves to grow
CHAPTER 18
A Chip Off the Old Voting Bloc:
The New Politics of Free Agency Just-in-time-politics
Meet current demand for
Simpler tax and rights
CHAPTER 19
What's Left:
Free Agency and the Future of Commerce, Careers and Community
Lego careers built
with contacts, skills, desires,
opportunity.
EPILOGUE
Grandma Betty poured
some coffee, served some bagels,
now a Free Agent
Rating: 
Summary: Dan Pink has gone where no man has gone before!
Review: Dan Pink has gone into the heart and soul of the Free Agent Nation. And he proves resoundingly, we are not alone! His time and effort to capture the spirit of fellow free agents, supports this micro-business owner on days when Free Agent Nation passion exceeds pocket-book reality. If you are a Free Agent, thinking about becoming a Free Agent, or want to know just what a Free Agent is, you must read this book.
Rating:
Summary: It missed a few points
Review: The most interesting miss was the author glossing over the state of health care for the Free Agent. It is difficult at best for the individual to cover the cost of health care and unlikely that any of us could afford even a moderately serious illness or injury. The numbers of individuals and professions where the majority of practitioners are independant providers. Physicians, attorneys, plumbers, programmers, and dozens of others provide solutions on a pay per use basis. For anyone who works in this mode or is thinking about working this way, grab a copy immediately. You might be surprised. In all, it made me want to raise my rates.
Rating:
Summary: As good as The Tipping Point
Review: Daniel Pink's book reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. Both are great books for businesspeople. But they're not written by consultants or professors. They're written by real writers. And both Daniel Pink and Malcolm Gladwell are great writers. Free Agent Nation is an extremely engaging, masterfully crafted book. It's actually a better read than The Tipping Point and a bit more relevant to every day business. I didn't agree with everything in it. Some of the author's ideas (such as individuals going public) seem far-fetched. Otherwise, Free Agent Nation is the most intersting book I've read this year, and also one of the most enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: A Significant "Approximation of New Realities"
Review: From my perspective, defining a "free agent" has less to do with vocational status than a state of mind but, as professional athletes and their advisors will correctly point out, free agency has some significant legal and economic implications which must be accommodated. Years ago, Pink wrote an article for Fast Company magazine which generated so much interest that he decided to explore the subject in much greater depth. This book is the result of that exploration. The subtitle indicates that he explains "how America's independent workers are transforming the way we live" and presumably the "we" includes all workers as well as those who employ them and those who depend on what they earn. We must also include officials of various regulatory entities (e.g. Social Security, IRS, EEO) who, directly or indirectly, become involved with independent workers. The implications of the subtitle suggest why this book is so important: "How America's New Independent Workers Are Transforming the Way We Live." Pink examines a heretofore neglected segment of the workforce, explaining who "free agents" are and what they do; more importantly, the impact they have on the workplace and indeed on our entire culture as their number rapidly increases. The state of mind I referred to earlier is that which any full-time employee can also achieve and sustain, even within a traditional organizational structure. Indeed, it is no coincidence that the most highly admired companies are also the most profitable companies, often dominant within their competitive marketplaces. One of the key reasons for their appeal and profitability is the nature and extent of free agency which those companies not only encourage but frequently require. Southwest Airlines, Nordstrom's, and Ritz-Carlton are but three of countless examples of organizations within which all employees have significant authority as well as responsibility. Such organizations are literally customer-driven without in any way compromising personal integrity or inhibiting prudent initiative of their employees or (if you prefer, as many others do) their "associates." I rate this book so highly because Pink (a) makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how and why the contemporary workplace (broadly defined) is undergoing so many major changes, (2) also makes a significant contribution to our understanding how and why independent workers are "transforming the way [all of us] live, and (3) asks questions, addresses issues, and offers suggestions all of which will, I hope, generate rigorous and extensive consideration by others, including those employed full-time. Pink organizes his material within five Parts: Welcome to the Free Agent Nation, The Free Agent Way, How (and Why) Free Agency Works, Free Agent Woes, and finally, The Free Agent Future. He then provides an Appendix: "Results of the Free Agent Nation Online Census" which I found information but also thought-provoking. In a well-written Epiloque, Pink observes: "Today -- in good times and bad, at the peak of the boom or the trough of the bust -- the dice are loaded in favor of the individual....The demands of life will escalate. But more people from more backgrounds -- whether they're pushed into free agency or whether they leap -- will be able to throw off conformity, escape subservience, and live out their true potential. That may not be perfection but it's certainly progress." Pink then recalls Alvin Toffler's phrase "the first approximation of the new realities." What we have in this book is Pink's "first approximation" of what he perceives to be "the new realities." In this context, I recall Lily Tomlin's suggestion that reality is "a collective hunch." Also, Voltaire's suggestion that we "cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it." Pink has offered neither the first nor that last "approximation" but what he has offered is important, indeed significant.
Rating: 
Summary: A Few Gems
Review: This book by Daniel H. Pink contains a few gems for the person headed down the road of free agency, however, you'll have to read a lot of either useless or obvious material to find them. Over all, this book contains about 25 to 50 pages that have been puffed-up into 315 pages. Speed readers who can skim over the extraneous will benefit from reading Free Agent Nation.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone selling to the Free Agent market
Review: If you sell products or services to small businesses and SOHO's (as we do) you need to read this book. I had so many notes and highlights in my personal copy, I bought two more copies and gave them to my Marketing and Business Development folks to read. In my discussions with potential investors for vFirm over the past few months, I often relied on the book as a reference to provide dimension to the target market. Everyone "talks" about the huge small business market, but this book has the statistics and the research to back it up. It is a wealth of information. The book captured precisely the life I led as a "Serial Free Agent" (I started a technology licensing firm, and then a patent law firm before founding vFirm), including meetings with clients at Starbucks, starting out in an executive office suite, getting presentations done at Kinko's, shopping at Office Depot, etc. This is the best book I have read on the SOHO/small business market. If you sell to this market, buy the book. If you are a Free Agent, buy the book. If you are thinking of going the Free Agent route, buy the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Brave New World
Review: Free Agent Nation is the story of a brave new world, a world of infinite hope and fascinating challenges. I call it "brave" because it is the courageous who are already venturing into free agent lives, while the rest of America's workers will (at some point in our lives and careers) be swept there by the winds of change...like it or not. Dan's book is a funny, optimistic yet factual wake-up call to job-holders and organizations everywhere. He aptly describes the trends of capitalism, technology and demography that are now convening into a new constellation of work/life. If most of us lack fulfillment in our work and balance in our lives, perhaps as this book suggests, it is because we are trying to navigate by old stars that have become black holes. The real power in Dan's book is that he is surfacing and helping to develop a new paradigm of work -- and reminding us that we still have CHOICE. Our jobs and our lives don't "have" to be a certain way; we can create the world we want, not just accept the one we've been given. But to do so, we must develop a new way of thinking and a different set of capabilities than those we learned in the era of the "organization man". We must become the leaders of our own lives. More than just a source of income (wealth), our work can also be a source of well-being, meaning and fulfillment. When we choose work we are passionate about, that calls forth our talents and integrates with the rest of our lives, work energizes us not drains us. However, as a society we have come to accept a belief that work by its very nature can only generate stress and imbalance. Free Agent Nation reminds us that work wasn't always this way; the ways we live and work now are the products of the Industrial Age. We created the "Organization World" and now we are changing it, whether we realize it or not. Dan does a wonderful job of illustrating the new institutions and structures(from Kinkos to coaches) which are already enabling healthier and more fulfilling ways of earning a living. Personally and professionally, I know of which I speak. I was reborn (kicking and screaming) as a free agent a year and half ago when the Fortune 100 company I was working for laid me off. I am also a personal coach by profession and now a partner in a firm called Wisdom Works, Inc., which is dedicated to helping people recreate their work, and as a result their lives. Bottom line, this journey of becoming the leader of my own life has been one of the greatest gifts ever given me. Part of MY work is to help others more easily become the freely chosen agents of their lives (and hopefully help them skip the "kicking and screaming" part of the journey -- it's not fun). Other researchers (coming from fields as varied as economics, sociology, psychology and spirituality)support Dan's findings that millions of Americans are already creating new ways to make meaning in their work/lives, far beyond just career and financial success. (Ray and Anderson's The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World is just one example.) There is every bit a pull for a better way of life (one tailored to each individuals values, dreams and life stage)as there is a push. Make no mistake, we are being pushed out of jobs -- just read the daily news and really pay attention to the layoffs happening. Yet, whether or not we are in a recession is the wrong question; the very concept of a job is being pushed out with us and so are our traditional measures of economic growth and health, as Dan points out. I would suggest that a more relevant and powerful question for us today might be: "Given the changes already happening, who do we want to become and what is the world we want to create?" According to Dan, freedom, authenticity, accountability and self-defined success are the sources of meaning for free agents. Incidentally, research in the field of human development would say that all four are also characteristics of any human being at the higher stages of human growth and evolution. People at these stages are utilizing their greatest talents/gifts and becoming their best/highest selves...and ALL of us have the potential to reach those levels. Personally, I'd love to live in a society of people like that. How about you?
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING: You CANNOT print any portion of this e-book
Review: I'm giving FREE AGENT NATION a poor review not because of the caliber of the book, but because of the restrictions the e-book format places on it. I've never downloaded an e-book, and for me and other newbies, I think Amazon.com should indicate that you can't print or cut-and-paste any portion of this (and presambly all) e-books. (I thought since I was downloading it to a laptop and not to an e-book device, I would be able to print it.) I needed it for an emergency work project, and I can't imagine how I'm going to get through 329 pages on my laptop.
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