Rating: 
Summary: reading this book changed my companies business model
Review: About halfway through this incredible book, Dan had very compellingly convinced me that our companies direction needed to change: we would no longer be serving vast fortune 500 companies, but armies of free agents, microbusinesses and other micropreneurs. This book, in a very impactful, convincing and entertaining way, describes the future of work, and most likely, your future customer. Everyone who does business today should run out, buy this book, read it cover to cover, and re-adjust who they think their customers will be or even are today...
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Summary: Kudos From a Free Agent
Review: I read Dan Pink's original article three years ago on free agency in Fast Company magazine. It was an integral part of why I decided to become a free agent. So, I was most anxious to read his book on the subject. I wasn't disappointed! Dan's writing style is easy and his subject is thoroughly researched. He does a good job of describing the impetus behind why folks decide to become free agents, and also the pitfalls involved in striking out on your own, i.e. high self-employment taxes and large health insurance costs to name a few. His theses presented in each chapter are thought provoking, and should create oppportunities for creative dialogue not only on the future of free agency, but the need for change in many of our ingrained institutions such as education and politics. Free Agent Nation is an interesting read. I highly recommend it to those who are thinking about becoming free agents, those who already are free agents, and anyone who is interested in how work will look in the future.
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Summary: Insightful Analysis of Today's Workforce
Review: Dan Pink's new offering, "Free Agent Nation", redefines the modern workforce with thoughtful and easy to understand arguments. Free Agents are a way of life in America and Pink lays out the benefits and pitfalls of this new paradigm. The most interesting aspect of "Free Agent Nation" is that it is not just a phenomenon reserved for the high-tech or professional world. You see free agents in all walks of life. For twenty years, my father was a forklift mechanic for a local company. When the company he worked for went belly up five years ago, he became a free agent. Without knowing it, he followed Pink's model of diversification and is now happier and more secure (not to mention better off financially) than ever before. He contracts long-term with some companies, free-lances project-to-project on others, and also takes emergency one-time jobs. He also ran into some of the pitfalls Pink mentions. Though he makes three times more money than he did as a "company man", lenders were initially skeptical of giving a loan to someone without a "steady" paycheck. "Free Agent Nation" will convince more than one teetering "Company Man" to make the jump into free agency. Dan Pink's book is excellent and should be read by anyone contemplating hanging up there own shingle. On second thought, this book should be read by those who haven't entertained such thoughts. It will open their eyes to a whole new way of life.
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Summary: David Shiple, Independent IT Strategy Consultant
Review: Daniel Pink gives an interesting pep talk and context for America's would-be free agents. He points to several interesting drivers: need to diversify one's skills and salary sources, increased satisfaction due to accountability and ability to make a difference, less of a need to deal with stifling politics, myth of loyalty from employees to institutions - & vice versa; increase of loyalty to specific projects and individuals in your roladex, ability to control your own destiny, ability to control schedule, less dependent on singular corporate mentors, and the increasing numbers of people doing it, etc. Daniel does not go into mechanics, economics, technology enablers, views from client standpoint, problems with being a free agent, ie managing pipeline, billing, difficult clients, etc. A good book, but like many written in the business advice space, I think it could have been said in a good 4 page article.
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Summary: A new geography
Review: Early on in this book, Dan Pink notes that he is not only reporting on, but lives as a citizen of his "Free Agent Nation." He has managed to map the landscape and boundaries of this new internal nation state. Personally, I found reading this book often resembled looking into a mirror of the life I plan to enter shortly. To be sure, Dan doesn't just show you the mountain tops of Free Agent Nation, you get to see both the valleys and slums. Yet, there is an overall hopefull tone to this geography of the new nation state. There is a life outside of Corporate America and that place isn't the desert nor the slums that we often equate with going solo. Just visit your local Starbucks, Kinkos, or Mail Boxes,etc on any given day and you will meet the varried citizens of Free Agent Nation. This is their infrastructure and this is where they are to be seen and observed (in their natural habitat). These folks are not universally anything other than independent people making a living by blending their family and work lives. (Nope, it isn't a balancing act, it is a process of blending the two.) If you've ever given a thought to becoming a Free Agent this is the first map of the territory. You will read about the heights and depths of this emerging nation state. Note: In reading this, I found more than a few holes in The Free Agent Nation that could be filled by an enterprising Free Agent. For starters, sombody who knows the intracacies of health insurance who would setup a cooperative where free agents could purchase health insurance at group rates. There are even more, but I'll leave those to the enterprising readers.
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Summary: Our children have a bright future
Review: Free agency is the key to the renewal of the family and a more satisfying way to earn a living. By enabling the "blending" of family and business rather than the so-called "balancing" of work versus family there is good new ahead for our families and ourselves. This book is extremely well written and captures the best of the social trends sweeping this country. If you were disturbed by the trends discussed in "Bowling Alone" by Robert Putnam, "Free Agent Nation" gives you hope for the future. This is one of the best books I have read this year. A real winner !! Six Stars.
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Summary: Why The Media Will View This Book Through A Very Biased Lens
Review: Engage your imagination. Think of the individuals who provide the standard information we depend on -- those working for the mega-corporations that control TV, magazines and newspapers; the professors at universities and the consultants at large firms; and the public information officers working for the government -- as people whose very view of the world is supported, both economically and contextually, by the many concentric rings of a tree (their employer). These rings show the tree is many decades old, and planted firmly in the ground. One who is attached to such a solid, massive, rooted tree would hardly notice the slender, fresh young shoots popping out from the ground far below, even if those shoots are numerous in the tens of millions. Individually, they're just too tiny. Dan Pink's book is about the growing power, influence and population of those fresh young shoots. Even to acknowledge the validity of his premise shakes the big trees in a frightening way, down to their core foundations. I know whereof I speak. Until 1985, I was a tiny tendril of a branch of one of the great old trees. It was in 1985 I left my post as McGraw-Hill's World News San Francisco Bureau Chief. I know how to "wear the hat" of old-tree warrior-reporter. For 16 years I have been a free agent (I didn't know to call myself that until I read Pink's cover story in Fast Company). It was always curious to me that wearing my corporate newsman's hat, I could never see me writing about someone such as myself in my current incarnation -- solely because, as a free agent, I didn't have the institutional affilation (that is, I wasn't part of an old tree) which was needed to be seen by the media as credible. Of course, those things have changed somewhat in 16 years, as Pink so skillfully documents. But here's the most important point -- a few days ago, the government (one old tree) reported that in the previous month there was a huge wave of corporate layoffs (from another old tree), and expert economists (working for yet other old trees) announced that now we're in a recession, making their announcement through, of course, the mass media (yet another group of old trees). They may be right. They may be wrong. But their measurements are focused on a decreasingly important part of the economy. And, what is more, nobody factored into those measurements of economic movement what the 30-million-plus free agents had been up to during the same previous month. I dwell on these points because they illustrate how revolutionary -- in, I might emphasize, a pro-capitalist, economy-expanding way -- the book Free Agent Nation is. Many people aren't visionary enough to understand yet how well Pink has adduced a blueprint for the future in this book. But if you're interested in this book, you probably have enough of a sense of where we're heading to realize we will become a much less institutionally determined, and a much more individually negotiated, economy and society. Whether you are of the old tree persuasion, between trees, a free agent, or "other," you'll get a radical reframing of your view of the world by reading this well researched and brilliantly thought-through book. The information in Free Agent Nation is valuable for your own career planning, and for all of your outside business dealings. That it's amusing is merely a plus. But don't expect the reporters collecting paychecks from the most respected business publications and highest-circulation newspapers to give you glowing reviews of this book. Or even to step outside themselves to see what it says. Because what it says is too damned threatening for them personally to give it a fair shake.
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Summary: How the Talented Are Creating a Better Life
Review: 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 float debt publicly are probably pretty accurate. I'm skeptical that individual IPOs will become frequent for the average free agent. On the other hand, a benefit of extreme scenarios is to stimulate your thinking. Mr. Pink's work is very helpful in that sense, and towards the end of the book he suggests that this was his purpose in proposing the scenarios. Mr. Pink's optimistic imagination makes this book much more lively than how the same subject would be treated by an academic. For example, the book opens with a scene in which he becomes ill as a result of exhaustion after meeting with vice president Gore. Many people would have treated this incident in a heavy way. Mr. Pink puts a humorous tone on it. He also approaches the Census Bureau for permission to be deputized to do his own census of the free agents, and is politely rebuffed. But this was no mere stunt, for he had actually found precedent for his proposal in the very first census. Undoubtly, this book will encourage scholars and sociologists to follow up with quantative studies of the "free agent next door." Those will be helpful, but I'm sure they won't be as entertaining and stimulating as this work. Whether or not you think you want to become a free agent, I suggest that you read this book. If Mr. Pink is correct, you will probably be downsized, rightsized, or consulted into being one anyway. You might as well understand what is coming. Sculpt your life into a beautiful expression of your values and talents!
Rating:
Summary: exceeded my high expectations
Review: Free Agent Nation exceeded my expectations, which were high to begin with. This is not just a drawn-out version of Pink's classic cover story in Fast Company. It reflects extensive research and provides many surprising insights and interesting predictions.
This is not a book you can polish off in an hour or two. It is difficult to convey in a brief review the depth and richness of Free Agent Nation. Pink demonstrates that free agents are a large and growing share of the work force. He describes some of the economic forces contributing to this phenomenon, but he finds that free agents themselves explain their reasons for leaving the corporate world in psychological terms: a desire for freedom, authenticity, accountability, and flexible concepts of success. Pink shows that free agents have their own unique perspectives and solutions to such challenges as security, workplace relationships, career advancement, and work-family balance. For example, he describes the way that peer networks are providing the type of career support that formerly came from within large corporations. Whether you like it or not, the gravitational forces between individuals and large corporations are weakening. In the future, how will business be re-organized? How will the economy function? Daniel Pink asks the big questions, and he comes up with a lot of fascinating answers. I expect Free Agent Nation to become the most talked-about nonfiction book of the year.
Rating: 
Summary: Not much more than cheerleading.
Review: Ok¡K.I am not a part of FAN (Free Agent Nation) ¡Kbut as someone who is interested in striking out on my own, this book did not offer much beyond cheerleading. What was said could have been told in far fewer pages. I expected more than just anecdotal research and feel good stories. At the end of every chapter is ¡§The Box¡¨ in which the author includes a summary ¡§The Crux¡¨, a paragraph called ¡§The Factoid, ¡§The Quote¡¨ and lastly ¡§The Word¡¨ which is just a way to get me to recall buzzwords and phrases I¡¦d rather forget, such as Thanksgiving Turkey Model, Free Agent Infrastructure, HOHO, FAN Bonds as well as others. Many of the footnotes were based off newspapers and magazines, or sources listed in the text appear to be secondhand, or credit was somewhat misleading in the text. For example in Chapter 2 the author gives credit to ¡§Wells Fargo (Bank) study ¡K.¡¨ to give it more credibility but when you look in the footnotes it give the lead credit is given to the an advocacy organization the National Federation of Independent Business along with Wells Fargo. In reviewing their website the research is on NFIB¡¦s letterhead with Wells Fargo also supporting the publications. In his chapter, ¡§The New Time Clock¡¨ on page 105, the author lists studies by the Families and Work Institute and another by a NYU economist and a University of Pennsylvania colleague, but upon further review in the footnotes he lists the sources as a Los Angeles Times article and another in Business Week. The impression is given that he did not read or analyze the original research. Without defining what a Free Agent is beyond an individual, temp, micro-business it was easy to make a leap and estimate 33 million free agents. If I am a stay at home spouse who sells a few things on eBay, or have a couple of garage sales every year; am I part of Free Agent Nation. I see many hardworking, entrepreneurial, networked free agents everyday, but not at Starbucks or Kinko¡¦s. Each morning as I pass the Home Depot near my house I see many free agents; not many have cell phones, buy high priced coffee, speak English, or have a car. It appears the huge market of what we call ¡§day laborers¡¨ here in California was not included in the author¡¦s FAN census or demographic statistics. There were few good tips or ideas in the book about health insurance, taxes, and education but the opening dialog in Chapter 17, Putting the ¡¥I¡¦ in IPO: The Path Toward Free Agent Finance¡¨ was a bit laughable. The chapter begins with two different dialogs for a FAN business owner seeking a $50,000 loan from his local ¡§traditional¡¨ bank and another dialogue were the same business owner goes to a financial federation for Free Agent Electricians. Whereas the traditional bank turns him down the Federation of Free Agent Electricians proposes to float him a $50,000 bond. Although this is a fictional account the author does describe why it is impossible today due to regulatory restrictions, the credit risk involved in floating an unsecured bond, or the fixed and marketing costs of floating the bond. While Michael Milken did lend money to the ¡§shaky, or the sagging¡¨ as far as I know he only floated public traded bonds to public traded companies. As the back cover endorsement by Tom Peters states ¡§Twenty ¡Vfive years from now we¡¦ll still be discussing this book¡¨, I only wish there was a better book out there to discuss. This book is one reason why I read few business books these days; rah, rah.
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