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Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself (平装)
by Daniel H. Pink
| Category:
Career planning, Entrepreneurship, Social trends, Non-fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
[ Shop incentives ]
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Advocating the megatrend of self-employment, this landmark book is a manifesto for worker independence in the 21st century. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 15 items |
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Tom Peters (author of In Search of Excellence) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
A beautifully written as it is profoundly prophetic…the best book on work since Organization Man. |
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New York Times (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
Provocative. |
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Financial Times (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
Delight. |
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CNN.com (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
Warning: This book may make you rethink your career. |
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Seth Godin (author of Unleashing the Idea Virus) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
The most important book on the death of the large economy I've seen. Your current employer is DEAD. The dead-end job is DEAD. The days of huge companies dominating every facet of our worklife are OVER. Listen to Pink or lose out! |
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The New York Times (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
A book with interesting facts, …appealing interviews, friendly prose and a provocative point of view. |
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Virginia Postrel (columnist, New York Times) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
Bound to be one of the decade's most important books. |
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P. Lozar (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
What this book isn't: (1) a guide to how to succeed as a free agent, (2) an objective, scientific study of self-employed workers, or (3) a statistical analysis of social trends.
Dan Pink simply did what he set out to do: interview lots of people who work as "free agents," find out how and why they chose this way of working (or how it chose them) and how it's played out for them, and draw some general conclusions. He remarked, at a booksigning I attended, that he found his informal survey "inspiring" because he met so many enterprising and creative self-employed people, and his enthusiasm comes through strongly. But this isn't a simplistic, rah-rah book; he's frank about the pitfalls and drawbacks of self-employment, and his chapter on temp workers, while brief, is a good overview of their dubious situation.
I don't agree with all of his opinions, but I think that his main point is dead on: The "organization man" world of paternalistic corporations and loyal drones is dead. In fact, we all work for ourselves; while this insight may be unsettling to some, not only does "free agency" offer greater opportunities for meaningful work, but it's closer to the way "work" has historically been performed.
Having been a free agent myself for most of my working life, I strongly agree that the infrastructure needs to adapt. Although there have been great improvements in the tax code, the insurance business, and individual retirement plans in the past 20 years, they're still tailored to either (1) full-time employees who are paid a fixed salary with benefits, or (2) those who work on commission. So I applaud this book for bringing these issues more into public awareness, and thus helping to stimulate further change. |
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Roger Herman (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
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 bring readers back to the reality of the core of his treatise, Pink concludes each chapter with what he calls "The Box." Included in this one-page-per-chapter feature are the key information and arguments of the chapter. The four components of this summary box are "The Crux," a summary of 150 words or less; "The Factoid," a particularly revealing statistic from the chapter; "The Quote," which pulls one representative quotation from the chapter; and "The Word," a novel term or phrase from the new vocabulary of free agency. As the author explains, "Read only "The Box" and you'll miss the chapter's narrative and nuance-but not, I hope, it's point."
An appendix on the free agent census and a good index complete this book. If you're ready to learn about the evolution and revolution in the world of work, this book will be a treasure for you. |
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Dan Ross (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
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. |
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1 2 | Total 2 pages 15 items |
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