I heard the term “free agent nation” recently that I hadn’t
heard before. The speaker described free agent nation as the population of
folks who detached themselves from large corporations and more or less worked
for themselves. Years ago, “lifers” were common place. Then, employees felt their
security in corporations dwindle. Companies saw employees as expendable
resources. Employees reacted by regarding companies as expendable as well –
loyalty was rare for either side.
Googling “free agent nation”, I found an article published
on December 31, 1997 titled “Free Agent Nation”
by Daniel Pink, author of Drive and To Sell Is Human. Daniel
interviewed a number of folks who left the corporate world to be independents/
contractors. This was all fascinating given my foray into independent
consulting and entrepreneurship coupled with known colleagues striking out on
their own.
Daniel pointed out driving free agents were ideals in value
alignment and flexibility. For many independents Daniel interviewed, they cited
not feeling tied to the company. Work was satisfactory, but values in personal
and professional lives were not aligned. They didn’t feel tied to the purpose of
companies. By going independent, professionals selected projects and clients
that fit into what their own beliefs.
Many free agents cited, too, they found greater security
being an independent vs. being employed at a large corporation. In one
particular story, a woman explained how her bank viewed her as risky without a
steady W2. She rebuked that she was far more secure in her role as an
independent working with six companies. If one company was to discontinue working
with her, she still had five clients paying her. Thus, she could still make loan
payments.
Values and flexibility are resonating strong as they did 20
years ago and is the whole of free agent nation.
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