In recent years, the introduction of the personal computer, as well as user-friendly software that can be customized by the owner has boosted the productivity of home-based workers. With the advent of desktop publishing and accounting and database packages that boast short learning curves, the personal computer now enables many executives to produce their own marketing materials, keep their books, build databases, and do research that until recently could only be undertaken by large organizations. Computer networking capabilities allow the home-based executive to link up with clients' offices, other executives, and support staff needed for a specific project, as well as virtually every conceivable type of information necessary for research purposes. In 1991, 12.1 million people ran full-time businesses from their homes, 11.7 million ran part-time businesses from home, and another 6.6 million workers telecom muted to the organizations they were employed by at least one to three days a week. Thus, executives quickly realize that they can service customers or clients in an extremely professional manner without the financial resources of a large organization.
One Employee Versus Multiple Clients
Mike Robertson, who once felt that he'd "bottomed out," soon progressed into an aggressive search for the right niche in which to establish his own marketing consulting business. Once he broke free of his corporate dependency, Mike adopted some essential attitudes, the most critical of which was recognizing that the skills no longer valued on a full-time basis by his former employer were in fact in demand by companies willing to buy his services on an as-needed basis. Moreover, he would discover, those same companies were willing to pay a premium rate to acquire the benefit of his experience, expertise, and wisdom. Though it seems a contradiction, companies are willing to pay more for services acquired on a contract basis, because it makes economic sense-it involves no long-term commitments. It is a win-win relationship, as companies only pay for the services they use, and is free to work with multiple clients.
Proactive and Portable
Understanding the broad implications of permanent reductions in the nation's workforce entails accepting the fact that those reductions necessitate a new approach to career planning and development. This critical shift is predicated on the realization that one's value-and the value of one's core skills-in the marketplace must be viewed as independent of the organization one happens to be working for at any given time.
Companies are less and less inclined to buy an executive's wisdom and talent on a full-time basis with a lifetime commitment, and though this realization is initially a source of anxiety and fear for many executives, others have begun to realize the liberating aspects of this new business environment. As an executive shifts from crediting the organization to crediting her core skills, she gains a sense of pride and continuity, which emanates from the commitment to applying her skills in a variety of challenging situations. is free to choose assignments that will give her the greatest professional and personal satisfaction and, at the same time, will deepen and broaden her skill set in a way that makes her more marketable with each new assignment she chooses.
Scores of executives in this country who are coming to terms with these changes in the employer-employee relationship are for the first time able to ask themselves three fundamental questions: What do I like to do? What am I good at? And, finally, How can I create a job for myself where I can do both?
If the "bad news" of the ongoing restructuring of the marketplace is the end of "lifetime employment," the good news is that that same restructuring is opening up a multitude of opportunities for executives that will allow us all to lead more balanced, self-directed, creative work lives. No longer tied to one organization for life-or, in some cases, no longer than a year-we are free to choose employment contracts that offer the satisfaction of combining what we are good at with what we most love to do.
Regrets, Anyone?
The executives interviewed for this book who have put the idea of "lifetime employment" behind them and gone on to thrive in new employment relationships have a radically different view of corporate life today than they did when they were involved in it. Business development executive Stuart Littre marked:
The company had its bureaucratic side and I didn't like to be second-guessed. My philosophy is: Give me a job and I'll do it. If I need your help, till ask for it. If you want to make suggestions, fine, but don't second-guess me. I think I'd grown beyond the company.
For many executives, the experience of having their careers, fully orchestrated by the organizations that employed them undercut their creativity and kept them from fully utilizing their unique talents. Perhaps Stu Litt put it best when he said: "I found myself unable to do sensible things by my own lights. I wanted more freedom."
Though many executives enjoyed a high level of satisfaction within the organizations they worked for, most portable executives believe they are making far more significant contributions to their clients than they did as employees because they've gained a greater sense of ownership and control. No longer caught up in the competitive aspects of climbing the corporate ladder, these executives are free to pursue the maximum development of their own unique talents.
Cooperation, Not Competition
Accepting the challenge of taking full responsibility, for both one's career success and enjoyment, though daunting at first, allows executives to adopt an attitude of cooperation rather than competition within the workplace. With the corporate ladder be-hind them, the necessity of "playing politics" gives way to a new attitude of cooperation that is ultimately beneficial to all.
In doing a job, portable executives do not stand alone, but rather interact with other portable executives who possess different skill sets from their own. Without having to worry about the constant struggle to move up within an organization, they are free to fully appreciate the talents of other workers and to extend the benefits of their own talents to others without fearing that they are giving someone else the leg up they need to eventually get ahead of them. The era of is characterized by peer-peer relationships, not simply in the employer-employee exchange, but among coworkers as well.
Once a self-described "consummate player of the game," Mike Robertson, because of his willingness to undergo both personal and professional attitudinal shifts, was able to bypass the obvious solution of immediately connecting with another large organization, where the game would begin again. Today, his only regret is that he didn't become a portable executive fifteen years earlier. When asked by one of his clients to come on board full-time, Mike Robertson responds today with a cheerful "Forget it." Given the benefits of greater personal freedom and professional challenge that await those who make the freeing (though sometimes frightening) transition to becoming portable executives, his response should come as no surprise.
