You Incorporated: From Employee to Entrepreneur

In my recent interview with Angela Hills, Executive Vice President from Pinstripe , we focused on leaders having a talent mindset as they look to the future.  In addition, we also talked about the concept of the responsibility each employee needs to take with regard to their career evolution.  There is an evolution away from being an employee to being an entrepreneur within the organization.  “You Inc.”

These concepts are not new, but the application is new.  Business is now integrating the contract relationships differently.  I asked Anglea what she is seeing in organizations now that supports this idea of employees being a business within a business?  Is this something we should be encouraging?

Yes, this concept was originally introduced in the late 60’s and early 70’s. It has evolved. For a while, after Fast Company did an article about “Me &Co”, it took on a bad connotation of being all about the employee at the expense of the company. But, when done right, this is about being individuals being in charge of their careers and their futures. This is good for people and good for business. We want people who know who they are, have a strategy, and are passionate about executing on it. That might mean that they’ll move on when they need to but it also means you’ll get more contribution while they are there.

There is no doubt that we are also seeing many organizations rethink how they even think about staffing. The future holds for us a standard where fewer workers of the typical organization are full time, traditional employees, more are contractors or “come and go as their skills are needed” type people – a network of talent that surrounds the business, and other services will continue to be outsourced to provide organizations with ultimate flexibility. This means we have all sorts of new challenges to deal with. How do we keep those people engaged? How do we ensure we have the right skills at the right time in the right place when they’re not employees? What impact will this have on our culture? The list goes on!

What do you think?  Do you agree with Angela that the approach is leaning toward individuals being part of “You, Inc.”?  

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