Peter Drucker, the world renown, preeminent business management consultant, educator, and author, shared the following popular quote: “The best way to predict the future is to create it” Drucker is also quoted as saying: “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” When we reflect on the Drucker quotes, we easily surmise the future cannot be created without strategy otherwise the future is more prone to be a repeat of the past. However, Drucker is also telling us: “Even when we have a well thought out strategy to invent a future we envision, culture will determine whether or not the outcome is positive and sustainable.”
Business models looking to engage people in its channels of distribution as independent contractors or freelancer’s vs employees will benefit from ensuring their culture understands the new future the company seeks to embrace, cultivate, and grow toward. The future of work is being redefined.
Individuals need to simply keep abreast of the many choices and opportunities which have evolved, especially over the past few years. For decision makers and policy makers, it is not as simple.
Public Policy Makers will benefit from staying abreast of the rise in Individual Entrepreneurship. Perhaps, one of the most significant data points we have been exposed to over the past few months was noted in Morning Brew, a daily newsletter, which provides a snapshot and perspective on significant happenings in our world. Morning Brew noted recently that approximately 40% of this year’s college graduates may never work in a traditional format. As an AFE Member, you have probably made the decision to engage in some form of Individual Entrepreneurship or, perhaps, you are exploring. In the past, there have always been major barriers which made the decision to engage in some form of micro entrepreneurship far more difficult than it is today. In fact, I often take the position that there are no more excuses for allowing others to control our destinies regardless of the life/work pathway of our current journey.
The emergence of the gig economy is a new phenomenon that actually fuels entrepreneurship. Our culture is becoming more receptive because everyone involved in the gig economy chooses the type of work in which they will engage. The working hours are actually determined by the worker because the worker is now the owner therefore their own boss. This is true for the freelancer who may be a full-time educator, the attorney who now engages clients outside of the law firm, the doctor who now gigs for a Concierge Medical Services Provider who makes it possible to engage healthcare in the home or office, as well as the college student, the realtor, sales agent, direct seller, or the mom or dad looking for incremental income possibilities to increase cash flow, pay bills, or increase savings and investments. Developing multiple income streams is now our new reality and our culture is very receptive. The idea that work is restricted to traditional 9 to 5 working hours, or a fixed facility are no longer the norm. Perhaps we are witnessing one of the greatest shifts in culture in the past 100 years…. a return to more of an entrepreneurial culture which now includes the Individual Entrepreneur.
As we now move closer to the end of another year and the beginning of a new year, explore your possibilities for they have never been greater! Ideas can be turned into business opportunities and under-utilized assets – be they physical or more in the areas of time, knowledge, skill, experience, passion, purpose and even a burning desire to be the architect of your own destiny, can be converted into opportunities and possibilities! The opportunities have never been greater.
