[? The CIA offers one-year sabbaticals to some of its agents who are considering leaving. Those who do leave may still be tapped for their expertise on an as-needed basis.] Indeed, it is common practice for the CIA to keep the security clearance of former agents long after they leave the agency so they can accept missions on an occasional basis, ... Why? In order to maximize their massive training investment and, even more critical, to give the individual a strong personal incentive to maintain the integrity of the proprietary information in her brain. |
A person's willingness to conform to arbitrary parameters is not a good criterion for selecting talent or allocating rewards, |
Always be assessing your particular skills and your particular experience and your particular abilities and energies and interests, and matching them up with the available work to be done. And then be prepared to sell yourself into challenges. |
But that almost never happens, ... People are so thrilled, usually, to customize their work arrangements that they become very protective of the deal they've created for themselves. |
If you're one of those people who gets tons of work done very well, very fast, and you can prove it, you're not going anywhere. |
In phase three ... this powerful dynamic continues to transform the employer-employee relationship from one that was feudal to one that is essentially market-driven, |
In today's global economy, employees and their employers need to think about their working lives in a whole new way, ... Everything is turned on its head. [Job] security is not about stability; it's about mobility. The very same forces that are changing today's workplace are working on Gen X, and they are dovetailing. |
It was their idea -- downsizing, restructuring, re-engineering. It's what companies needed to do to get fluid and flexible, |
It's not just Generation X. |
Scheduling flexibility is the single greatest non-financial tool -- and the number-one dream-job factor -- at your disposal for winning battles in the talent wars. Use it. |
The No. 1 thing is to be one of those people who gets a lot of work done very well, very fast. Don't be scared into submission by all the downsizing activity. That's exactly the wrong message to take. |
The norm will be to work for several employers; on again, off again; as an employee one year, as an independent contractor the next year; 40 hours one week, 20 hours another; on-site this month, telecommuting the next; and so on, |
The thing that people need to remember is that downsizing may be back on the front pages, but the downsizing never slowed down. Downsizing has been a constant and regular feature of the new working world, and it will continue to be. |
There's tremendous demand for skilled people at all levels of almost every organization and almost every industry and that's true in almost every part of the country. |
This one wants more money. That one wants a different schedule. Another person wants to trade in her responsibilities for a whole new set. This one wants to be included in high-level meetings. That one wants to attend a particular training program. Still another wants to start telecommuting ... from a thousand miles away, |