We Are All Self-Employed, 2nd Edition

We Are All Self-Employed, 2nd Edition

by Cliff Hakim
Released November 2003
Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 9781605093840

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Book description

This is not a book about starting your own business. Then again, it is. By now there is ample evidence that an "employed" attitude-believing that you work for an employer and acting as though by doing your work your job will be secure-is defunct. An employed attitude is the antithesis of what you need now to endure and prosper. In this revised edition of his prescient bestseller, Cliff Hakim shows how to replace your employed attitude with a self-employed attitude.
"We are all self-employed" is an empowering belief that you can steer your own direction and influence the quality of your life. You're the boss--a self-leader-- whether you work inside or outside of an organization. You are the decision-maker and ultimately, the onus is on you to imagine, plan, explore, and create the worklife that you want.
In We Are All Self-Employed Hakim presents and clarifies the minimum critical requirements needed to develop, deepen, and sustain a self-employed attitude. He takes you on a journey of assimilating and constructing this new, more empowered attitude toward work and life. Each chapter features checklists and exercises to deepen your understanding of what a self-employed attitude is and how you can cultivate and maintain it, as well as examples of the self-employed attitude in action. The book's lessons are summarized in an inspiring and energizing Worklife Creed for this exciting and challenging new world of work. We Are All Self-Employed will call out and nourish the self-leader in you so that you can create a successful and satisfying life.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Preface
    1. Why This Revision?
    2. Since the First Edition
    3. This Book Asks
    4. My Hope
  5. Acknowledgements
  6. INTRODUCTION Burning the Grass
    1. Who’s the Boss?
    2. Who’s the Boss? You Are.
    3. Why Read This Book?
    4. What’s New
    5. How This Book is Organized
  7. DEEPEN YOUR “SELF-EMPLOYED” ATTITUDE Ready yourself for a new era
    1. Personal Readiness Questions
    2. How You Work and Live
    3. 1. I Will Begin the Process of Change with Myself
    4. 2. I Will Face the Dragon—My Work Fears
    5. 3. I Will Integrate Independence and Interdependence
    6. 4. I Will Work With, Not Work For, My Organization and Customers
    7. 5. I Will Commit to Continuous Learning
    8. Job Description Worklife, Inc.
    9. 6. I Will Create Meaningful Work
    10. We Are All Self-Employed A Worklife Creed
    11. Who’s the Boss? Check-In: Deepen Your “Self-Employed” Attitude
  8. BEGINNING THE PROCESS OF CHANGE WITH YOURSELF: Start with your own personal growth
    1. Honor your Picasso. You are unique.
    2. Are You Ready to Listen?
    3. The Simplest Gestures
    4. Declare Your Studio
    5. Change Begins at Home
    6. The Changing Work World
    7. Personal Renewal
    8. 1. What do you really want?
    9. 2. What do you want less of in your worklife?
    10. 3. What do you have to bring to others?
    11. 4. What will others buy?
    12. Wild Horses
    13. Realigning the Wild Horses
    14. Reframing as a Harnessing Tool
    15. Reframing “Career”
    16. Reframing Your Career Mobility
    17. There is No One to Blame
    18. Don’t Blame, Reframe
    19. Up is Not the Only Way: Reframing the Career Ladder
    20. Career Ladder
    21. Career Lattice
    22. Multiple Roles
    23. A False Security
    24. The Career Lattice at Work
    25. Brandon’s Life Circles
    26. Brandon’s Plan
    27. Seeing Your Freedom
    28. Do You Think it’s too Late?
    29. Go Beyond the Ordinary, Do Your Magic
    30. Expectation versus Reality
    31. A New Direction
    32. Living Your Dream: A Career that is True to Yourself
    33. A Self-Employed Reality Check
    34. Self-Employed Inventory
    35. Who’s the Boss? Check-In: Beginning the Process of Change with Yourself
  9. FACING THE DRAGON— YOUR WORK FEARS Replace fear with passion and purpose
    1. Naming Fear
    2. Permission to Live Your Passion
    3. Permission to Live Your Purpose
    4. Purpose Liberates
    5. Purpose Liberates
    6. To What Degree is Your Work an Expression of Your Purpose?
    7. How Do You Keep Your Purpose Alive?
    8. Face to Face with the Dragon
    9. You Can Choose How You Live
    10. What It Takes to Express Your Passion and Purpose
    11. Choose Courage and Recognize Your Freedom
    12. Suspending Fear: Passion in Process
    13. Walter’s Agenda:
    14. Benefits of Expressing Your Passion and Purpose
    15. An Agenda for Unchallenged Workers
    16. Agenda for Developing a “Self-Employed” Attitude
    17. Your Present Situation
    18. You and Your Job: Then and Now
    19. When the Organization Changes
    20. Replace Fear with Passion
    21. There is a Price for Ignoring Your Passion
    22. Lunch with a Colleague
    23. Luca’s Golden Template:
    24. Patience is an Active Process
    25. Patience Can Lead to Passion
    26. Stepping Beyond Fear: Caring and Respecting
    27. Who’s the Boss? Check-In: Facing the Dragon––Your Work Fears
  10. INTEGRATING INDEPENDENCE AND INTERDEPENDENCE: Be yourself and collaborate with, and contribute to, others
    1. Dependent on the System
    2. Dependence is Not Support
    3. Dependence is as Impure as Support Can be Pure
    4. Independence
    5. If We Take Care of Them (Do Our Job) They Will Take Care of Us
    6. You Can Change Your Beliefs
    7. Don’t Swim with a Full Stomach
    8. Interdependence
    9. More than One Boss or Customer
    10. Dependence or Independence and Interdependence
    11. Barney’s Action Steps:
    12. Serve Yourself to Serve Your Clients and Yourself
    13. The Yogurt Man was a Self-Leader
    14. Be Aware of the Great Jackass Fallacy
    15. You No Longer Work For, You Work With
    16. Internal Hierarchies
    17. Self-Control
    18. Lemons into Lemonade: One Person Makes a Difference
    19. Career/Job Enhancement, Not Only Advancement
    20. Self-Respect: A Case Study
    21. Reframing Changes Behavior
    22. Signs that You are Integrating Independence and Interdependence
    23. Move Closer to Your Independence and Interdependence
    24. Who’s the Boss? Check-In: Integrating Independence and Interdependence
  11. WORKING WITH, NOT FOR, YOUR ORGANIZATION AND CUSTOMERS Do work and build relationships based on respect, equality, and competence.
    1. Peer Work
    2. Reframing the Way You Work
    3. Sometimes, You Grapple
    4. Are You Working For or With?
    5. Work With Others––Join In––for Individual Mobility and Organizational Productivity
    6. Work is Personal
    7. Peer Work––Worklife Development Review
    8. Worklife Action Plan Self-Leadership and Management
    9. When You Work With, Know Your Customers
    10. Peer Work Requires Relevancy
    11. You Can Meet Your Needs and Your Customers’ Needs
    12. Identify Your Customers
    13. Face Your Customers
    14. Ten Commandments for Winning Interviews
    15. Actively Working With Others
    16. Mobilizing Workers: Retaining Them Won’t Work
    17. Retaining is Impersonal, Receiving is Personal
    18. Organizational Commitment to Worker Satisfaction
    19. Handling the Transition
    20. Find a Mentor
    21. Clarify Your Values
    22. An In and an Out
    23. Who’s the Boss? Check-In: Working With, Not For, Your Organization and Customers
  12. COMMITTING TO CONTINUOUS LEARNING View your worklife as an ongoing journey
    1. From Words to Working Two Jobs
    2. Witnessing Your Life and Learning from It
    3. You Can Commit to Continuous Learning
    4. Glued to Your Title?
    5. The Action-Results Statement: A Definition
    6. The Action-Results Statement: A Guide to Writing Your Own
    7. The Action-Results Statement: Examples
    8. A Case Study
    9. The Struggle to Move from the Box to the Triangle
    10. Zero Debt––A Runway for Meaningful Worklife
    11. Risk
    12. Using Paradox
    13. Paradox 1: Risk is Safety
    14. Paradox 2: Self-employment is Employability
    15. Paradox 3: Winter is a Time of Growth
    16. Paradox 4: Your Growth is a Contribution to Others
    17. The Evolutionary Rule of Transition
    18. Learning and Transition Guidelines
    19. Respect Your Inner Voice
    20. Gracefully Bold
    21. Learning from and Reframing Your Mistakes
    22. Honor Your Style
    23. Your Success and Survival Kit
    24. Loaning Yourself to the Organization
    25. What Value Do I Add to Your Worklife?
    26. Inspiration
    27. The Struggle is Part of the Action
    28. Advancing Your Worklife Goals
    29. Inviting Myself In
    30. Conscious Loneliness is Part of the Journey
    31. Unconscious Loneliness
    32. Getting Paid: No Guarantees
    33. To Learn, Learn Something New
    34. Who’s the Boss? Check-In: Beginning the Process of Change with Yourself
  13. CREATING A MEANINGFUL WORKLIFE Work and live, believing that the world needs you and that you can make a contribution
    1. Meaningful Work––a Marathon––and an Occasional Sprint
    2. Run Your Own Race
    3. Defer gratification, and incrementally work toward your goal.
    4. Praise your efforts and take in the praise that others offer you.
    5. Meaningful Work Steps Review
    6. Meaningful Work and Making a Living
    7. Make a Choice
    8. Who’s the Boss? Check-In: Creating Meaningful Work
  14. Bibliography
  15. Index
  16. About the Author

Product information

  • Title: We Are All Self-Employed, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Cliff Hakim
  • Release date: November 2003
  • Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
  • ISBN: 9781605093840