Congratulations to John Winsor and Jin Paik on the release of their new book “Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges!” This book serves as a framework for how companies can leverage and engage with freelance labor securely and compliantly. With old structures becoming obsolete in the digital age, work is no longer bound by place or identity; it's an activity, a power shift just beginning. Learn more about the power of Open Talent in this new book and discover how it can unlock new possibilities for the field service industry! #OpenTalent #Innovation #FutureOfWork #FieldServices #FieldNation #ContractWork #InformationTechnology #DigitalAge #Book
Today marks a significant milestone! Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges is officially released, culminating a journey that spans 25 years. This adventure began as I explored new business models, driven by the necessity of competing with larger, well-funded New York magazine publishers despite having a limited budget for staff. In an innovative move, I engaged the readers of my magazine, Women’s Sports and Fitness, inviting them to contribute their stories, which were then refined by a few editors in Boulder, Colorado. This approach was a stark contrast to maintaining the 40 editors and writers employed by the magazine's previous owner, and it was this decision that set my business in motion. At the time, it was a controversial strategy, but it taught me the immense value of harnessing the collective intelligence and passion of a community, a concept that revolutionized everything. I documented these experiences in several books and applied these principles in founding companies like Radar Communications and Victors and Spoils, all based on the concept of open talent. Initially, the effectiveness of this model wasn't obvious, making it my "secret sauce" for building profitable, high-growth businesses. My perspective broadened significantly when I collaborated with Karim Lakhani and Jin Paik at Harvard Business School. I realized that instead of just building companies, there was an entire talent management industry ripe for transformation through open talent — and indeed, it has been transformed. Thanks to the extraordinary Open Assembly Community and researchers at Harvard, we developed a framework offering a common language and process. This framework enables companies to engage with freelance labor in compliant and secure ways, applying the principles I learned in my own ventures for broader use. We stand at the brink of a new era. The traditional structures, created for an analog world, are obsolete in our digital age. Work has transcended being a place or identity; it is an activity, a power shift that is only just beginning. I owe gratitude to many people, many of whom I've acknowledged in the book. I invite you to see if your name is among them. I'm particularly grateful to the OA Community and the incredible team at Harvard Business Review for their invaluable contributions. Thank you. Get your copy here: http://opentalentbook.com/