Who do you think you are?
Individuals inside organizations. Will 2019 be a turning point?
Artwork by Barbara Kruger, 1997. Photo taken at the Yvon Lambert collection displayed in Avignon January 2019.
How do we as individuals take control, steer our lives and interact with others in the workplace? What identity do we build for ourselves?
For many people, the gig mindset is becoming an identity. Numerous people told me that after taking the gig mindset survey, they finally realized why they felt friction, frustration and discomfort in their organizations. One person came up to me after at a conference where I presented the survey results and said "You're the first person in my 21 years of work life to describe how I feel ." Several talked about insiders versus outsiders. A person who had long felt like an outsider in his organization said
"Now I can put a name to what I feel - I'm a gig mindset worker!"
In an article I wrote for the 10th Global Peter Drucker Forum, I talk about my initial observations from the research data:
The gig mindset is above all an identity.
The gig-mindset person is a rare resource, serving a role in organizations that is often neither recognized nor rewarded.
The gig mindset requires resilience on an individual level, which may, in part, come from age and experience.
Inter-generational influence can augment the gig mindset.
The future leans towards the gig mindset.
I leave you with the question "How do you see your own identity?"
My research into the gig mindset has brought me new insights about my own identity. I hope it will give you food for thought as well.