A few years ago I attended an HR conference where I found myself on a panel with a freelancer. He had no desire to work for a corporation, nor a manager for that matter. And he was clearly very good at his craft—someone my company would want to hire.

“I get that you love the independence,” I said. “But what about your training and development? How do you stay on the leading edge of your craft?”

“Meet-ups,” he said. Seeing my uninformed gaze, he went on. “We get together online and arrange festival-like gatherings, often on the campuses of Bay Area companies, inviting the best players to come and speak. Great for networking too.”

I tried another tack. “What about a sense of community? Don't you get bored or stale working alone all day?”

“Co-working,” came the reply. There are really cool workspaces that can be rented with other freelancers, and a Starbucks downstairs for meetings.

I was getting rather desperate at this point. “What about benefits?” I inquired. “What happens if you get sick?”

“The Freelancers Union,” was the answer.

So there it was: a new and compelling paradigm for getting work done, no longer for those who are marginally employed, but for the very best talent in our industry, and pouring out of our universities every day. It forces all of us in corporations to rethink our value propositions, to provide the same kind of ad hoc opportunities to grow and expand skills inside our companies, and to incorporate alternative work arrangements into our talent strategies.

To be sure, the “organization” itself has been evolving. Once you could neatly distinguish insiders from outsiders, but today, the relationship between an organization and all its constituents is becoming more permeable and flexible. Its structure is evolving from a hierarchy to a network model of deep collaboration across the entire value chain, including suppliers, partners, and customers. Leadership is more collective and democratic, defined increasingly by expertise and the ability to energize others. Authority is increasingly bestowed by the community, not by a position.

Leadership still means achieving a mission through the efforts of talented people—but how you lead is changing.

This new form of organizational openness offers tremendous upside potential—empowered employees, free-flowing ideas, more creativity and innovation, happier customers, and better results. But with more openness also comes more risk. As rigid controls loosen, organizations need a strong sense of purpose and shared beliefs to guide decision making. Teams will need processes and tools that inspire collaboration on a massive scale. Skills need to be validated in some reliable way. Perhaps most important, organizations must help employees develop the capabilities to adapt and excel in this type of environment.

As you navigate these shifts, finding and developing the right talent and leadership is challenging. John Boudreau, Ravin Jesuthasan, and David Creelman pull together compelling evidence and tools to help you find your way. I'm pleased to say that you'll find a chapter in the book about our journey at IBM, and you'll read about other innovative organizations as well.

One of their key observations is about the changing nature of work. The talented people you lead will engage in new ways that look very different from regular full-time employment. They will work on tasks, projects, and assignments, not only in traditional jobs. They will contribute through a global network connected to your organization through remote platforms, alliances, contracts, and even online games. Sometimes, the best talent won't be your regular full-time employees, but freelancers, contractors, or even volunteers. One IBM study found that independent workers were actually more engaged with the organization they worked for than regular full-time employees. Your organization's transition toward work beyond employment will depend on your industry, region, size, and other variables. Yet, this evolution promises significant changes even for your regular full-time employees.

The book also explores the changing expectations of employees. Even regular employees want to work on projects they choose, much like freelancers. They expect careers that reach beyond your organization, just as contractors experience a wide array of industries and environments. They want discretion about where and when they work, and while they still value the security and stability of regular employment, they also know that nothing lasts forever, and the half-life of capabilities is constantly shrinking. Winning enterprises will help employees anticipate these shifts and adjust to them.

There are other interesting examples of innovative approaches to getting work done—a crowdsourced advertisement, a smartphone app built entirely by freelancers, an intriguing alliance of employees between two companies, a drug breakthrough discovered by volunteer online gamers.

Taken individually, these are interesting anecdotes, but string them together, and this book signals that something meaningful is happening. The convergence of the digital, social, and mobile spheres is connecting customers, employees, and partners in new ways to organizations and to each other. Leaders are recognizing that this connected era is fundamentally changing how people engage, and this puts pressure on leadership to adapt.

Let this book be your navigation guide to the new world of work.

If you are a corporate officer, investor, or manager, read this book to understand how to lead and engage the new workforce. Share the book with your HR leaders, and discuss how you can work with them to optimize the opportunities, and avoid the pitfalls, of the new global workplace.

If you are an HR leader, read this book to be inspired and guided on how you can contribute in new ways, as the evolving world of work will alter virtually every element of your profession. Please share this book with your colleagues outside of HR, and together craft your unique vision of a new kind of strategic partnership.

If you are a professional, read this book and be inspired by the expanding options for you to craft an even more fulfilling and rewarding work life.

If you are a policy maker, read this book and consider the role of governments, nations, and societies in ensuring that this evolution is fair, inclusive, and sustainable.

—Diane Gherson
Senior Vice President
Human Resources, IBM