We Are All Self-Employed: How to Take Control of Your Career [Paperback]

Cliff Hakim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Thinking of oneself as "self-employed" - and "the boss" of one's life and work - is the key to personal and professional development, says Cliff Hakim. He shows how to use his pioneering Worklife Creed as a basis for a new, satisfying philosophy of work and life. Providing a clear roadmap for finding purpose and passion in work, this revised edition includes a refined Worklife Creed, greater emphasis on taking full responsibility for one's worklife and understanding and expressing one's own uniqueness, and a "Who's the Boss?" section that acts as a practical and potent take-anywhere toolbox.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

We Are All Self-Employed answers the question "Who's the boss?"

Employment is temporary. No "new" economy will eliminate unemployment or guarantee job security. In fact, in today's world, you are given one guarantee: You will eventually lose or leave your job, no matter how good your performance.

You are the decision-maker and ultimately, the onus is on you to imagine, plan, explore, and create the worklife that you want. It's a new era: you're the boss––a self-leader––whether you work inside or outside of an organization. Who's the boss? The message of this book is that you’re the boss.

The first edition sold over 25,000 copies, seeding the global marketplace with the concept. And the concept is more relevant today than when the book was first published. Today, more than ever, "you're the boss." The changing economy, mercurial organizations, and our zeal for personal growth, are constant reminders. "What's new" in this edition includes: the core question: Who's the boss?; a refined Worklife Creed; new examples—keeping the book fresh, supportive, and diverse,; stimulating and thoughtful quotations; an emphasis on the freedom and vitality of the heart––purpose and passion in worklife; and a "Who's the Boss?" practical and potent take-anywhere tool box.

About the Author

Cliff Hakim is the founder of Rethinking Work®, career and executive counsel, Boston, Massachusetts. The focus of his practice is your self-leadership: taking charge of your purpose, passion, and productivity. Hakim utilizes a tailored, empathic, positive and action-oriented approach driven by his philosophy that "we are all self-employed." He provides guidance and timely solutions for people, inside and outside of organizations, seeking worklife renewal. Clients learn to self-lead, becoming and expressing more of who they are. They answer "Who's the boss?" and find and do what is in their heart. Hakim brings his lifetime experience, ongoing learning, focused purpose and passion, integrity and faith, and self-expression to every client.

Hakim has delivered presentations globally, from California to Connecticut and from Haiti to England, on the matter of a "self-employed" attitude and worklife-renewal. His clients have included Fortune 500 companies, Start-ups, and non-profit organizations and associations. He has written two other books published by Berrett-Koehler: When You Lose Your Job (1992) and We Are All Self-Employed (1994).

Hakim writes and publishes a monthly newsletter devoted to his clients' purpose, passion, and productivity. He'll expand his readership, beginning in March 2003, when JobFind.Com, online publication and service of the "Boston Herald," will publish parts of his newsletter,

Product Details

• Paperback: 263 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 2nd edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576752674
• ISBN-13: 978-1576752678
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #882,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Important Book, November 10, 2003

By 

Dr. Paul Powers (Wellesley, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We Are All Self-Employed: How to Take Control of Your Career (Paperback)

'We Are All Self-Employed' is not just a good book, it is an important book. The author's message, while inspirational, is firmly grounded in the reality of today's world of work. It is essential reading for anyone looking to take charge of his or her career regardless of whether they are just starting out, in mid-career, unemployed or just thinking about improving the quality of their work life. It most certainly belongs on the bookshelf of any career professional committed to helping others reach their career potential.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended companion reading with Judith Bardwick's 'Danger in the Comfort Zone'!, March 26, 2007

By 

Lee Say Keng "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURER/TECHNOLOGY... (Ho Chi Minh City/Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We Are All Self-Employed: How to Take Control of Your Career (Paperback)

1) 'Danger in the Comfort Zone: From Boardroom to Mailroom: How to Break the Entitlement Habit That's Killing American Business'

by Judith M. Bardwick

2) 'We Are All Self-Employed: How to Take Control of Your Career'

by Cliff Hakim

'Danger in the Comfort Zone' is one of the very good books I had acquired while attending a boot-camp for entrepreneurs in the United States during the early nineties. (My copy is actually the earlier edition.) At that time, I had read it very seriously. I had really liked the author's ideas of earning mentality (or habit) vs entitlement mentality (or habit).

The many problems & scenarios which the author had described candidly about the American workplace were not much different, when I compared them with Singapore's. Contemporarily, Singapore's employers had encountered the same dilemma. It was only after the economic recession during the mid-eighties & then the Asian financial fiasco during the late nineties that employees' attitudes, in both the private as well as public sector, had changed tremendously. Likewise, employers' attitudes had also followed suit.

At first glance, the author would seem to have criticised employees but I feel the principal premise of the book is more to urge employees to take charge of their own lives by getting out of the comfort zone & moving into the stretch zone. That is true self empowerment: adopt the earning mentality rather than the entitlement mentality!

Of course, employers would have to play their part to gain employees' confidence & trust. Their 'command & control' attitude in the past would have to change.

Hence, I would strongly recommend readers to read also 'We Are All Self-

Employed: The New Social Contract for Working in a Changed World' by Cliff Hakim. This book was written in the mid-nineties & my copy is also the earlier edition.

I feel the two authors' brilliant ideas gel very well with each other. In fact, their combined work will make more sense when read syntopically. They will help you transform the way you think about & approach your employment in the corporate world.

To paraphrase the latter book: "It will inspire you to move from the role of dependent employee, ever-adapting to survive, to independent-Interdependent worker, ever-creating to succeed. You'll learn to embrace a "self-employed" attitude to achieve the success you have always yearned for. Adopting a "self-employed" attitude will prepare you for the inevitable changes that come with time, & help you create a new definition of success rooted in your own interests, skills, values, & desires. It will help you move from merely surviving on the job to engaging your creativity - embedded in the responsibility symbolized by self-employment - & successfully employing yourself in a way that draws on your talents, interests, & deepest values."

I had really enjoyed reading both books tremendously.

In some way & to some extent, the wonderful ideas from the two foregoing books had consciously as well as unconsciously contributed to my eventual decision to take charge of the second half of my life.

5.0 out of 5 stars We Are All Self-Employed, March 22, 2009

By 

Barbara M. Nollman "Barbara Nollman" (Hudson, MA.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We Are All Self-Employed: How to Take Control of Your Career (Paperback)

This is an excellent book especially in these hard economic times. It

gives you great ideas on what one can do in the way of jobs for self.

I am enjoying this book.