There is no doubt that the free-agent economy places a premium on your capacity for self-management, realistically assessing yourself and actively managing your personal development. It means showing emotional intelligence, exercising initiative, accepting responsibility for accomplishments and failures, and continually seeking new learning opportunities and experiences. Take a look at the Explore Yourself feature. It’s in each chapter and is designed to help you become better acquainted with your managerial skills and the implications for your career readiness. The first one is on self-management and the question you should be asking when reading it is: How well do I stack up?When it comes to human potential, the workplace is well into the information age dominated by knowledge workers. These are persons whose minds, not just physical capabilities, are critical assets. And things are not standing still. Futurist Daniel Pink says that we are already moving toward a conceptual age in which intellectual capital rests with people who are both “high concept”—creative and good with ideas, and “high touch”—joyful and good with relationships. Pink believes the future will belong to those with “whole-mind” competencies, ones that combine left-brain analytical thinking with right-brain intuitive thinking.