July 10, 2019 Adopting a Gig Mindset: An Interview with Gig Economy Leader Paul Estes of Microsoft

How we live in our personal lives is starting to impact how we work. Nobody knows this better than Paul Estes of Microsoft. Recently, Paul and I got together to discuss crowdsourcing, open innovation, the gig economy, and the concept of the “gig mindset” — which is also the name of Paul’s highly popular podcast.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Microsoft’s offices with our CEO at Topcoder, Mike Morris, who was a guest on Paul’s podcast. The trip left me impressed and excited, so I jumped at the chance to interview Paul myself. I wanted to get Paul talking more about his podcast, “The Gig Mindset,” as well as how he began thinking in this new way.

What Is The Gig Mindset?

Paul says he believes there are really two ways of looking at the gig economy and its impact on the industry: either as a world of scarcity or as one of abundance.

He relates a short anecdote: “I was in a meeting with a leader of a company. And he said something like, ‘well, I use a freelancer but I’m the only one who can do this job or do this project,’ and I said, ‘you believe that, there’s 7 billion people on the planet, and you’re the only person that can do this?'”

Paul believes in a world where there are experts who can do almost everything that he does better than he can do it. So the question becomes, how can he match the right person at the right time with the right time to create exponential impact — as opposed to creating scarcity and protection and worrying about his own value?

In Paul Estes’ world, we are all striving towards diversity of thought, diversity of information, and diversity in terms of who the average worker is, what she looks like, and how she works.

For more of this engaging discussion, watch the full 30-minute interview as Paul discusses several elements of the Gig Economy and how enterprises can prepare to scale their use of these experts outside their four walls.

Adopting the Gig Mindset

Diversity of thought, open innovation, and the gig economy are all industry “buzz words” that you may not have even known before listening to this podcast, but you will be sure to remember now. As Paul remarks, this kind of shift in the way we think about work and the value of human work will impact all of us who are living and working at this moment.

Regardless of whether you’re managing a small development team or working for a tech leader like Microsoft, you’re likely running at full capacity — and adopting a gig mindset can help you act and deliver with more velocity. I encourage you to dive into Paul’s podcast and to click that subscribe button. This is a podcast that continually has a lot to offer the curious listener who is open to adopting a gig mindset.

Want to hear from more thought leaders and industry innovators? Keep reading on our blog.