In a column at Forbes, Glenn Llopis argues that the employer-employee relationship has changed so significantly, that many motivated employees have limited incentive to stay.  Llopis--founder of the Center for Hispanic Leadership and the Center for Innovation and Humanity, and former executive with Sunkist and Norway Seafood, is bullish on the idea that employees should develop personal brands.  And he believes most corporate workplaces today are ill equipped to ride the entrepreneurial spirit of its employees:

In today’s ‘new normal’ workplace, reinvention of an organization has less to do with the organization’s brand, and more do to with its people.  If an organization allows its employees to have a greater freedom of expression, they will be able to be more entrepreneurial and to contribute more.   In order words, organizations must unleash control and allow their employee’s personal brands to flourish in meaningful and purposeful ways.     If not, innovation will be short-lived and organizations will become more vulnerable to competitive threats in today’s short-term, rapid-paced, talent-dependent, fast changing, virtual, trust-demanding world of work.

For the individual, there must be alignment between who you are (your true personal brand) and the opportunities you pursue. If there is not, you will overlook opportunities you must not miss, and instead seize opportunities of less significance.

This is why most people in today’s workforce are not inspired, and why they are seeking employers that will give them more purpose to showcase their individuality.

Unfortunately, most people spend too much time being accountable for what others want them to be, rather than what they seek to be themselves.  We have allowed corporations to manage our personal brand for too long, at a time when we need to turn ourselves around.  We must understand our individual relevancy and the role we play in today’s post 2008 economy.   People are forfeiting the opportunity to create a fortune continuously and don’t even know it.

Read Why America’s Corporations Will Lose Control of Their Employees here.