The Talent Market

His solution: DAC Vision would develop its own state-of-the-art machinery for making eyeglass lenses. Engineers at the company's plant in Carpinteria, California had designed a machine that could turn a hockey-puck-sized piece of plastic into a finished lens - and do the job in half the time, at a lower cost, and with unheard-of quality. "It makes the shape of the lens exactly to the doctor's prescription," says Bullwinkle. "That's been the Holy Grail in the industry."

But the company needed help in translating that idea into action. "What we didn't have was someone whose only reason to live was to get this project off the ground," says Bullwinkle, a white-haired Texan. "I wanted someone who, if he was walking the dog and heard about this project, would stop someone on the street and say, 'Take my dog. I'm going to California.' " And the place to find that person, Bullwinkle reasoned, was on the talent market.

He picked up the phone.

VII. Why Own When You Can Rent?

Stamford, Connecticut calls itself "the city that works" - which is a bit ironic, because it was here that John Thompson, now 63, found himself bereft of meaningful work. For 35 years, Thompson had worked at the accounting firm KMG Main Hurdman, eventually becoming the company's chief executive. Then, in 1987, his firm merged with a much larger one. The combined operation became KPMG Peat Marwick, and Thompson's job disappeared.

He wasn't alone. In every region and in almost every industry, a combination of mergers and downsizing was hurling talented businesspeople out of their swivel chairs and onto the street. Amid the upheaval, Thompson saw opportunity. He knew that no matter how lean companies became, they'd always have a need for know-how. Thompson came up with an unlikely solution: portable executives. Why own a CEO, CFO, or COO when you can rent one?

In 1988, he stitched together a business plan and tested it with a focus group. Participants in the group told him that it would never work. Then he polled 100 senior executives. Most were lukewarm; the rest were downright frosty. But Thompson went ahead with his plan. He launched his company, called it IMCOR, and worked to make it the Hertz and Avis of talent.

Today IMCOR is a major player in a market that it helped to invent. With offices in Stamford, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York, the company draws on a network of more than 57,000 people who are proud to call themselves portable executives. These rent-a-talents hop from company to company, solving the toughest problems and then, after a few months, moving on to the next challenge. Their average work experience: 20 years. Their average most-recent salary: $120,000. Another sign that Thompson read the market right: Last year, the closely held company was purchased by Norrell Services Inc., a billion-dollar temporary-staffing and outsourcing firm.

Compared with MacTemps and M2, IMCOR takes a slightly different approach to the buying and selling of human capital. It helps companies rent the talent they need for a particular project and at a particular time. At IMCOR, the buyer is the chief client - the client that comes first. IMCOR staffers are like management consultants who help serious corporate investors decide where in this new market to sink some money. Over the last few years, IMCOR's blue-chip client list has included such companies as General Motors, Mobil, Xerox, Avon Products, and Lehman Brothers. "We spend a lot of time helping clients figure out what they really need," Thompson says. "It's the key strategic process that we go through."

Thompson makes an unlikely talent pioneer. He's somewhat soft-spoken, even a bit avuncular - the type of guy you can depend on to give you sound advice. Which is exactly what he did when he cowrote, with Catherine A. Henningsen, The Portable Executive: Building Your Own Job Security - from Corporate Dependency to Self-Direction (Simon and Schuster, 1995). It's an unusually personal business book that counsels freshly minted free-agent managers on how to navigate these new employment waters.

VIII. Swanson Makes It Great

In Dallas, the buildings stretch higher, the people stand taller, the sun burns brighter. Dallas is where Harvey Carter, 52, has worked for most of his adult life. And it's where, for more than a decade, he was the chief marketing officer of an insurance company. But last summer, a company shake-up tossed Carter out of his job and bounced him into uncertainty. He and his wife used their planned vacation to Park City, Utah as an occasion to think about their future. One afternoon, while browsing in a discount bookstore, Carter stumbled on a copy of The Portable Executive. He bought the book, read it, said to himself, "This guy knows what he's talking about," and glimpsed his future: Within about six months, he was back in Dallas, working at IMCOR as a managing director.