Just as companies create pop-up stores during the holidays or during certain promotional periods, P2P marketplaces for the exchange of services make it possible for individuals to create their own little pop-up human capital stores, wherever they happen to be, and for as long as they want. This concept can be especially empowering for any individual who is unemployed (or under-employed) – or even someone who is employed and is interested in trying out a new career path. We’ve been trained to think of small businesses as the driver of economic growth and new employment in the economy, but it might just be the case that this model of employment needs a good re-think.

Any business that ignores these transformations does so at its own peril. Despite recession, currency crises, and tremors of financial instability, the pace of disruption is roaring ahead. The frictionless spread of information and the expansion of personal, corporate, and global networks have plenty of room to run. And here’s the conundrum: When businesspeople search for the right forecast—the road map and model that will define the next era—no credible long-term picture emerges. There is one certainty, however. The next decade or two will be defined more by fluidity than by any new, settled paradigm; if there is a pattern to all this, it is that there is no pattern. The most valuable insight is that we are, in a critical sense, in a time of chaos.