Two interesting things: 1) this predicts difficulty in controlling contractors and getting them to stick to schedules. It explains why taxis suck, homejoy struggled, and showcases that uber circumvented the entire issue of driver reliability by only doing on-demand rides. It also predicts that scheduled contractors will attempt to steal clients from the scheduling company (direct measurable profit impacting skill - you can't own them). Perhaps the on-demand service strategy that works requires either the use of employees or zero-scheduling/real-time request resolution.
2) As an employee, you must figure out how to measure your profit impact and consistently represent that metric as fact - socialize the idea that you have profit impact. You also want to figure out exactly how what you do and how you do it can increase or decrease profits: being the person who's able to both represent a meaningful metric and show how you've affected that metric, and how that metric should have affected the bottom line will make you the most valuable. If what you do does not impact profitability, then do something else.
One way to view Uber is as a redundant array of inexpensive drivers. Since the individual contractors are fully fungible and numerous, one will usually be available to take on any new request. It is an anomaly of the Uber model that the barriers are incredibly low, the service is provided very quickly and that a significant number of drivers are willing to idle waiting for a ride. This is reflected in the relative low pay.
Even then, I bet Uber has retention or reliability problems with drivers.
2) Is very tricky to do for creative professions. Wouldn't it mean something like asking every client who uses the feature you worked on to give you a quote on how useful the part you did was to them? I'd like to hear what others think about how to effectively measure and market your contribution to management.
2) As an employee, you must figure out how to measure your profit impact and consistently represent that metric as fact - socialize the idea that you have profit impact. You also want to figure out exactly how what you do and how you do it can increase or decrease profits: being the person who's able to both represent a meaningful metric and show how you've affected that metric, and how that metric should have affected the bottom line will make you the most valuable. If what you do does not impact profitability, then do something else.