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You know something about reversals that work: after all, you’re a reverse mortgage specialist. But are you also a super specialist — or a smart generalist? Both have a critical role to play in the new work environment, where the water cooler is virtual and we are all self-employed, say Ryan Coonerty and Jeremy Neuner, authors of The Rise of the Naked Economy.

Despite its compelling title (which is no doubt boosting sales), the book isn’t about removing clothes, but removing obstacles to a “transparent” workplace. In essence, “Naked” describes a seismic shift: from a corporate, product-focused mindset that emphasized the 4Ps of marketing — product, placement, promotion, price — to the 3Ps of the Naked Economy: People, Place, Policy.

This emphasis on the Creatives, and where and how they work, signals a fundamental restructuring in how we view and do business. It has direct bearing on reverse mortgage professionals, who may be as comfortable working in a co-work environment (where entrepreneurs rent shared office space) as in their own office, a colleague’s office, a coffee shop, or from home, depending on the day’s responsibilities and whom you need to team with in order to best serve your clients and prospects.

There isn’t necessarily an advantage to being in a traditional office setting just because that’s what we know. Matt Mullenweg, who invented WordPress, calls the current cubicle configuration “an arbitrary colocation of a number of adults for no apparent reason.” His company, Automattic (two “t”s), launched with transatlantic partnerships in the UK and Ireland in 2005 and now works with employees around the world. He must be on to something: there were more than 56 million WordPress sites by fall 2012, including such notable users as the New York Times and eBay.

Yet super specialization, remote partnerships and teaming with others for short-term projects aren’t new concepts; they’re simply being redefined and expanded to encompass a broader bandwidth. The movie industry, for example, rapidly assembles teams that may number in the hundreds or even thousands, to create a film. Actors, grips, directors, extras, scriptwriters, editors, stylists, etc., some of whom may have worked together before but many of whom have not, each play their role until the film is complete. Then they disband and reform into new teams for the next project.

We can also bridge cultures, continents, languages and areas of expertise to create breathtaking results, such as the Water Cube that housed the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As the authors note, twenty international firms came together to create this 340,000-square-foot structure, “covered in an ethereal, semitransparent polymer that was invented in Japan, designed by Australians, built by the Chinese, and approved by the International Olympic Committee.”

This, maintain Coonerty and Neuner, is the future of work as a whole.

Some “Naked” questions for reverse mortgage specialists to consider:

• Who’s your A-team?
• What people (specific individuals, or specializations such as CPAs, elder law attorneys, etc.) comprise your greatest “renewable resource”?
• Are you willing to trade a measure of control for collaboration?
• How and where do you work well? Would you like to work somewhere that allowed you to bring your dog with you?
• Do you see yourself as a solo entrepreneur, or are you happier in a cowork-type of setting, where you might find exactly the complementary skills you need to expand your business?
• How will any of these choices affect business essentials such as insurance, taxes and health coverage?

It’s a brave new work world out there. Navigating nakedness to create your brightest and best work reality means you’ll be able to play at the top of your game, which benefits everyone: you, your family, those you work with, and, of course, those you work for: your reverse mortgage clients and prospects, who, as the landscape of aging also changes dramatically, are navigating similar shifts of their own.