What do you think?
Rate this book
The Empty Raincoat: Making Sense of the Future
*Can you find the way to Davy's bar? *Do you know the Doughnut principal? *How do you make a Chinese contract? The changes which Charles Handy foresaw in THE AGE OF UNREASON are happening. Endless growth can make a candyfloss economy, and capitalism must be its own sternest critic. Handy reaches here for a philosophy beyond the mechanics of business organisations, beyond material choices, to try and establish an alternative universe where the work ethics can contain a natural sense of continuity, connections and a sense of direction. We are now a world of shareholders, but everyone has a stake in the future. With warmth, wit and the most challenging insights, Charles Handy seeks to turn paradox into real progress.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1994
23 people are currently reading
506 people want to read
About the author
Charles B. Handy
87 books135 followersCharles Brian Handy was an Irish author and philosopher who specialised in organizational behavior and management. Among the ideas he advanced are the "portfolio career" and the "shamrock organization" (in which professional core workers, freelance workers and part-time/temporary routine workers each form one leaf of the "shamrock").
Handy was rated among the Thinkers 50, a private list of the most influential living management thinkers. In 2001, he was second on this list, behind Peter Drucker, and in 2005, he was tenth. When the Harvard Business Review had a special issue to mark the publication's 50th anniversary Handy, Peter Drucker, and Henry Mintzberg were asked to write special articles.
In July 2006, Handy was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Law by Trinity College Dublin.
Handy was rated among the Thinkers 50, a private list of the most influential living management thinkers. In 2001, he was second on this list, behind Peter Drucker, and in 2005, he was tenth. When the Harvard Business Review had a special issue to mark the publication's 50th anniversary Handy, Peter Drucker, and Henry Mintzberg were asked to write special articles.
In July 2006, Handy was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Law by Trinity College Dublin.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 17, 2015
“Paradox is like weather, something not to change but to adapt.” - Charles Handy
Review adopted from article: http://www.reply-mc.com/shortcuts/boo..., edited based on my own experience.
Although The Empty Raincoat was written two decades agao, the predictions are so precise that it could have been published last week.
With this masterpiece Charles Handy brings an amazing clarity to the paradoxes that we are facing today. Sure, 16 years ago, the digital economy was not even invented as a term, but the changes in our society, our economy, work and our careers were already clear to Handy. Handy is a visionary.
The book starts by describing 9 paradoxes:
1. The paradox of intelligence: it’s a new form of property, which does not behave like other forms of property. It has a low cost of entry and that will radically change our society. Now – 16 years after its publication – we see that the means of production for intellectual work are available to anyone, that transaction costs and shelf-space costs are close to 0, and that the “Wisdom of crowds” enables completely different dynamics;
2. The paradox of work. Handy defines work as “Society’s chosen way of distributing income” as opposed to a measure of efficiency. This is where the paradox lies: organizations are in charge of the way employment is created or reduced; and they will not pay for slack or buffer. As a result workers are conditioned as ‘employees’ to perform repetitive and empty tasks. When they are made redundant, they are not capable of being creative and resilient entrepreneurs. Second, as organizations are reengineered to be lean to the bone, they have no capacity surplus that allows for creativity or change. This is what we see today: anorectic and stressed-out organizations with a tunnel vision who completely miss the point about our changing society: doing the same things over and over, and expecting different results;
3. The paradox of productivity: how do we define value? 16 years ago Handy found out that by pricing our work, we can ultimately destroy it. New insights today (see Dan Pink’s Drive) underscore the perversity of rewarding. This is a very fine insight that is currently known as driving the gift economy.
4. The paradox of time. Handy refers to time as a ‘strange commodity’. The application of modern technology means less time is needed to make and do things. People should have more spare time. But time has become a competitive weapon and getting things done quickly is imperative. As a result, many of those who work have less time than ever before.
5. The paradox of riches. Economic growth depends upon more people wanting more things. But increasingly, the things people want most (clean air, safe environment) are collective and cannot be bought by individuals at any price. And because there is no customer, organizations cannot produce them.
6. The paradox of organization: Today, organizations need to be local and global at the same time; to be small in some ways but big in others; and to be centralized some of the time and decentralized the rest. Managers are expected to be more entrepreneurial and more team-oriented at the same time. No one knows what is needed to run organizations now.
7. The paradox of age. A lifelong career no longer exists. There is a gap between adolescence and adulthood and we cannot seem to fill it. Now we call this the ‘digital divide’. The point is that most organizations are led by people whose experiences do not equip them to lead in today’s environment.
8. The paradox of the individual: who do you represent? Handy sensed a tension between individual rights and collective will. Today we see that it has never been more explosive: consumers and employees are calling out to brands and employers that they are individuals, not numbers.
9. The paradox of justice: People want the organizations they work for to treat them fairly. But being treated fairly means different things to different people.
Handy continues by proposing three paths to guide us through these paradoxes. His advice comes down to three different ways of looking at the world.
1. Start a second curve. Handy adopts the idea of a sigmoid-curve to demonstrate what the lifecycle of our career looks like. He argues that we are not restricted to one single lifecycle. We can live more than one cycle in a single lifetime if we are smart enough to start the second curve before the first curve has reached its point of saturation.
2. The doughnut principle. Handy compares us to a doughnut and says the core is what’s essential. It’s the agreed given of a job, or a project, or a person. And the outside of the core is the potential. The potential is variable and you can develop as much or as little of it as you want. But it needs to have a boundary, or a limit in order to be balanced. Without a boundary it is easy to be oppressed by guilt, for enough is never enough. The point is that we are responsible for balancing our own doughnut: with a core (a duty) that matches our destiny, and an outside that caters for our potential.
3. Make Chinese Contracts. Handy learned from the Chinese that a contract is needed only when trust is absent. Trust and optimizing the relationship is becoming more important than maximizing the individual result at the expense of others. Adam Smith’s invisible hand only works when it is preceded by an invisible handshake.
Furthermore, this book is full of thought provoking ideas. To name but a few:
- Subsidiarity versus empowerment: the first assumes that the power is already decentralized; while the second is a conditional giving away of power and taking it back when it does not suit you anymore;
- Membership and involvement is more important than ownership (now 16 years later – this is more true than ever);
- “One can only add meaning and value to his life by living those lives“;
- Balance four types of work: paid work, gift work, home work, study work;
- Nine types of intelligence: Factual, Analytical, Linguistic, Spatial, Musical, Practical, Physical, Intuitive, Interpersonal. The point is that we need a more complete view on intelligence in order to pick our strengths and build our doughnut;
- The three C’s of learning (the essence). They are conceptualizing, coordinating, and consolidating;
- Four phases in everyone’s life (each lasting approximately 25 years): The age of preparation, the age of main endeavor (and the danger of getting trapped in someone else’s time cage), the age of a second life and the age of dependency. Comparable to 4 phases: Learn, contribute, change, depart.
Review adopted from article: http://www.reply-mc.com/shortcuts/boo..., edited based on my own experience.
Although The Empty Raincoat was written two decades agao, the predictions are so precise that it could have been published last week.
With this masterpiece Charles Handy brings an amazing clarity to the paradoxes that we are facing today. Sure, 16 years ago, the digital economy was not even invented as a term, but the changes in our society, our economy, work and our careers were already clear to Handy. Handy is a visionary.
The book starts by describing 9 paradoxes:
1. The paradox of intelligence: it’s a new form of property, which does not behave like other forms of property. It has a low cost of entry and that will radically change our society. Now – 16 years after its publication – we see that the means of production for intellectual work are available to anyone, that transaction costs and shelf-space costs are close to 0, and that the “Wisdom of crowds” enables completely different dynamics;
2. The paradox of work. Handy defines work as “Society’s chosen way of distributing income” as opposed to a measure of efficiency. This is where the paradox lies: organizations are in charge of the way employment is created or reduced; and they will not pay for slack or buffer. As a result workers are conditioned as ‘employees’ to perform repetitive and empty tasks. When they are made redundant, they are not capable of being creative and resilient entrepreneurs. Second, as organizations are reengineered to be lean to the bone, they have no capacity surplus that allows for creativity or change. This is what we see today: anorectic and stressed-out organizations with a tunnel vision who completely miss the point about our changing society: doing the same things over and over, and expecting different results;
3. The paradox of productivity: how do we define value? 16 years ago Handy found out that by pricing our work, we can ultimately destroy it. New insights today (see Dan Pink’s Drive) underscore the perversity of rewarding. This is a very fine insight that is currently known as driving the gift economy.
4. The paradox of time. Handy refers to time as a ‘strange commodity’. The application of modern technology means less time is needed to make and do things. People should have more spare time. But time has become a competitive weapon and getting things done quickly is imperative. As a result, many of those who work have less time than ever before.
5. The paradox of riches. Economic growth depends upon more people wanting more things. But increasingly, the things people want most (clean air, safe environment) are collective and cannot be bought by individuals at any price. And because there is no customer, organizations cannot produce them.
6. The paradox of organization: Today, organizations need to be local and global at the same time; to be small in some ways but big in others; and to be centralized some of the time and decentralized the rest. Managers are expected to be more entrepreneurial and more team-oriented at the same time. No one knows what is needed to run organizations now.
7. The paradox of age. A lifelong career no longer exists. There is a gap between adolescence and adulthood and we cannot seem to fill it. Now we call this the ‘digital divide’. The point is that most organizations are led by people whose experiences do not equip them to lead in today’s environment.
8. The paradox of the individual: who do you represent? Handy sensed a tension between individual rights and collective will. Today we see that it has never been more explosive: consumers and employees are calling out to brands and employers that they are individuals, not numbers.
9. The paradox of justice: People want the organizations they work for to treat them fairly. But being treated fairly means different things to different people.
Handy continues by proposing three paths to guide us through these paradoxes. His advice comes down to three different ways of looking at the world.
1. Start a second curve. Handy adopts the idea of a sigmoid-curve to demonstrate what the lifecycle of our career looks like. He argues that we are not restricted to one single lifecycle. We can live more than one cycle in a single lifetime if we are smart enough to start the second curve before the first curve has reached its point of saturation.
2. The doughnut principle. Handy compares us to a doughnut and says the core is what’s essential. It’s the agreed given of a job, or a project, or a person. And the outside of the core is the potential. The potential is variable and you can develop as much or as little of it as you want. But it needs to have a boundary, or a limit in order to be balanced. Without a boundary it is easy to be oppressed by guilt, for enough is never enough. The point is that we are responsible for balancing our own doughnut: with a core (a duty) that matches our destiny, and an outside that caters for our potential.
3. Make Chinese Contracts. Handy learned from the Chinese that a contract is needed only when trust is absent. Trust and optimizing the relationship is becoming more important than maximizing the individual result at the expense of others. Adam Smith’s invisible hand only works when it is preceded by an invisible handshake.
Furthermore, this book is full of thought provoking ideas. To name but a few:
- Subsidiarity versus empowerment: the first assumes that the power is already decentralized; while the second is a conditional giving away of power and taking it back when it does not suit you anymore;
- Membership and involvement is more important than ownership (now 16 years later – this is more true than ever);
- “One can only add meaning and value to his life by living those lives“;
- Balance four types of work: paid work, gift work, home work, study work;
- Nine types of intelligence: Factual, Analytical, Linguistic, Spatial, Musical, Practical, Physical, Intuitive, Interpersonal. The point is that we need a more complete view on intelligence in order to pick our strengths and build our doughnut;
- The three C’s of learning (the essence). They are conceptualizing, coordinating, and consolidating;
- Four phases in everyone’s life (each lasting approximately 25 years): The age of preparation, the age of main endeavor (and the danger of getting trapped in someone else’s time cage), the age of a second life and the age of dependency. Comparable to 4 phases: Learn, contribute, change, depart.
March 10, 2022
Well written book, with thought provoking ideas for the tough times we are living, despite the fact this is a very old book (1995). A classic with enduring lessons worth your while.
January 28, 2020
It is worth stating, at the outset, that "The Empty Raincoat" by Charles Handy was originally published in 1994.
Therefore, to read it in 2020 is something of a joy. The book details Handy's thoughts on the dilemma of the individual in the corporate world. Are we all to become anonymous? The titular empty raincoat? The book is very far-reaching in its scope but does not overstretch itself. Many of the predictions have come to pass. Some, like the idea of federalism, seem to have played out and be seeking out a second Sigmoidal curve.
This cyclical idea of renewal is certainly an interesting one. Handy talks of the need to begin the next upward curve, before the previous arc is complete. Naturally, the difficulty inherent comes in recognizing that the downward trajectory has started. This is one of the many modern business paradoxes that Handy explores.
As a lean thinker, I was particularly interested in Handy's thoughts on belonging. Belonging creates engagement within the lean enterprise, and this topic features heavily in Handy's work. Handy explores the concept of twin citizenship, both on the level of the large and the small. As humans, we engage with the goal of the department and the corporation. Handy did extrapolate this to the idea of the small community, inside the federal state. He hypothesized if this might spell the end of the nation station - with small, self-governing towns, orbiting a European centre. History has shown that the notion of the nation-state is still a strong one.
In the corporate world, Handy speaks of central hubs, granting subsidiarity to satellite entities. The success of this model, argues Handy, becomes the individual's sense of membership to the centre and the unit where the work is done.
Handy speaks of the rise of the portfolio worker — a vendor of self, giving service to multiple companies via an invoice of skill, not time. Although the large organization has yet to degrade to this level, there are signs of Handy's forewarning. The job for life has undoubtedly disappeared from our landscape.
"The Empty Raincoat" is a remarkable book, which certainly stands the test of time. The author, and his work, is an academic area I will re-visit in coming years.
Thoroughly recommended.
Therefore, to read it in 2020 is something of a joy. The book details Handy's thoughts on the dilemma of the individual in the corporate world. Are we all to become anonymous? The titular empty raincoat? The book is very far-reaching in its scope but does not overstretch itself. Many of the predictions have come to pass. Some, like the idea of federalism, seem to have played out and be seeking out a second Sigmoidal curve.
This cyclical idea of renewal is certainly an interesting one. Handy talks of the need to begin the next upward curve, before the previous arc is complete. Naturally, the difficulty inherent comes in recognizing that the downward trajectory has started. This is one of the many modern business paradoxes that Handy explores.
As a lean thinker, I was particularly interested in Handy's thoughts on belonging. Belonging creates engagement within the lean enterprise, and this topic features heavily in Handy's work. Handy explores the concept of twin citizenship, both on the level of the large and the small. As humans, we engage with the goal of the department and the corporation. Handy did extrapolate this to the idea of the small community, inside the federal state. He hypothesized if this might spell the end of the nation station - with small, self-governing towns, orbiting a European centre. History has shown that the notion of the nation-state is still a strong one.
In the corporate world, Handy speaks of central hubs, granting subsidiarity to satellite entities. The success of this model, argues Handy, becomes the individual's sense of membership to the centre and the unit where the work is done.
Handy speaks of the rise of the portfolio worker — a vendor of self, giving service to multiple companies via an invoice of skill, not time. Although the large organization has yet to degrade to this level, there are signs of Handy's forewarning. The job for life has undoubtedly disappeared from our landscape.
"The Empty Raincoat" is a remarkable book, which certainly stands the test of time. The author, and his work, is an academic area I will re-visit in coming years.
Thoroughly recommended.
January 27, 2016
I first purchased this book along with many others way back in the spring of 1995. I had joined, the previous autumn, a company whose organic growth during a time of recession had been nothing short of miraculous.. They were sort of rough around the edges but highly hungry for success. In an attempt to give them a more polished veneer I bought several potted plants which I then scattered about the office on desks and the tops of filing cabinets; a bunch of those corporate framed photographs depicting a single eagle in flight or a pair of hands shaking in firm agreement; and a half a dozen or so business books. There was Drayton Bird and one or two dry tomes among them but also this one by Charles. B. Handy.
Guru is a Hindu word for a spiritual leader. It strikes me as daft to suggest men on the business world can be classed the same but there are those that do. Charles Handy is among those universally accepted as being a 18guru. 19
What is incredible about this book with hindsight and upon reflection is how accurate its forecasts were. Handy is not a prophet and has large amounts of soul but this intelligent series of connected thoughts are almost visionary. The one thing I like about his views is that the corporate world is their to serve us and not the other way round. It is a great shame more men of business do not share the same ethics.
Guru is a Hindu word for a spiritual leader. It strikes me as daft to suggest men on the business world can be classed the same but there are those that do. Charles Handy is among those universally accepted as being a 18guru. 19
What is incredible about this book with hindsight and upon reflection is how accurate its forecasts were. Handy is not a prophet and has large amounts of soul but this intelligent series of connected thoughts are almost visionary. The one thing I like about his views is that the corporate world is their to serve us and not the other way round. It is a great shame more men of business do not share the same ethics.
March 8, 2021
Prescient and optimistic book. Interesting take (from 1994) what (fundamentals of) life and work should look like
Summary:
https://twitter.com/wilte/status/1361...
Summary:
https://twitter.com/wilte/status/1361...
June 28, 2021
The book told about the many contrasted sides of life: the paradox of intelligence, the paradox of work, productivity, of time (some have more time than they know what to do with, while others have too little time to do all they want to do!), of riches, of organizations, of age, of individual, of justice and how to deal with that. Paradox confuses us because we are asked to live with contradictions and with simultaneous opposites but with only our limited resources. The society was torn apart even after 30 years this book has been published and more people feeling lost than ever included myself. The book did not solve my problem for sure but did give me some food for thoughts or maybe some pathways to solve my things.
I will recommend other readers to check more on The Sigmoid curve (fix before it hits), The Doughnut principle (find the balance what we have to do, what we could do or what could be) - it includes both commitment but also flexibility. The third principle in the book is the Chinese contract - it was about the importance of compromise as a prerequisite of progress, both sides have to concede for both to win. Another one is the twin citizenship when one belongs to their small group but also they are in another bigger picture. Subsidiarity is another definition writer mentioned in the book - it could be like a knife - to much help could kill the child but without help the child will be suffer too. Give a child as much responsibility as she or he can handle and then help them to live up to it.
There was a part of the book that I loose interest that was about how to balance between the benefit of company and the community. It was a bored subject for me as I thought it was quite obvious so to be fair the writer did try his best make it more interesting and got me back. He would suggest going portfolio instead of sticking with one fulltime job. You should not be paid on how many hours that you could finish the job but based on the result of your job. You work smarter not longer. He divided work into paid work, gift work, home work and study work. Unfortunately we spent much more time than in paid work and home work than what are more meaningful like gift work and study work.
Another interesting point was about the 4 Ages of one individual life: that would include the First Age (the time you prepare for life and work like education....), the second Age (time when you do paid work and homework), the Third Age (the time for second change to do something different in life), the Fourth Age (the age of dependency). I wasted my precious time on my first Age. I am at my second Age and could find the mundane of work and homework are a bit unbearable sometimes but using his definition on those Age I may prepare myself better for the Third Age. And it is never too late to invest on intelligence - the ones that could be in many forms: Factual intelligence, Analytical intelligence, linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, practical intelligence, physical intelligence, intuitive intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence. We should know what is our strength, which form of intelligence that we got then work based on that. And we also need a new scorecard on defining what is success. Success would not just be based on how much profit and cash you got per person or per country. I really like what he said in the book: "Money is like sugar, no point in hoarding it, it usually goes bad, or you have to make quite unnecessary cakes to use it up". It is so true based on the fact I usually ended up making more cake than I could eat with my "sugar".
My favorite part of the book was the last part: the 3 senses or how to make your life more meaningful! They are sense of continuity, sense of connection, sense of direction. "Society is indeed a contract...not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are to be born." (Edmund Burke about French revolution) and it is still very true till now,. We also need a community which is large enough to be a mixture and small enough to be visible to all of its habitants. Somewhat Covid drove us apart but kept us also closer together as a community (like mine - you could only go around 5kms where you are living so you need to make good with what you have by knowing your neighbors and your place better!). We also need a connection with a bigger and wider society both to keep us from failing asleep, and to make us feel part of something bigger. Someone could be a member of his company but also a member of his local chess club and a volunteer for a charity near home! I will also remember that phase: "Service to others is the rent we pat for our space on earth!" Hopefully I could pay my rent in full at the end. So instead of waiting on company, the community, or government to do this or that for us better we have to fashion our own direction in our own places.
"It is up to us to light our own small fires in the darkness!"
I will recommend other readers to check more on The Sigmoid curve (fix before it hits), The Doughnut principle (find the balance what we have to do, what we could do or what could be) - it includes both commitment but also flexibility. The third principle in the book is the Chinese contract - it was about the importance of compromise as a prerequisite of progress, both sides have to concede for both to win. Another one is the twin citizenship when one belongs to their small group but also they are in another bigger picture. Subsidiarity is another definition writer mentioned in the book - it could be like a knife - to much help could kill the child but without help the child will be suffer too. Give a child as much responsibility as she or he can handle and then help them to live up to it.
There was a part of the book that I loose interest that was about how to balance between the benefit of company and the community. It was a bored subject for me as I thought it was quite obvious so to be fair the writer did try his best make it more interesting and got me back. He would suggest going portfolio instead of sticking with one fulltime job. You should not be paid on how many hours that you could finish the job but based on the result of your job. You work smarter not longer. He divided work into paid work, gift work, home work and study work. Unfortunately we spent much more time than in paid work and home work than what are more meaningful like gift work and study work.
Another interesting point was about the 4 Ages of one individual life: that would include the First Age (the time you prepare for life and work like education....), the second Age (time when you do paid work and homework), the Third Age (the time for second change to do something different in life), the Fourth Age (the age of dependency). I wasted my precious time on my first Age. I am at my second Age and could find the mundane of work and homework are a bit unbearable sometimes but using his definition on those Age I may prepare myself better for the Third Age. And it is never too late to invest on intelligence - the ones that could be in many forms: Factual intelligence, Analytical intelligence, linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, practical intelligence, physical intelligence, intuitive intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence. We should know what is our strength, which form of intelligence that we got then work based on that. And we also need a new scorecard on defining what is success. Success would not just be based on how much profit and cash you got per person or per country. I really like what he said in the book: "Money is like sugar, no point in hoarding it, it usually goes bad, or you have to make quite unnecessary cakes to use it up". It is so true based on the fact I usually ended up making more cake than I could eat with my "sugar".
My favorite part of the book was the last part: the 3 senses or how to make your life more meaningful! They are sense of continuity, sense of connection, sense of direction. "Society is indeed a contract...not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are to be born." (Edmund Burke about French revolution) and it is still very true till now,. We also need a community which is large enough to be a mixture and small enough to be visible to all of its habitants. Somewhat Covid drove us apart but kept us also closer together as a community (like mine - you could only go around 5kms where you are living so you need to make good with what you have by knowing your neighbors and your place better!). We also need a connection with a bigger and wider society both to keep us from failing asleep, and to make us feel part of something bigger. Someone could be a member of his company but also a member of his local chess club and a volunteer for a charity near home! I will also remember that phase: "Service to others is the rent we pat for our space on earth!" Hopefully I could pay my rent in full at the end. So instead of waiting on company, the community, or government to do this or that for us better we have to fashion our own direction in our own places.
"It is up to us to light our own small fires in the darkness!"
October 21, 2022
Even though this is nearly 30 years old it still has relevance for todays world. What is does show is that capitalism is not the silver bullet it was painted to be and that all progress has a cost. There is so much to offer us if we want a different future but we need leaders with vision to deliver it
June 10, 2024
Wow! What a prescient book. Handy describes in detail in 1995 the complexities and paradoxes of the world and how to navigate them. He makes the first mention of a "portfolio career" and outlines how both the individual and organisation can embrace a doughnut approach to life. Full of useful ideas and frameworks, this book truly stands the test of time.
September 13, 2020
I picked this up as it was in my house foe about 10 years, for a book about business it actually aged really well. Still pertinent to today.
January 5, 2022
Way ahead of its time with his predictions
March 16, 2022
It was surprisingly a very good book. Considering it was written in 1992, it reads as if it just came out yesterday.
May 5, 2022
Written in 1994, it is amazing how applicable it is TODAY! The future he predicts is happening now - both in business and life. There is so much useful information in these pages - Sigmoid Curve, the Donut, Chinese Contract, Paradoxes - any of which is useful and combined is a masterclass. This is a solid recommendation for young, old, and in-between - fantastic book.
April 15, 2012
My father passed a load of Handy books to me when I finished my post grad 3 years ago and was staring into the joyous abyss to employment in a recession. I took them up and popped them on a shelf to gather dust until I could face his business texts.
However, having today delved into his oevre I feel that I have indeed missed out. Although Handy's work here suffers from being written and published in 1994, way before the internet and current recession, the points he makes are important. The choice between achieving and just making money, how to strike the right balance, how to be true to yourself and a company are important, especially in such a time of uncertainty.
The ideas on portfolios I notice are now gaining airtime and as one who has been working two jobs since she graduated I hope that will give me a shoe-in, but quake in the knowledge that 1,000's may still have to be spent to fill up my portfolio with the right things. However, Handy uses the point to illustrate clearly how we have to offer and diversify to survive.
So a good read indeed. Am now off to read the rest of his oevre.
However, having today delved into his oevre I feel that I have indeed missed out. Although Handy's work here suffers from being written and published in 1994, way before the internet and current recession, the points he makes are important. The choice between achieving and just making money, how to strike the right balance, how to be true to yourself and a company are important, especially in such a time of uncertainty.
The ideas on portfolios I notice are now gaining airtime and as one who has been working two jobs since she graduated I hope that will give me a shoe-in, but quake in the knowledge that 1,000's may still have to be spent to fill up my portfolio with the right things. However, Handy uses the point to illustrate clearly how we have to offer and diversify to survive.
So a good read indeed. Am now off to read the rest of his oevre.
July 26, 2014
Wat is er veranderd in de laatste 20 jaar, en hoe gaan we hier mee om? Hoe vinden we zekerheid in een wereld waar alles constant zichzelf opnieuw uitvindt?
Bewust of onbewust was ik reeds bezig met alles, wat in dit boek staat. persoonlijk of in functie van de bedrijven die ik help.
Dat dit boek 20 jaar geleden zo helder en vooruitziend geschreven is maakt het een meesterwerk. Anderzijds zijn de vele gedateerde voorbeelden ondertussen achterhaald.
Tijd voor een 'essentie/résumé van' ipv het volledige boek? Misschien wel, al zal ik mij niet beklagen dat ik het las.
Bewust of onbewust was ik reeds bezig met alles, wat in dit boek staat. persoonlijk of in functie van de bedrijven die ik help.
Dat dit boek 20 jaar geleden zo helder en vooruitziend geschreven is maakt het een meesterwerk. Anderzijds zijn de vele gedateerde voorbeelden ondertussen achterhaald.
Tijd voor een 'essentie/résumé van' ipv het volledige boek? Misschien wel, al zal ik mij niet beklagen dat ik het las.
June 13, 2018
Charles Handy is a visionary, no mistaking that.
This book is nearly 30 years old, but his predictions are spot on. The 9 Paradoxes which he has documented are absolutely lucid in explanation and applicability then as well as now, particularly in India. This is a must read for all students of management, systems thinking.
This book is nearly 30 years old, but his predictions are spot on. The 9 Paradoxes which he has documented are absolutely lucid in explanation and applicability then as well as now, particularly in India. This is a must read for all students of management, systems thinking.
March 5, 2014
Very interesting, started reading this for a leadership course and carried on because it really opens your eyes to why some of the corporations and governments do things as well as also applying both to work and personal live for all of us in the future
June 5, 2013
Still very valid today.
April 26, 2016
Every successful person in midlife should read Charles Handy and particularly this book. Left a profound impact on me. Thank you Mr. Handy!
December 16, 2016
A great book that helped me to shape some of my early views on economic growth. Well written and quite visionary.
Read
October 14, 2016Location: GG5 IRC
Accession No: DL028544
Accession No: DL028544
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews