WAITING FOR MOUNTAIN TO MOVE

by Charles B. Handy

Charles Handy's reflections on work and life have earned him legions of fans throughout the world. Now Handy's fans in America - present and future - can sample what his BBC listeners have enjoyed for so long. Waiting for the Mountain to Move includes sixty-five of this gifted commentator's best essays, culled from ten years of radio broadcasts. Often scripted to fill the three-minute slots allotted those broadcasts, each essay is a brief but brilliant flash of wisdom and inspiration that illuminates and explores questions we all grapple with (or ought to) every working day. With titles including "Life Is Not a Dress Rehearsal," "Trust and the Plumber," and "Learning from Misdoing," these writings wring poignant lessons from common occurrences and cause us to examine our lives, our institutions, and our society in a different and revealing light. The essays - sometimes sober, sometimes humorous - touch on a wide range of subjects, but Handy's pervasive goal is to help others find meaning and purpose in life by bringing their selves and their work, their "being and doing", closer together.

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 1991

About the author

Charles 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.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Convinced me to retire on time to begin a new phase.

[Brian Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through his books, Charles Handy was one of my mentors in the '90's. The Age of Reason, The Age of Paradox, and Beyond Certainty were guideposts of my burgeoning career. Waiting of the Mountain consists of a series of essays written over time and published in 1999. I read it then with an eye on the future. With nearly twenty years of hindsight, I read it now to discover just how prophetic he was. Some of the essays could have been written yesterday, they were so prescient. A second chance at such wisdom is a wonderful thing.

[Fergal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly collected from BBC Radio 4’s ‘God Slot’ this is interesting but a bit too slight because of the initial format’s time restrictions. There is a very moving scene at his father’s funeral when Handy realises ex-pupils and parishioners have streamed back from abroad for a man he considered a parochial impecunious failure.