21 Letters on Life and Its Challenges

One of our leading thinkers considers the challenges that life and the future hold for us

21 Letters details [Handy's] personal and professional experiences with simplicity and warmth

A real spikiness alongside his generosity of spirit and openness to new ideas. 21 Letters on Life and Its Challenges takes the form of lessons handed down to his grandchildren – interwoven with touching tributes to his wife. The great tactician is still thinking three hoops ahead.

Some of the octogenarian management thinker’s most thought-provoking ideas . . . about how to humanise business, soften capitalism, and live life better.

Charles Handy was a writer, broadcaster and teacher, as well as a former oil executive, an economist, a professor at the London Business School, the Warden of St. George's House in Windsor Castle and the chairman of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He was born in Co. Kildare in Ireland, the son of an archdeacon, and educated in Ireland, England (Oxford University) and the USA (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). His many books include The Empty Raincoat, Gods of Management, The Second Curve and 21 Letters.

Charles Handy is one of the giants of contemporary thought. His books on management – including Understanding Organizations and Gods of Management – have changed the way we view business. His work on broader issues and trends – such as Beyond Certainty and The Second Curve – has changed the way we view society. 
 
In his new book, Handy builds on a life's work to glimpse into the future and see what challenges and opportunities the next generation faces. How will people cope with change in a world where the old certainties no longer apply? What goals will and should they set themselves? How will they find purpose and fulfilment in their lives? Clear-eyed and optimistic by turns, he sets out the questions that everyone needs to ask themselves, and points us in the direction of the answers.

The New Philanthropists

Charles Handy's books have sold over a million copies worldwide - this remarkable book of photographs and words reveals the energy and inspiration of a new way of using wealth.

Charles Handy (Author) Charles Handy was a writer, broadcaster and teacher, as well as a former oil executive, an economist, a professor at the London Business School, the Warden of St. George's House in Windsor Castle and the chairman of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He was born in Co. Kildare in Ireland, the son of an archdeacon, and educated in Ireland, England (Oxford University) and the USA (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). His many books include The Empty Raincoat, Gods of Management, The Second Curve and 21 Letters. Elizabeth Handy (Photographer (ONIX)) Elizabeth Handy is a successful portrait photographer. She and her husband Charles live in London and Norfolk.

Who are the new philanthropists? And how is their philanthropy 'new'? 
 
In this remarkable and inspiring book, the eminent management writer Charles Handy and his wife Elizabeth, a portrait photographer, have collaborated to portray a new generation of practical philanthropists, men and women who have made their own fortunes and decided to move on from financial success to try to help those in need. They are doing so not simply by giving their money away to charities and agencies but by helping actively, working on the spot with the very people who need their aid, ensuring that the initiatives are sustainable in the longer term. 
 
As in their acclaimed The New Alchemists, the Handys have both interviewed and photographed their subjects in order to tell their inspiring stories; from the Sydney restaurateur Jeff Gambin, who personally helps to cook hot and cold menus for homeless people; to Niall Mellon, a young Irish property developer who is replacing the shacks with breeze-block homes in a South African township; and Sara Davenport, who sold her art gallery and set up the breast-cancer care centre the Haven Trust to offer integrated and holistic treatment and support. 
 
This striking book of words and photographs reveals the energy and inspiration of these new ways of using wealth, revealing the motivations and satisfactions of such direct action.

Thoughts on Reinventing Society

The Second Curve

The summation of a life's work, in which Handy considers what the future holds for society.

The bracing manifesto of a forward-looking radical ... The Second Curve successfully channels the energy and enthusiasm of the younger generation, in whom Handy places great hope ... Handy’s prescience over the decades has earned him the right to dabble and, given his record, you would not want to bet against some of his radical ideas coming true.

Gentle but incisive ... [Handy's] voice is a reassuring, challenging presence. We should continue to listen to it.

Strong and original... It is impossible not to be impressed and a little daunted by so much energy and wisdom.

Wise words, succinctly put – the work of a master.

Still full of insights into the ever-changing world of work... Challenging received opinion, as he has done for decades.

A fierce manifesto for radical political, corporate and social change.

In this book Handy encourages us to think differently about organisational structures. He presents engaging, cogent arguments about the organisations that we know today in sectors such as politics, education, business and how they will need to be very different in 20 years’ time.

Britain's leading guru looks to the future. 
 
Charles Handy is one of the giants of contemporary thought. His books on management – including Understanding Organizations and Gods of Management – have changed the way we view business. His work on broader issues and trends – such as Beyond Certainty – has changed the way we view society. 
 
In The Second Curve, Handy builds on a life's work to glimpse into the future and see what challenges and opportunities lie ahead. He looks at current trends in capitalism and asks whether it is a sustainable system. He explores the dangers of a society built on credit. He challenges the myth that remorseless growth is essential. He even asks whether we should rethink our roles in life – as students, parents, workers and voters – and what the aims of an ideal society of the future should be. 
 
Provocative and thoughtful as ever, he sets out the questions we all need to ask ourselves – and points us in the direction of some of the answers.

Women at Sixty: A Celebration

Reinvented Lives

In photographs and word portraits, a selection of very different women reveal how it is possible to reinvent themselves at 60.

Charles Handy (Author) Charles Handy was a writer, broadcaster and teacher, as well as a former oil executive, an economist, a professor at the London Business School, the Warden of St. George's House in Windsor Castle and the chairman of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He was born in Co. Kildare in Ireland, the son of an archdeacon, and educated in Ireland, England (Oxford University) and the USA (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). His many books include The Empty Raincoat, Gods of Management, The Second Curve and 21 Letters. Elizabeth Handy (Author) Elizabeth Handy is a successful portrait photographer. She and her husband Charles live in London and Norfolk.

Twenty-eight women, ranging from Anita Roddick and Prue Leith to less well-known names, write their own personal stories which are accompanied by Elizabeth Handy's black and white photographs and an introductory essay by Charles Handy.   This generation of women is entering the sixties more healthy, more educated and more energetic than most of their mothers.    The subjects in this book provide the models for what has become, for the first time, a new age for many women.    Released from most of the cares and responsibilities that accompany midlife for women, they are free to reinvent themselves, to give more time to their career or calling, or to luxuriate in the serenity and friendships that few had time for in the past. Some enter new relationships, some start new careers or go back to study, some find that their work is only now reaching its peak. Many have survived traumas and tragedies, but 'the past is just the prologue' as one of them explains.

The New Alchemists

'Charles Handy brings originality and lightness to everything he touches' Management Today

A rich source of inspiration for anyone looking to create something that changes the world

It offers lessons for us all - policy makers and parents alike

The world needs new ideas, now products, new kinds of associations and institutions, new initiatives, new art and new designs. But these new things seldom come from established organisations. They come from individuals - the New Alchemists. What drives people to create something from nothing? Is it ambition, the need for self-fulfilment? Is it to do with money, power, or even genes? Is there a mood of the time that encourages people? Can anyone do it? Charles Handy has talked to a range of extraordinary characters - from Trevor Baylis and Richard Branson to Jane Tewson and Terence Conran. And Elizabeth Handy has used her new style of composite portraits to highlight aspects of all the different alchemists in their particular environments. The New Alchemists is a fascinating and inspirational investigation into the creative and entrepreneurial process.

Understanding Organizations

The most important book on management and organizations for the past thirty years.

Charles Handy is now a writer and broadcaster, following careers as an economist, Professor at the London Business School and a consultant to a wide variety of organizations. He is widely regarded as the top 'businessguru' in the UK. UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONS was originally published in 1976. He lives in Norfolk and London (Putney).

Organizations are a part of everyday life, whether in schools, hospitals, police stations or commercial companies. In this classics text, Charles Handy argues that the key to successful organizations lies in a better understanding of the needs and motivations of the people within them. 
 
Understanding Organizations offers an extended 'dictionary' of the key concepts -- culture, motivations, leadership, role-playing, co-ordinating and consultation -- and then shows how this 'language' can help us find new solutions to familiar problems. Few management writers have been as consistently challenging and influential as Charles Handy. Firmly established as one of the core business texts, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in organizations and how to make them work better.

Charles Handy

Offers wit, wisdom and gratitude. […] Charles Handy’s 19th and last book is not his heftiest. But it may be, in some important respects, his weightiest. These final breaths of wisdom sacrifice little of Handy’s wit, charm and storytelling skill.

Rightly treasured as Charles Handy’s books are, his most important lesson may be his life. This collection of short reflections on life, work and people… reflects old age, but its spirit doesn’t. Handy’s later books are only indirectly about business… but paradoxically that is exactly why any business leader would profit from reading it. Sharp insights abound.

Reflections on How to Live a Long, Contented Life

Over a span of seven decades, Charles Handy was, variously, a businessman, a writer, a philanthropist and a philosopher. Not even a stroke as he approached the age of 90 dimmed his intellectual curiosity or his immense zest for life. 
 
In this, his final book, written from the vantage point of a contemplative old age and drawing on his articles for The Idler he shares his thoughts on the big questions with which we all grapple: 
 
What things really matter? 
What daily worries should we learn to treat as unimportant? 
How do we become more accepting of ourselves and of those around us? 
How do we discover purpose in our everyday existence? How do we cope with grief and loss? 
 
 
Drawing in part on his own experience, in part on the wisdom of others, he sets out the principles of enjoying a fulfilled and contented life, and gently points the way to the practicalities of achieving it.

Charles Handy

Praise for The View from Ninety

A guru

A wise and gentle commentator

Offers wit, wisdom and gratitude. […] Charles Handy’s 19th and last book is not his heftiest. But it may be, in some important respects, his weightiest. These final breaths of wisdom sacrifice little of Handy’s wit, ...

A guru

A wise and gentle commentator

Offers wit, wisdom and gratitude. […] Charles Handy’s 19th and last book is not his heftiest. But it may be, in some important respects, his weightiest. These final breaths of wisdom sacrifice little of Handy’s wit, ...

A guru

A wise and gentle commentator

Offers wit, wisdom and gratitude. […] Charles Handy’s 19th and last book is not his heftiest. But it may be, in some important respects, his weightiest. These final breaths of wisdom sacrifice little of Handy’s wit, ...

Books by Charles Handy

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