- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; New edition edition (1 Jan 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0875847633
- ISBN-13: 978-0875847634
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 12.8 x 1.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,575,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
From the bestselling author of The Age of Unreason and The Age of Paradox comes an exhilarating collection of 35 timeless essays, including Handy's change-making articles from the Harvard Business Review and Director magazine. One of the foremost social philosophers of our times shares his reflections on a changing world, a world in which we can be certain only of uncertainty. To plan for the future in such an environment, says Charles Handy, we must learn to think differently. Beyond Certainty is a book to dip into, enjoy, and share with colleagues and friends. Also available in hardcover; ISBN 0875846718, $19.95.
About the Author
Charles Handy is an author and broadcaster living in London. He is a Fellow at the London Business School where he was a professor for many years. His books have sold over one million copies around the world. He has been, in his time, an oil executive, a business economist, a professor, and Chairman of the Royal Society of Arts.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
These past ten years have changed a lot of things. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
These past ten years have changed a lot of things. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The certainty of the 1980's was gone and confusion reigned, in business, in government, and in all parts of the world. Even science started to examine Chaos, Creativity, and Complexity. Organizations must outgrow the ideas with which they grew up with. Everything would not be a given and the world became a void to be filled.
Drawing the parallel between today's world with the Renaissance, Handy warned of the paradoxical nature of organizations. Freedom of choice for all demands civic responsibilities. Global competition consolidated management structures. Efficient organizations implied the diminishing of jobs. Higher demands imposed on the remaining staff left no time for families or friends. Women were edged out of the business because of their diverse obligations.
He compared the use of the media and information technologies with the printing press in the Renaissance. The media created opportunities for many and yet became a great threat for all. He reminded organization leaders to restore the "cultivation" mandate of Adam Smith as a balance to wealth-making. He called for community building rather than property generation as corporate goals.
The future workers, whom he coined "portfolio people," would not work for jobs. In contrast, they would develop sets of skill and service and find customers for them. Self-learning and self-management abilities would be the asset to survive the new business world.
Handy's book is timely and insightful on the ever changing world that affects business organizations. Beyond Certainty contains many seed ideas of his earlier books The Age of Unreason, The Age of Paradox and Understanding Organizations. Charles Handy's thoughts represent the finest of business writings by the Western world.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I keep going back to re-read sections of this book after having purchased it 2 years ago ...
even the sections I once disagreed with are
coming true in my own life with prophetic
clarity.
I wish Mr. Handy would rewrite this book once
a year so I could keep up with his new insights.
For me this book was better than the Age of Unreason. Throw away every other management fab gibberish book ... this one's the real thing.
I've leant it to freinds who also agree this is
an exceptionally unusual book.
even the sections I once disagreed with are
coming true in my own life with prophetic
clarity.
I wish Mr. Handy would rewrite this book once
a year so I could keep up with his new insights.
For me this book was better than the Age of Unreason. Throw away every other management fab gibberish book ... this one's the real thing.
I've leant it to freinds who also agree this is
an exceptionally unusual book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Envisioning Leadership Quality for A Changing World
14 July 1997
Format:Hardcover
The certainty of the 1980's was gone and confusion reigned, in business, in government, and in all parts of the world. Even science started to examine Chaos, Creativity, and Complexity. Organizations must outgrow the ideas with which they grew up with. Everything would not be a given and the world became a void to be filled.
Drawing the parallel between today's world with the Renaissance, Handy warned of the paradoxical nature of organizations. Freedom of choice for all demands civic responsibilities. Global competition consolidated management structures. Efficient organizations implied the diminishing of jobs. Higher demands imposed on the remaining staff left no time for families or friends. Women were edged out of the business because of their diverse obligations.
He compared the use of the media and information technologies with the printing press in the Renaissance. The media created opportunities for many and yet became a great threat for all. He reminded organization leaders to restore the "cultivation" mandate of Adam Smith as a balance to wealth-making. He called for community building rather than property generation as corporate goals.
The future workers, whom he coined "portfolio people," would not work for jobs. In contrast, they would develop sets of skill and service and find customers for them. Self-learning and self-management abilities would be the asset to survive the new business world.
Handy's book is timely and insightful on the ever changing world that affects business organizations. Beyond Certainty contains many seed ideas of his earlier books The Age of Unreason, The Age of Paradox and Understanding Organizations. Charles Handy's thoughts represent the finest of business writings by the Western world.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Good lord, what a muddled thinker
31 Aug 2001
Format:Paperback
I'm sorry, I tried to read the whole book, but I just couldn't get through more than half of it. I read a lot of books, maybe 2-3 per week and in my whole life there are less than 10 books I was unable to finish.
Why did I find this book so hard to read? It wasn't because it was dense. It wasn't because it was radical. It wasn't even because it was boring. It was because it said nothing. It is full of platitudes, like "there are always unintended consequences to rational policies." Well, my gosh, how earthshattering. And the author has an annoying habit of using news factoids (in its original definition--i.e., untrue statements that people think are true because they appeared in a newspaper once) as evidence for his meandering pseudophilosophical discourse. Net: there is nothing in this book you didn't already know.
I don't know if I'm being overly harsh, because a lot of people read him and like him. I have tried really hard to figure it out, and I can't. This book reminds me somewhat of "Lives of a Cell" which is another book I couldn't figure out. All I could think while reading either of these books is "is it just me or isn't everything the author is saying blindingly obvious, except he's just saying things in a very muddled way?"
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A One of A Kind Treasure Chest of the Future!
15 Oct 1997
Format:Hardcover
I keep going back to re-read sections of this book after having purchased it 2 years ago ...
even the sections I once disagreed with are
coming true in my own life with prophetic
clarity.
I wish Mr. Handy would rewrite this book once
a year so I could keep up with his new insights.
For me this book was better than the Age of Unreason. Throw away every other management fab gibberish book ... this one's the real thing.
I've leant it to freinds who also agree this is
an exceptionally unusual book.
even the sections I once disagreed with are
coming true in my own life with prophetic
clarity.
I wish Mr. Handy would rewrite this book once
a year so I could keep up with his new insights.
For me this book was better than the Age of Unreason. Throw away every other management fab gibberish book ... this one's the real thing.
I've leant it to freinds who also agree this is
an exceptionally unusual book.
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