"Handy writes with the eloquence of simplicity and his gift to us is an enjoyable, profound, and reliable guide toward meaning and direction."--Max De Pree, author of Leading without Power and chairman emeritus, Herman Miller Inc.

Charles Handy's reflections on work and life have earned him legions of fans throughout the world. His previous books have together sold over a million copies. And his "Thought for the Day" series on BBC radio is celebrated throughout the U.K. Now present and future fans in America can sample what his BBC listeners have enjoyed for so long. Waiting for the Mountain to Move includes the gifted commentator's best essays, culled from ten years of radio broadcasts. These succinct writings draw poignant lessons from everyday occurrences and cause us to examine our lives, our institutions, and our society in a different and revealing light.

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How many of our business leaders truly embody the change needed in the world of work and beyond? Not nearly enough. This book shows you how to reclaim your power to make a difference, by unleashing your inner maverick.

Organizations are where the world's most innovative and impactful talents lie; we have the ingenuity, the technology and the resources to change the world for the better. Discover how to awaken the maverick mindset in you; one that will question, debate and enhance. Mavericks are the key to answering some of the world' most pressing challenges; they don't settle for anything less, and neither should you. Mavericks shows you how being a maverick isn't about shooting from the hip and rocking the boat for the sake of it, it's about demanding better of yourself and your organization for the wider good.

In Mavericks, business consultants, London Business School faculty members and authors David Lewis and Jules Goddard guide you through the five characteristics that you can develop to become a maverick leader. From passionate belief, an undeterred attitude, being resourceful, being directional and finally experimenting, these characteristics are the blueprint for you to grow into an iconic and positive change maker. The focus is not on what becoming a leader can do for you, but on what you can do to make the world a better place.

From one of the world's most respected business and social philosophers, a groundbreaking book that challenges us to question our reliance on traditional definitions of "success" and inspires us to find meaning and fulfillment in our professional, personal and spiritual lives.

Many of us, Charles Handy asserts, are confused and frustrated by the fast-paced, prosperous world we have created for ourselves. We are puzzled by the consequences of capitalism, whose material benefits and comforts we enjoy every day, but which also divides rich from poor, consumes so much of our energies, and does not always lead to a more contented life. In a world that is super-efficient, highly productive, and too often soulless, how do we quench our spiritual "hunger"?

In The Hungry Spirit, one of the most visionary business thinkers of our age offers a powerful argument for reexamining the role of work in our lives and discovering what we are truly meant to do and to be. Calling on individuals and organizations to find purpose in the journey we take rather than focusing on money and profits, which are simply the means to keep us going, Handy shows how we can all better ourselves and our companies while also contributing to a decent society.

As an oil executive, world-renowned economist, consultant, and professor at the London Business School, Handy himself was once no stranger to the trappings and fortunes of capitalism. But several years ago, Handy realized that he, like many of us, had placed too much significance on job titles and career success to the exclusion of his family, friends, and, especially, the fulfillment of his need to become a complete person, not just a worker slaving away in corporate machinery. He set about looking for what he calls his "white stone"--a symbol of the higher self that represents our true destiny, what you can become when you don't let titles and money and societal pressures get in the way.

Just as Handy urges all of us to seek our "white stone" and take greater responsibility for shaping our lives, he also entreats companies and organizations to push themselves to new heights by sticking to a clear-cut purpose. Companies, like individuals, can only grow if they embrace risk and break rules and attract people looking to turn dreams and new ideas into businesses that consumers and investors are excited about. Rather than trying to rally coworkers around a quarterly profit goal, companies must treat employees as citizens, as well as behaving as corporate citizens within the wider community. Handy calls for corporations to take a greater role in upholding the moral structure of society and to use their power to distribute knowledge and wealth to those who need the opportunity to develop--which will one day benefit us all.

A rare combination of engaging storytelling, philosophical exploration, and down-to-earth wisdom, The Hungry Spirit offers readers a powerful tonic for the profit-driven lives we've prescribed for ourselves and an inspiring message of hope.


From the Hardcover edition.

The classic bestselling work from Britain’s pre-eminent management thinker

Are you on the way to Davy’s bar?

When is the moment to take the Sigmoid curve?

Do you know the Doughnut Principle?

What is a Chinese contract?

The changes which Charles Handy foresaw in The Age of Unreason are happening now. Endless growth makes for a candyfloss economy, and capitalism must be its own sternest critic. In this extraordinary, life-affirming book, Charles Handy reaches for a philosophy beyond the impersonal mechanics of business organisations, beyond material choices. He presents a powerful alternative vision, where life and work are regrounded in a natural sense of continuity, connection and purposeful 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.

Organizations are a part of everyday life, whether in schools, hospitals, police stations or commercial companies. In this classic 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. All organizations need to select, develop and reward their people; to structure and design their work; to resolve political conflicts; to lay down guidelines for their managers; and to plan for the future. In each case, the approaches and techniques described here (and the perspectives opened up by the detailed 'Guide to Further Study') will prove invaluable.

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.

FOURTH EDITION

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.

Charles Handy is perhaps best known outside the business world as a wise and warm presenter of Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day'. Long recognised as one of the world's leading business thinkers (over a million copies of his books have been sold around the world), in Myself and Other More Important Matters he leaves the management territory he has so effectively and influentially mapped in the past to explore the wider issues and dilemmas - both moral and creative - raised by the turning points of his long and successful life.Here he investigates the big issues of how life can best be lived as they have emerged from the unfolding of his life and his unique and influential understanding of what really matters. From supplying oil by boat to an area larger than England as a bullish young Shell executive in Borneo to realising that there was a big difference between describing the development of a 'portfolio' life (made up of a variety of activities for a range of purposes and pay) in theory and actually himself leaving behind full-time employment, from helping to start up the London and Open business schools to listening and talking to people all over the world about how they want to manage their lives, Handy's telling of his experiences proves both revealing and significant.

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.

Celebrated the world over for his gentle wit and keen insight into human behavior, Charles Handy is widely regarded as one of today's best social and business philosophers. This latest collection of Handy's work groups twenty-one of the revered BBC commentator's best essays on why organizations and the people in them behave the way they do. Beginning with "A World of Differences," which voices Handy's fresh take on diversity in the workplace, each essay is a bite-sized bit of humor and wisdom that sheds new light on what motivates people on the job. As useful as they are incisive, these twenty-one ideas should be heard by anyone seeking fresh perspectives on how better to manage themselves and others.

Available for sale in the U.S. and Canada only.

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.