Irish economist (1932–2024)
Charles Brian Handy, CBE (25 July 1932 – 13 December 2024) was an Irish author and philosopher who specialised in organisational behaviour 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.
Background.
Born the son of a Church of Ireland archdeacon in Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, Handy was educated as a boarder at Bromsgrove School and Oriel College, Oxford.
Career.
Handy's business career started in marketing at Shell plc. He left Shell to teach at the London Business School in 1972 and spent a year in Boston observing the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's way of teaching business.
He was:
Handy was the chairman of the Royal Society of Arts from 1987 to 1989 and was instrumental in persuading Mark Goyder to join which led to the Tomorrow's Company inquiry.
Handy had honorary doctorates from Bristol Polytechnic (now the University of the West of England), UEA, Essex, Durham, Queen's University Belfast and the University of Dublin. He was an honorary fellow of St Mary's College, Twickenham, the Institute of Education City and Guilds and Oriel College, Oxford. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours "for services to Personnel Management Education and Practice."
At the time of his death, Handy had one book forthcoming, "The View from Ninety: Reflections on Living a Long, Contented Life", which is set for publication in June 2025.
Ideas and style.
A feel for Handy's style can be gained from the opening of his autobiography: "Some years ago I was helping my wife arrange an exhibit of her photographs of Indian tea gardens when I was approached by a man who had been looking at the pictures. 'I hear that Charles Handy is here,' he said. 'Indeed he is,' I replied, 'and I am he.' He looked at me rather dubiously for a moment, and then said, 'Are you sure?' It was, I told him, a good question because over time there had been many versions of Charles Handy, not all of which I was particularly proud."
Personal life and death.
He was married to Elizabeth Handy (née Hill), a photographer, with whom he collaborated on a number of books, including "The New Alchemists" and "A Journey through Tea". Elizabeth died in a car accident in England on 5 March 2018, at the age of 77. They had two children.
Handy died at his home in London on 13 December 2024, at the age of 92.
Books.
Handy was the author of the following books:
References.
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