Myself and Other More Important Matters

Charles B. Handy

AMACOM, 2008 - Business economists - 213 pages

The book was selected as one of STRATEGY + BUSINESS Best Business Books of 2008. The book was also selected by Leadershipnow.com as one of The Best Leadership Books of 2008. One of the worlds most influential living management thinkers, Charles Handy has year-after-year been listed alongside business gurus including Peter Drucker and Tom Peters in the prestigious Thinkers 50 list. His views on management and life have inspired and enlightened others for decades. Now, in Myself and Other More Important Matters, the bestselling author of books including The Age of Unreason shares his special brand of wisdom, giving readers uncommon insight into business and careers...as well as the choices we all have to make in our lives. Handy draws on the lessons of his own experience to help readers move beyond the facts they learned in business school and reflect on their own individual management style. With the philosophical elegance and eloquence Warren Bennis has described as his trademark, Handy discusses how one should develop ones career goals in line with personal values and sense of ethics. Handy entertainingly recounts what hes discovered along his own international journey: from lessons his father taught him growing up in Ireland to what he learned in Borneo in his days working for Royal Dutch Shell to Italy, where he bought and fixed up an old house in Tuscany all the way to America, where recent corporate scandals have shaken our understanding of what is ethical and acceptable. Throughout the book, Handy asks us to look at the role of work in our life, and what we truly find fulfilling. It is hard to imagine a better or wiser guide to work and lifes big questions.

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - uryjm - LibraryThing

An introspective and reflective Handy offers an analysis of his life and works, giving subtle pointers to where he thinks he might have been right and where he thinks perhaps he was less so ...

Contents

• Are You Sure?: 11
• Irish Beginnings: 12
• Greek Wisdom: 22
• Borneo Lessons: 32
• The Golden Seeds: 44
• Schools for Business: 57
• The Antigone Challenge: 69
• My Fathers Death: 80
• Home Is a Castle: 89
• St Michael and St George: 102
• A Portfolio Life: 117
• The Property Business: 133
• Kitchens and Studies: 144
• Kennels for Kids: 155
• Family Matters: 168
• Guru Times: 179
• Travels with a Microphone: 194
• A Seventieth Birthday: 203

About the author

Charles Handy was born in Kildare, Ireland, in 1932, and was for many years a professor at the London Business School. From 1977 to 1981, Handy served as warden of the St. George's House in Windsor Castle, a private conference and study center concerned with ethics and values in society. He is now an independent writer and broadcaster who describes himself, these days, as a social philosopher. Other books by Handy include Waiting for the Mountain to Move, Beyond Certainty, and The Hungry Spirit.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Myself and Other More Important Matters
• Author: Charles B. Handy
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: AMACOM, 2008
• ISBN: 0814401732, 9780814401736
• Length: 213 pages