Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A critical treatise which predicts life and business in the 1990s, this volume argues that in order to profit more from business in the late 20th century readers must overturn traditional ideas of education, career and management. It also conveys a vision of new discoveries and freedoms.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Handy, a British specialist in organizational management, predicts that the 21st century will be the Age of Unreason. In an era when changes in business and society will be ``discontinuous'' or patternless, he suggests that our thinking must become discontinuous or ``unreasonable'' in order to use such changes to our advantage. While his thesis is generally in line with strategists like Tom Peters ( In Search of Excellence, LJ 2/15/83), Handy focuses more on the philosophy, rather than the mechanics, of adaptive change in society. His examples from the business world are interestingly extended to social institutions like marriage and family. Nicely written, this should be popular with open-minded management types. A good addition to management collections.--Mark L. Shelton, Columbus, Ohio (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

A thoughtful, wide-ranging, and provocative pitch for more adaptive responses to the convulsive events that have overtaken the industrial West. Handy is a British consultant who accepts the Shavian credo that ""all progress depends on the unreasonable man."" Noting that socioeconomic change no longer proceeds at a stately, predictable pace but in discontinuous spurts, Handy concludes that individuals as well as business, educational, government, and allied institutions would be well advised to reexamine, or, better yet, challenge conventional wisdoms. For openers, he commends creative upside-down thinking, i.e., viewing employment, leisure, even marriage in new ways. Among a wealth of offbeat elements in Handy's unorthodox canon are fresh organizational forms--federal, shamrock, triple I (for ideas, information, and intelligence)--that, he's convinced, commercial corporations, hospitals, schools, and other hierarchies must assess if they are to remain viable. Along similar lines, the author submits that increasing numbers of people need not commit their working lives to a single enterprise or profession. Instead, he points out, they may structure varied portfolio-like careers affording a good deal more than financial rewards. Fraternity would be the tie that hinds those discomfited by liberty and equality in the brave new world Handy envisions. Underlying his loftier flights of fancy, though, are down-to-earth (if arresting) proposals that could accelerate trends already in evidence. Cases in point include encouragement of so-called byline occupations, giving all adults three years' worth of college-tuition credits that they could cash in at any time during their lives, ""informating"" rather than automating means of production, developing a national income scheme, and greater emphasis on private contracting of public works or services. A humane, imaginative, and ingratiating approach to the typically dismal art of futurism. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

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.