I’ve mentioned Charles Handy only a few times in my thought journey, maybe only a dozen times here on Psybertron, without spending much time specifically referencing or quoting his work. Together with Tom Peters and Peter Drucker I singled him / them out, in my 1988/91 Master’s Thesis, as a management writer beyond the changing fashions of the “airport bookstall” management texts. One of the people who got the quality of humanity in organisational processes and relationships, business or otherwise, or simply “cybernetics” in my preferred term. So together with my original humanist mentor, Jeff Turnell way back in 1979/80, part of the embedding of humanism in my own world-view.
He was of course, also a (Christian) lay-preacher, and his words of wisdom were spread as much through his BBC Radio 4 “Thought for the Day” contributions – particularly in that “driving the kids to school” period of life – as through his “management” writing and teaching.
A given, part of the fabric, my constitution, where I rarely feel the need to mention the sources, and in fact I had barely noticed his work continued during the 21st century. But credit where it is due.
Wisdom is one of those words gradually re-establishing its value, after decades of pillorying by the “scientistic”, the so-called “critical thinkers” as woolly and ill-defined. And I notice several people using it in their own reflections on working with Charles Handy. Just a few examples:
Here someone on LinkedIn who saw him as a mentor,
Here another LinkedIn thread.
And here the FT Obituary that started the above thread.
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Previously:
The (2005) Pirsig paper that effectively set the agenda for Psybertron.
Wisdom as “more than” Science.
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- First formal attempt for one “Skeptic” audience.
- Notes of a piece of a work-progress writing for ISSS audience.
- Ongoing dialogue with Dave Snowden, latest instalment.
The search result for all references throughout Psybertron.
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