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Mastering a single
idea in this book justifies a reader's investment. Mastering
them all takes a lifetime.
Book
Review © Dr. Terry J. van der Werff, CMC |
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Charles Handy is one of the wisest writers on business
issues alive today. The hallmark of his writing is profound insight
memorably dispensed. Every paragraph enlightens and entertains, drawing
the reader along effortlessly. Hardly a page of
21 Ideas didn't cause me to think and to chuckle.
The subtitle says it all:
this book is chockerblock full of practical wisdom for managing your
company and yourself. Handy gives a name to each of his 21 ideas
- one chapter per idea - though the chapter title often gives little
clue to the idea itself, except in retrospect. He provides a helpful
two or three sentence summary of each idea at the start of the book.
"This book is about how to
get the most out of named individuals." It's first and foremost
aimed at the person seen in the mirror each morning. Mastering
these ideas will improve your effectiveness and your ability to lead
others. But before you can organize the work of others, you need
to know why people and organizations behave as they do.
"People are individuals, not
'hands' or 'human resources,' and need to be treated as such."
This may be the particular insight that tied the book together for me.
If I recognize each person's individuality, celebrate their differences,
and leverage their collective talents, we all succeed, learn,
and grow.
Some of Handy's asides struck me very close, some
painfully so, especially "The Sacred Contract." Instead of openly
discussing our desires and expectations with others, we assume
them and usually get them wrong. Ouch! I plead guilty, Your
Honor.
It may be hyperbole, but I cannot shake the feeling
that even after being a leader for almost two decades in three organizations
and running my own business for another decade, I learned more about
people's behavior from Handy's book, especially his pungent examples.
(It's even more sobering that I was only at page 28 when I drafted the
preceding sentence!)
How about another insight? We must learn to
let others do their jobs and not step in and do it for them, without
their permission, because we can do it better, faster, and cheaper.
Or the seven page "Inside-out
Donut," which is worth a year of grad school.
This is not a book to be read, but chapters to be absorbed, almost by
osmosis. Each idea stands on its own two feet. Each chapter
is tightly organized (appropriate for a book on organization!) with
wisdom and humor, examples and vignettes, and questions for thinking
and talking about. Each idea deserves to be savored slowly and
returned to frequently. If you are really serious, this book can
easily become your own professional development guide. By the
time I finished, it had become so for me.
"To understand is not enough; one must also make
it happen." And action takes courage, trust, and patience.
To you, my reader, I say, "Read. Understand. Do.
And don't ever use any of Handy's ten handy excuses."
If you are looking to reinvent
your life, recapture it, or simply rejuvenate it, look no further than
Charles Handy's 21 Ideas. If you master all the wisdom
in this book, call me: I'd like to work for you.
P.S. The cartoons
alone are worth the price of the book!
