Charles Handy
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.
Also recorded as Charles Brian Handy
Charles Handy

einalem from Leeds · Charles and Elizabeth Handy Uploaded by Magnus Manske · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Charles Handy
- Birth Name
- Charles Brian Handy
- Born
- 25 July 1932
- Birthplace
- Clane, County Kildare, Ireland
- Died
- 13 December 2024
- Place of death
- London, England
- Nationality
- Ireland
- Occupation
- economist · writer · manager · teacher
- Fields
- management · educational system · organizational behavior studies · economics
- Education
- Oriel College · Bromsgrove School
- Honours
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire · honorary doctorate
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
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.
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- resolved
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1064743 · wikipedia · Charles Handy
In this article
Biography
Biography
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.
Charles Handy studied at Oriel College and Bromsgrove School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is management, educational system and organizational behavior studies. Employment is recorded with University of London and London Business School. Distinctions recorded are Commander of the Order of the British Empire and honorary doctorate.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Charles Handy • Honorific Suffix — CBE • Birth Name — Charles Brian Handy • Born — 25 July 1932 • Birthplace — Clane, County Kildare, Ireland • Died — 13 December 2024 • Place of death — London, England • Years Active — 1956–2024 • Children — 2
Background
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
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: • Marketing executive at Shell International Petroleum Company, from 1956 to 1965. • Economist at Charter International, from 1965 to 1966. • International Faculty Fellow at MIT, from 1966 to 1967. • London Business School, from 1967 to 1995 (professor from 1978 to 1994). • Warden at St George's House, Windsor Castle from 1977 to 1981. • Writer and broadcaster from 1981 to 2024; his death. 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 on 16 September 2025.
Ideas and style
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
Personal life and death
• Illustration — Handy (right) with his wife Elizabeth (left) in 2007 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.
Identity
Identity
Charles Handy is recorded as having received Commander of the Order of the British Empire and honorary doctorate. Career and activity. Handy worked in management, educational system, organizational behavior studies and economics. He was employed by University of London and London Business School.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1932
Charles Handy born at Clane.
2024
Charles Handy died at London.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Clane.
Birth place
London.
Death place
Books
Handy was the author of the following books: • Understanding Organisations (1976) –. • Gods of Management (1978) –. • The Future of Work (1984) • Understanding Schools (1986) • Understanding Voluntary Organisations (1988). • The Age of Unreason (1989) –. • Inside Organisations (1990) • The Empty Raincoat (1994) –. US printing under title The Age of Paradox (1994) –. • Waiting for the Mountain to Move (1995) • Beyond Certainty (1995) –. • The Hungry Spirit (1997) –. • New Alchemists (1999) –. • Thoughts for the Day (1999) –. – (first published in 1991 as Waiting for the Mountain to Move) • The Elephant and the Flea (2001) –. • A Journey through Tea – with Elizabeth Handy • Re-invented lives (2002) • Myself and Other More Important Matters (2006) – an autobiography and further reflections on life –. • The New Philanthropists (2006) • 21 Ideas for Managers (2000). • The Second Curve (2015).
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- CHARLES HANDY (1932), Fifty Key Figures in Management, 2003
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2003
- Work and organization: A profile of Charles Handy, European Management Journal, 1995
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1995
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1064743: Charles Handy
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Charles Handy”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Rifkin, Glenn. Charles Handy Dies at 92; Philosopher Envisioned Today's Corporate World. The New York Times. 13 December 2024.
- 2.Charles Handy. The Economist.
- 3.BBC. The Handy Guide to the Gurus of Management.
- 4.Thackray, Rachelle. Me and My Partner. The Independent. 30 June 1999.
- 5.55710. 30 December 1999.
- 6.Hill, Andrew. Charles Handy, management thinker and author, 1932-2024. Financial Times. 13 December 2024.
- 7.Handy, Charles (2006). Myself and Other More Important Matters – an autobiography and further reflections on life. p. 1. .
- 8.HANDY, Elizabeth : Death notice. The Irish Times Family Notices.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- Hesselbein, Frances; Cohen, Paul M. (eds.), Leader To Leader (Wiley, 1999). .
- Handy, Charles (2001). The Elephant and the Flea. .
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
CHARLES HANDY (1932), Fifty Key Figures in Management, 2003Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
Work and organization: A profile of Charles Handy, European Management Journal, 1995Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
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