Why don't we teach our children in school what they are? We should say to them, 'You are unique... you have the capacity for anything. You are a marvel'. Charles Handy More Quotes by Charles Handy More Quotes From Charles Handy The companies that survive longest are the one's that work out what they uniquely can give to the world-not just growth or money but their excellence, their respect for others, or their ability to make people happy. Some call those things a soul. Charles Handy work-outgivingpeople To learn anything other than the stuff you find in books, you need to be able to experiment, to make mistakes, to accept feedback, and to try again. It doesn't matter whether you are learning to ride a bike or starting a new career, the cycle of experiment, feedback, and new experiment is always there. Charles Handy mistakemotivationalinspirational We cannot wait for great visions from great people, for they are in short supply. It is up to us to light our own small fires in the darkness. Charles Handy lightfireinspiring A leader shapes and shares a vision, which gives point to the work of others. Charles Handy visionleadergiving Change is only another word for growth, another synonym for learning. Charles Handy synonymgrowthchange The future is not inevitable. We can influence it, if we know what we want it to be. Charles Handy challengeswantinspire The best learning happens in real life with real problems and real people and not in classrooms. Charles Handy learningrealpeople The moment will arrive when you are comfortable with who you are, and what you are- bald or old or fat or poor, successful or struggling- when you don't feel the need to apologize for anything or to deny anything. To be comfortable in your own skin is the beginning of strength. Charles Handy strengthsuccessfulstruggle We are all prisoners of our past. It is hard to think of things except in the way we have always thought of them. But that solves no problems and seldom changes anything. Charles Handy waypastthinking You have to stand outside the box to see how the box can be re-designed. Charles Handy outside-the-boxboxesstanding-out Some of my unhappiest moments have been in organizations. Somehow it seems to be quite respectable to do things in organizations that you would never do in private life. I have had people insult me to my face in front of colleagues. I have had my feelings rammed down my throat on the pretext that it would do me good. I have been required to do things which I didn't agree with because the organization wished it... In my worst moments I have thought organizations were places designed to be run by sadists and staffed by masochists. Charles Handy worst-momentscommunicationrunning If there is one general law of communication it is that we never communicate as effectively as we think we do. Charles Handy communicationlawthinking Creativity needs a bit of untidiness. Make everything too neat and there is no room for experiment. Charles Handy creativitybusinessneeds In a knowledge economy, a good business is a community with a purpose, not a piece of property. Charles Handy piecescommunitypurpose A good team is a great place to be, exciting, stimulating, supportive, successful. A bad team is horrible, a sort of human prison. Charles Handy supportiveteamsuccessful Citizenship is the chance to make a difference to the place where you belong. Charles Handy making-a-differencedifferenceslife Creativity is born of chaos, even if it is somewhat difficult to glimpse the possibilities in the midst of the confusion. Charles Handy glimpsecreativityconfusion Life can only be understood backwards but you have to live it forward. You can only do that by stepping into uncertainty and by trying, within this uncertainty, to create your own islands of security....The new security will be a belief that ...if this doesn't work out you could do something else. You are your own security. Charles Handy work-outislandstrying I like less the story that a frog if put in cold water will not bestir itself if that water is heated up slowly and gradually and will in the end let itself be killed, boiled alive, too comfortable with continuity to realize that continuous change at some point may become intolerable and demand a change in behaviour. Charles Handy alivechangewater We learn by reflecting on what has happened. The process seldom works in reverse, although most educational processes assume that it does. We hope that we can teach people how to live before they live, or how to manage before they manage. Charles Handy learningeducationalpeople
