I’m always fascinated by the ebb and flow of fashionable ideas as represented in best-seller lists. And have just been rereading Charles Handy’s The Hungry Spirit – beyond capitalism, a quest for purpose in the modern world – which took some courage to publish in 1997.
This,
after all, was Britain’s top management thinker (if not guru) daring to suggest that there was something morally
questionable about the economic system - which was then in triumphalist mood
after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent implosion of the Soviet
Empire 2 years later.
It’s
true that the World Bank, for example, had started, with its World Development
Report of that same year, to row back the strong anti-State stance it had
taken just a few years earlier.
And Handy had impeccable credentials – he had worked for almost two decades years for the oil giant BP. And then moved to help set up the UK’s first School of Management – to prepare for which he took a year out to follow the Master’s programme at the prestigious Sloane School of Management at MIT in the US. Even during this time, he was starting to notice some problems in management practice which were brilliantly dissected in a later book by two highly experienced US managers called “The Puritan Gift”
I
thought it would be useful to try to situate “The Hungry Spirit in the wider
context of “best-sellers” of the period. Was its dissenting tone noticed? How did it compare with other management
writers such as Stephen Covey and Robert Quinn who also had strong ethical
concerns?
Interestingly,
the very next year Handy was one of the lead contributors in Rethinking the
Future ed Rowan Gibson (1998) which
included chapters from such leaders of management thought as Warren Bennis, Stephen
Covey, John Naisbitt, Peter Senge and Lester Thurow – the last of whom had
indeed just published “The Future
of Capitalism”
At the end of the day, I have to wonder, what impact did such writing actually have? Most of us – after the scandalous immorality of the 2001 Enron scandal followed by the global financial meltdown of 2008 – have become deeply sceptical of the possibilities of reform from within
I
was impressed with what I picked up from my reread of “The Hungry Spirit” –
particularly with Handy’s ability to put complex notions into simple words; and
to integrate important ideas naturally into the flow of the text.
The
book has three sections – the first (“Creaking Capitalism”) deals with the
limits of markets; when efficiency is ineffective; and what its good at.
The
Second section focuses on the individual (“A Life of our Own”), starting with
an analysis of “the age of personal sovereignty” and what he calls “proper selfishness”,
exploring the search for meaning and ending with the argument that “I needs to
be “we” to be “I”!.
The
final section (“The Search for a Decent Society”) follows those – like David Korten,
Paul Hirst, Will Hutton, John Kay, Paul Collier, Frederic Laloux
and Colin Mayer – who have argued for a “stakeholder” (or more German) concept
of the firm
One of the few criticisms I’ve come across of Charles Handy is here.
As
it happens, I keep a (running and annotated) bibliography about the global
economic crisis in the annex of one of my draft books which starts in the 1970s;
is reasonably up to date; and currently identifies almost 200 books. That may
sound a lot but that’s only about 4 a year – which means I have been a bit
selective! To make it easier, I’ve focused on the period between 1995 and 2003.
It gives a fascinating picture – although I’ve noticed it doesn’t cover the books directly aimed at business leaders!
I’ll be interested in what my readers make of it. One of the questions I’m certainly left with is that all this critical writing and exhortation doesn’t seem to have had much effect.
Key
Texts for 1995-2003
-
When Corporations Rule the
World;
David Korten (1995) the definitive critique of the modern American company which can be read in full
here.
-
“Everything for Sale –
the virtues and limits of markets” – Robert Kuttner (1996)
-
Short Circuit –
strengthening local economies in an unstable world” - Ronald Douthwaite
(1996). Very practical – but also inspirational….25 years on, it hasn’t really
been bettered
-
“The Future of Capitalism
– how today’s economic forced shape tomorrow’s world” – Lester Thurow (1996). Thurow
is another of these rare characters who can sniff changes in the wind
-
The Hungry Spirit – beyond
capitalism, a quest for purpose in the modern world; Charles Handy (1997) An
honest man, famed as a management guru, expresses his moral outrage at the
contemporary system
-
Political Economy of
Modern Capitalism – mapping convergence and diversity ed Colin Crouch and
Wolfgang Streeck (1997) an elegant, if academic, treatment of the varieties and
commonalities of the beast covering all European countries and the USA – with
contributions not only from the editors but Philip Cerny, Ronald Dore, Susan
Strange. One of the most serious collections
-
Stakeholder Capitalism; ed Kelly and A Gamble
(1997). For a brief moment in the mid 90s, the concept of “stakeholding” caught
the imagination of UK leftists before Tony Blair slammed the door shut on it.
-
From Statism to Pluralism
– democracy, civil society and global politics; Paul Hirst (1997) One of
the most articulate exponents of the idea of stakeholding
-
From Mondragon to America:
Experiments in Community Economic Development; Greg MacLeod (1997). A rare and very
useful-looking exposition.
-
The Ownership Solution-
toward a shared capitalism for the 21st Century; Jeff Gates (1998) This
is an important book of almost 400 pages which, sadly, gets forgotten because
its analysis and message is a moderate one. It satisfies neither the extremes
of the left nor of the right
-
The Trouble With
Capitalism – An Enquiry into the Causes of Global Economic Failure; Harry Shutt (1998) A
wide-ranging book to help the general reader put contemporary events in a
proper historical context - and to challenge what Shutt calls the “organised
indifference” which ruling interests try to encourage
-
Natural Capitalism – the
next industrial revolution; Paul Hawken (1999). A persuasive vision of how green
technology could revitalize capitalism….
-
The cancer stages of capitalism; John Mc Murtry (1999). A
much darker vision…..
-
“The Lugano Report: On Preserving Capitalism
in the Twenty-first Century” – Susan George (1999). A satirical piece which
forces us to think where present forces are taking us….
-
The Great Disruption –
human nature and the reconstitution of social order; Francis Fukuyama (1999)
An important book which passed me by until recently – it is a critique of the
loosening of our social fabric since 1965…..
-
Economics and Utopia – why
the learning economy is not the end of history; Geoff Hodgson (1999) a
clear and tough analysis by a top-class economic historian of why socialism
lost its way – and exploration of what it will take for it to restore its
energies. Not an easy read!
-
CyberMarx – cyles and
circuits of struggle in high technology capitalism; Nick Dyer-Witheford
(1999). It may be a PhD thesis – but it’s a great read…..
-
The New Spirit of
Capitalism;
L Boltanski and E Chiapello (1999). Surprising that others have not attempted
this critical analysis of managerial texts since they tell us so much about the
Zeitgeist…..these are mainly French (and a bit turgid)….The only similar
analyses I know are a couple of treatments of managerial gurus by Brits….
-
Capitalism and its
Economics – a critical History; Douglas Dowd (2000) Very readable bit of
economic history – from the 18th century
-
Anti-capitalism – theory
and practice;
Chris Harman (2000) A Trotskyist take….
-
Debunking Economics; Steve Keen (2001) a
fantastic and systematic taking apart of economists’ pretentious waffle – the first
really to challenge the basic structure of economics
-
Questions of Business Life; Higginson (2002) A
fascinating summary of the various critiques of the economic system written for
business leaders by the Dean of a seminary which organised seminars for them….
- Globalisation and its
Discontents;
Joseph Stiglitz (2002) is one of the best of its time on the subject -
exposing the emptiness of economics orthodoxy….
-
The Soul of Capitalism –
opening paths to a moral economy; William Greider (2003) covers cooperatives and
other options…
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