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The Empty Raincoat; Making Sense of the Future Paperback – 1994

4.3 out of 5 stars 4 customer reviews

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Product Details

  • Paperback
  • Publisher: Arrow Books (1994)
  • ISBN-10: 0099301253
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099301257
  • ASIN: B002J3AD8A
  • Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,267,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Format: Paperback
This book is not new having been written nearly fifteen years ago. However the recent events in the financial markets reveal that its message remains remarkably relevant.

Handy begins by discussing how economic progress has been won at a high cost. The claimed increase in freedom and choice have meant less equality and more misery if not for the wealthy few, for the rest of society. One of many paradoxes that Handy explores. I particularly enjoyed his thoughts on how paying for jobs to be done, often destroys the jobs. His argument being that many worthwhile and valuable jobs simply become uneconomical once they are paid for, and thus disappear. It's certainly my belief that the willingness of someone to pay for something is a very poor measure of whether something is worth doing. Think of the care you lavish on your children or time spent on hobbies.

The title comes from his plea that people should not be reduced to being empty raincoats.
"We were not destined to be empty raincoats, nameless numbers on a payroll, role occupants, the raw material of economics or sociology, statistics in some government report",
"If that is to be its price, then economic progress is an empty promise." Handy believes that it is every individual's challenge to fill their empty raincoat. to make meaning in their life.

Handy argues that life is full of paradox and things simply can't be predicted or understood. The challenge of life is to manage paradox, not to accumulate possessions.
He argues that wealth should not be measured in property and land, but in terms of knowledge.

"The means of production" in the future will be owned by the workers because it will be based on their intelligence and know how - a difficult thing to gauge in financial terms alone.
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Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Clear insight into the realities of the world of work and the concept of "Me and Company" ie developing self with the idea of who will buy my knowledge, skill or product.
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Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
While an older title at this point, the discussion of life' paradoxes still applies. It is a foundation of a sort for contemporary organizational psychology.
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Format: Paperback
Stahted to by it. Had to chang info. Didnt eem by it.

Luk gud doe.
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