The Empty Raincoat by Charles Handy

The Empty Raincoat by Charles Handy 此書有漢譯

空椅/ 空雨衣

A Review

The Empty Raincoat

by Charles Handy

Hutchinson Business, 1994

Many people could be forgiven for believing that the end of communism was validated the rise and rise of capitalism. However, in capitalist societies, it is becoming more apparent that economic progress has come with a heavy price. While champions of capitalism extol its virtues of increased freedom and choice, for many these new freedoms have meant less equality and consequently more misery. It seems that success - both professional and economic - comes with a disproportionate cost attached, not necessarily for the wealthy few but certainly for the remainder of society. According to Charles Handy this is one of the greatest paradoxes of our time.

His book, The Empty Raincoat, addresses this issue along with other paradoxes that, he says, we must begin to face and manage. "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", he writes. "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, who has previously worked as an oil executive, an economist and a professor, begins his book by offering a criticism of his past work, The Age of Unreason, which predicted a positive reshaping of the working world wherein there would be greater freedom and flexibility for people to make things happen, rather than waiting for them to happen. While his predictions have increasingly become a reality, what Handy did not foresee - by his own admission - are the confusions and complications that have since arisen from this workplace evolution. Thus, The Empty Raincoat. Life, says Handy, is full of paradox. Not everything can be understood, predicted or explained in full. One of the greatest paradoxes is the concept of choice. The freedom to choose for ourselves means that we have the ability to choose unwisely or wrongly. It is our challenge to manage the unavoidable paradoxes in our life, rather than strive for an impossible capitalist utopia based on individual material possessions. Using colourful examples and analogies, the book offers a framework for the future of work and life in general. For organisations and individuals one of the first steps to change is the realisation that business and personal security is not about land and buildings, but about knowledge. Handy argues that 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. Handy makes the analogy that where in the past an organisation was like a castle, it will become more like a condominium: "an association of temporary residents gathered together for their mutual convenience". It will be like a "virtual corporation" with a collection of permanent and temporary project groups existing more in a computer than in a set of shared offices. Work structures will be more about developing networks than honouring hierarchies and accepting responsibility not just blindly fulfilling core duties. The Empty Raincoat still offers a timely warning that the world is changing and that we must first accept this and second aid in its reinvention. While work will always be central to our lives, we must redefine what we mean by work but also understand that our responsibilities do not end there. No one wants to see the world crumble and Handy points out that it is not up to governments alone to oversee changes that will benefit all. Handy says that, "like dogs, if we are well fed we are content". However, contentment and complacency have no place in a world where inequality and despair are rife. Success and vision can no longer be about our individual "empty raincoat" struggle for profit and material gain. If we do not help each other then we most certainly cannot help ourselves.

"奥斯陆空椅子后一年"

[哈維爾] 12月11日，亞洲人權圓桌會議在布拉格舉行。會議由捷克前總統哈維爾倡議舉行。達賴喇嘛、伊朗人權律師伊巴迪、旅美民主人士楊建利等人在會上發言。會議也藉"人權日"之際，紀念劉曉波獲諾貝爾和平獎一周年。