The Elephant and the Flea : Reflections of a Reluctant Capitalist

In a tone that is at once learned, genial, witty, and wise, Handy takes us on his life's journey, looking back to such topics as his childhood and education and how they prepared (or, rather, did not prepare) him for a career in business; the changing nature of organizational life within the context of the old economy and the new; the great variety of capitalism around the world; and, through it all, his struggle to find meaning and fulfillment in work.

Handy uses the quirky, powerful metaphor of the elephant and the flea to describe and critique the great shift from the prevalence of behemoth, slow-moving, bureaucratic organizations that provided a lifetime of security and not much freedom or room for creativity, to a world in which we are much more independent and flea-like, flitting from job to job, latching onto elephants when we need to, but mostly flying solo and without safe havens.

This book is both a poignant personal memoir and a deep reflection on the past and future of world capitalism, with all its possibilities and pitfalls.

Contents

The foundations

• 1981 : to start in the middle
• Back to the beginning
• Scholls for an old world

• The old and new elephants
• The new or not-so-new economy
• The varieties of capitalism

• The problems of the portofolio life
• Chunking the work
• Chunking our lives
• Last thoughts
• Index