After Dinner Speakers: Charles Handy, Ricki Lake, Ingrid Seward

Charles Handy was, for many years, a Professor at the London Business School. He is now an independent writer and broadcaster. He describes himself, as a social philosopher. Handy's main concern is the implication for society, and for the individuals, of the dramatic changes which technology and economics are bringing to the workplace and to all our lives. His books on these themes, which he started writing in 1975, have sold well over a million copies around the world in all the principal languages. He is known to many in Britain for his 'Thoughts for Today' on BBC's Radio Today programme and, in a recent survey commissioned by FTdynamo.com was voted the world's second most influential management guru. Handy worked for Shell International as a marketing executive, economist and management educator, in South East Asia and London before entering the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1967, he returned to England to design and manage the only Sloan programme outside the United States, at Britain's first Graduate Business School, in London. In 1972 Handy became a full Professor at the School, specialising in managerial psychology. He served as Warden of St George's House in Windsor Castle, a private conference and study centre concerned with ethics and values in society from 1977 to 1981. He was Chairman of the Royal Society of Arts. He holds honorary Doctorates or Fellowships from twelve British Universities and in 2000 he was appointed CBE. His books and articles include, The Elephant and the Flea, The Empty Raincoat, (The Age of Paradox in the U.S), a sequel to his earlier best selling book, The Age of Reason which was named by both Fortune and Business Week as one of the ten best business books of the year. Other titles include, Gods of Management, Understanding Organisations and articles for the Harvard Business Review, such as Balancing Corporate Power won the McKinsey Award in 1992 and his second article, Trust and the Virtual Organisation won the second McKinsey Award in 1995.