London Business School remembers beloved professor and colleague Charles Handy CBE

Charles Handy died peacefully at his home in London, surrounded by his children Kate, Scott and his grandchildren. Mr Handy was a renowned management thinker and co-founder of LBS, a trailblazer in the area of organisational behaviour and management, and a seminal contributor to its development as a field of study. He was well known for the ideas he advanced including the “portfolio career”.

One of the first professors of LBS (1967-1995), Mr Handy was the first dean of the School’s Sloan programme, a one-year course of study designed for experienced executives. He became a full professor at LBS, specialising in managerial psychology, in 1972.

Graduating from Oriel College, Oxford, with first-class honours in Greats, an intellectual study of classics, history, and philosophy, Mr Handy believed that people have to answer philosophical as well as economic questions.

Professor Sir Andrew Likierman, a former Dean of LBS, said that in addition to his management writings, Mr Handy was a huge influence on the development of the London Business School.

“As one of the first professors appointed to the School after its foundation in the mid-1960s, he was in charge of its fledgling MBA programme, at that time one of the first in the UK. As a contrast to the heavily quantitative emphasis of management education at that time, his emphasis was on the human side of management and leadership and this blend has stayed with the London Business School to this day. He also brought in the importance of interaction with practitioners as a balance of academics talking largely to other academics, again a balance which has remained an important feature of the School.

“His management writings were acknowledged to be pathbreaking and his accessible style and understanding of the way managers thought made his books read rather than bought. In this writing, he helped to establish a British influence to a field largely dominated by the United States. Finally, he was a valued colleague, ready with help and advice when consulted. He will be greatly missed by the many whose lives he touched and influenced.”

The present Dean of LBS, Sergei Guriev, said “We mourn the passing of one of the most important professors in the history of London Business School. It is with gratitude that we remember him and his significant contributions both to the School and to management philosophy worldwide.”

The Charles Handy Chair at LBS, established in 2014, is dedicated to the field of Organisational Behaviour. It aims to advance research and teaching in this area, focusing on understanding how organisations operate and evolve.