Article by Charles Handy on the differences in attitude, values, and lifestyle between America and Europe, and how the modern world needs the best of both to thrive. Handy begins the article emphasizing how a trip to Los Angeles reminded him that the United States is a rich country, but that the opportunity for everyone to become wealthy is no longer a reality, and America no longer alive with optimism. Instead, according to Handy, that sense of positivity has been replaced by a lingering uncertainty and fright due to the failures of the 1980s and the threat of war in the 1990s. What Handy anticipates happening is a new type of “more” emerging in the U.S., one that is not based in materialism and excess, being instead focused on more attention to purpose and a greater determination to choose a life, rather than a lifestyle. He then argues that Europe should borrow what is best in American practices and tradition, most notably the idea that all people are born equal and are responsible for their own path, as well as America’s time-honored frontier spirit. These, Handy says, should be combined with Europe’s own sense of history and sense of time, which does not value short-termism, alongside recognition that societies are remembered for how they spend their money, not how they earn it.
Handy, Charles B Turton, Sarah Harvard Business School Press Capitalism United States Europe Tradition Reagan, Ronald Gulf War Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Money Institute of Directors Shames, Lawrence
Source
Article by Charles Handy on the differences in attitudes, values, and lifestyles between America and Europe, and how the modern world needs the best of both to thrive, 1990; Charles Handy Papers; Box 20, Folder 3; 1 page
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