Charles Handy article on the importance of trusting coworkers and loved ones enough to accept criticism, and to be honest with one's self and live life true to one's self. Handy begins the article discussing the play, Art, and how it has been playing to packed London houses for over a year. After describing the play, Handy then wonders why the truth can cause so much damage in relationships, and how much truth people can really withstand from friends, colleagues, and/or superiors. Such concerns, he notes, lie at the heart of our relationships, because relationships based on false impressions are unlikely to result in good work or happiness. If opinions are disliked, it is considered easy to deny their validity or to devalue the source of it, rather than accept them. Handy then moves on to talk about how people can accept criticism from those whom they trust, but that in more economical relationships, where the task dominates, people’s truthful commentary is limited to the mutual tasks to be completed. He states that truth becomes more important when the relationship is more generally defined or when the relationship itself is the point. Handy concludes his analysis stating how shared tasks and conventions allow people to work and live together but can also shield them from the truth about themselves, concluding that the most difficult task of all is to be true to oneself.
Handy, Charles B Management today series Friendship Criticism Truth Handy, Elizabeth Press Association (Great Britain) Honesty
Source
Charles Handy article on the importance of trusting coworkers and loved ones enough to accept criticism, and to be honest with one's self and live life true to one's self, 1998; Charles Handy Papers; Box 20, Folder 14; 1 page
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