Portfolio Life

Professor Charles Handy explained his Portfolio Life concept at an Institute meeting: 'What I am trying to do is evolve a lifestyle for myself. I looked into my concerns and activities, and one thing I did was to resign my full-time, tenured professorship. I created what I call 'a portfolio life', setting aside 100 days a year for making money, 100 days for writing, 50 days for what I consider good works, and 100 days for spending time with my wife.

'I created what I call 'a portfolio life', setting aside 100 days a year for making money, 100 days for writing, 50 days for what I consider good works, and 100 days for spending time with my wife'

'I mark these days out in my diary. When people phone and ask me to do something, I can then say, 'I'm terribly sorry, that's my day with my wife'. It is a freeing way of life. A 100 days a year for me is enough for making money, there is no point in making more; and I find I do as much work in 100 days as I used to in a year.

'If somebody asks what you do, and you can reply in one sentence, you're a failure. You should need half an hour'

'I go to a lot of management courses and try to turn these managers into portfolio people - 'don't just be a systems manager for IBM, don't be a one-dimensional character, become a portfolio person now'. I am trying to make such a lifestyle respectable for career people. If somebody asks what you do, and you can reply in one sentence, you're a failure. You should need half an hour.'

Jobs are continually going to get shorter in years, smaller in hours. More people will be self-employed or will be offered bits of jobs rather than full-time, lifetime jobs. Most of us, at some time in our lives, are going to find that our jobs no longer dominate our lives. We shall need to find a new organising principle.

If, rather than think of life as work and leisure, we think of it as a portfolio of activities - some of which we do for money, some for interest, some for pleasure, some for a cause - that way, we do not have to look for the occupation that miraculously combines job satisfaction, financial reward and pleasant friends all in one package. As with any portfolio we get different returns from different parts and if one fails the whole is not ruined.

Professor Charles Handy, 1 Fairhaven, 73 Putney Hill, London SW15 3NT (tel 081 788 1610).

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