@HRCERTAIN
Human Resources and
The Little Prince:
Lessons for Tomorrow
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We can borrow insights from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s
beloved novella.
By Rubens Pessanha Filho, PMP, GPHR, SPHR, HRMP, MBA
T
o create tomorrow, a person must
live in the present but also be
mindful of the past. According
to William Duggan’s, Creative Strategy: A
Guide for Innovation, much of what will
become disruptive innovation is in fact
a new combination of old elements.
Being contemporary is about trying new
connections of old ideas.
This article focuses on how old ideas
continue to provide lessons on life. By
combining old elements from The Little
Prince, I have compiled some insights and
ideas that might help the HR profession
moving forward. I look at Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry’s book through an HR lens.
The Little Prince was first published in 1943
and has been translated into more than
250 languages. More than 140 million
50 CERTIFIED
2014: Volume I
copies have been sold worldwide, making
it one of the best-selling books ever
published.
I synthesize lessons from selected
book passages an [Y\