How Will You Measure Your Life?

How Will You Measure Your Life?  by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon, Harper 2012 Yes, THE Clayton Christensen of Harvard and The Innovator’s Dilemma was struck by the same illness that killed his Dad.  In three years’ time, he had survived cancer, a stroke and a massive heart attack.  And that cataclysmic period is the cause/beginnings/germination of this book.  While so many of us get hit with a disaster – the death of a child, a scary health crisis, or the loss of our retirement funds – once we get back on our feet, it’s so easy to forget the desolation and pain, feel extraordinarily lucky, and move on.  Just move on…. 

But Christensen decided to examine his life and to use that frank review of many other lives and companies – Madoff,  Skilling and Nucor, for example.  Ironically, the professor who became known for his Theory of Disruption was struck in his own personal life by equally powerful disruptive events.  One might say, “He’s older now….”

                Almost immediately after I started writing this book with James and Karen and in remission from cancer, I suffered an ischemic stroke.  A clot    lodged itself in the part of my brain where writing and speaking are formulated.  It resulted in “expressive aphasia.”  I could not speak or write, beyond just a few simple words initially.  …Since that day, I’ve been working to learn to speak again, one word at a time. 

Life happens, and Christensen, a Mormon, raises the basic questions that he believes we should continue to ask ourselves, even, as he advised his B school students, while we become enthralled with building careers and families:  How can I be sure that I’ll find satisfaction in my career?  How can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse, my family and my close friends become enduring sources of happiness?  How can I avoid compromising my integrity and live a meaningful, more life.  Interestingly, Christensen comments on disgraced-Enron brainchild Jeff Skilling, “the brightest kid in the room,” saying that no one in business school could have predicted that his genius would take him so far off the morality screen.  And yet Enron happened and hundreds of employee families were robbed of their money. 

More interesting to the Mill Girl because of its personal revelations and Christensen’s fortunate response to them – with the help of his friends – than for its treatment of the big business questions, I think this book provides encouragement to those of us who have suffered Big Changes and recovered.