How Will You Measure Your Life?

How Will You Measure Your Life?

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01  ·  rating details  ·  2,163 ratings  ·  426 reviews
In 2010 world-renowned innovation expert Clayton M. Christensen gave a powerful speech to the Harvard Business School's graduating class. Drawing upon his business research, he offered a series of guidelines for finding meaning and happiness in life. He used examples from his own experiences to explain how high achievers can all too often fall into traps that lead to unhap...more
ebook, 240 pages
Published May 15th 2012 by HarperBusiness (first published May 1st 2012)
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Marks54
This book is an effort by a well known Harvard Business School prof, notable for his work on the dangers of marginal thinking in innovative industries (The Innovator's Dilemma) that attempts to apply theories of motivation, management, and strategy to the task of self management. Apparently the author's experiences with illness, aging, and other aspects of his life combined to convince him that such an effort would be worthwhile. It is a short book and reads fairly quickly.

I am giving the book t...more
Katrina
I like this book. It was good to remember to purposely think about what my purpose in life is and if the choices I make are lining up with what I say my priorities are.(things of the gospel are truth and things that I will use for the rest of my life, as opposed to say my statistics class just an example) Stay true to what will matter for my whole life, not what feels important in the moment.

I liked thinking about the family culture I am creating. And about what and how well I am performing my j...more
Kristin Eberhard
The rare non-fiction book that isn't actually an essay parading as a book. This was a quick read in simple, clear language with good analogies and no unnecessary repetition. A summary of the career-focused bits:

Find Your Purpose
Likeness - who you want to become
Commitment - to becoming that at every step. Actually spending your time and energy in ways that get you closer to your likeness.
Metrics - to measure your progress towards becoming the likeness

Clayton’s Likeness
A man who is dedicated to he...more
Ann
What an interesting book. Christensen takes some important theories that he teaches to his students at the Harvard Business School and translates them for application in personal and family life. He uses a lot of illustrative examples from his personal and professional life, and gives what I think is really good advice about career planning and family life.

At times his tone was a little off-putting, and I'm curious to know how this book would be received by someone of a faith different from my o...more
Robby
One of my common gripes with self-help books is their tendency to take anecdotes that the author has accumulated and prescribe them as if they're some sort of behavioral medicine for the reader. The reader inevitably lives a different life than the author, and the advice doesn't live up to its promise.

Christensen's approach is more lasting. He presents a few theories about how the reader can ensure he accomplishes what he wants out of life, and closes with a strong argument that to avoid complet...more
Nic Brisbourne
This book is a great reminder that getting the most out of life requires spending time working out what you want and diligence in allocating your time and money in pursuit of those goals. Unfortunately for any lazy folk out there this means spending time up front working out what is actually important and then making sure you don't compromise those goals by taking easy short term decisions.

Christensen reminds us that the obvious rewards of careers aren't what make us happy. Rather responsibility...more
Jake
Mr. Christensen wrote a game changer here. This is one of those books I feel can make a profound effect on a person's life. It's certainly geared toward those who come from a business background and helping us relate principles that have proven to make a company successful to our personal lives, but I want my wife to read it so she can support me in the person I want to become.

Frankly, I see this book as the perfect tool to strategically organizing a person's life into who they truly want to bec...more
Charles
There’s an interesting idea behind this book: a prof from Harvard Business School, having overcome a life-threatening cancer, considers how we would live our lives if we used the business lessons he teaches his high-flying students to apply to companies.

For instance, just as a business often makes the mistake of focusing on the product it could make rather than the needs of its customers, so in our relationships, instead of assuming what selflessness would be for our partner, we need to explore...more
Kimi
This book is about motivation. It's about how to motivate your life to be better, blablabla, that kind of stuff. It's another self-help book genre which I'm not really interested in.

Christensen is trying to make us look at our lives and find meaning in our lives. What do we really want in life? He uses theories in management and business and he applies those theories in life.

This book is classified in three main topics. They are work, family, and staying out of jail. I was quite interested when...more
Hundeschlitten
Christensen attempts to take the best theories about running a business and then apply them to running your life. I like the fact that he believes in the importance of clearly defining what constitutes success, creating a strategy, and then finding a metric to gauge whether this strategy is working. His book has little of that wishy-washy, feel-good vibe of some "self-help" books. Just the facts, ma'am. Which I appreciated, as I think that self-delusion may collectively be our greatest individua...more
Eva
I don't know how many stars to give--3 or 4--but it was a good, quick read that makes you think about what's important and how you make your life manifest that. Kindle highlights:

two different types of factors: hygiene factors and motivation factors. On one side of the equation, there are the elements of work that, if not done right, will cause us to be dissatisfied. These are called hygiene factors. Hygiene factors are things like status, compensation, job security, work conditions, company pol...more
Ken Aw
Many in a time we get asked (or ask ourselves) what are our life goals? what do we want to be remembered for before we say goodbye to this world? How do we live a life of purpose and fulfillment? This book offers a way to deeply think about these questions, and perhaps chart some possible answers and directions that we need to take to achieve them.

One interesting issue that Clay talks about revolves around parenting. As parents, we would want our children to be equipped with the knowledge and sk...more
Sean
I found Clay Christensen's book "How Will You Measure Your Life" OK. Christensen did lay out his framework for making decisions and focusing on family and integrity, and I laud him for the values that he imparts on his readers. Where I think he fails, though, in his inability or unwillingness to go deeper. Why does Clay dedicate his life to improving the lives of other people? Why does he not dedicate his life to improving himself? Why is a selfless attribute desirable? Why not glorify the self...more
Kori
This book made me think about how I "manage" my family and my own life and has made me actually define my purposes. My favorite excerpt is :
"The challenges your children face serve an important purpose: they will help them hone and develop the capabilities necessary to succeed throughout their lives. Coping with a difficult teacher, failing at a sport, learning to navigate the complex social structure of cliques in school--all those things become "courses" in the school of experience. We know th...more
Mallie
Aug 25, 2012 Mallie rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Mallie by: Amazon
Greatly enjoyed this piece about not only finding meaning, but making meaning. I loved that Christensen talked about management as a service profession, because of the ways in which good management can help improve lives. So true:

Favorite quotations:

"the most powerful motivator isn’t money; it’s the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute, and be recognized. That’s why management, if practiced well, can be the noblest of occupations; no others offer as many ways to help people...more
Todd
I had read articles that mentioned Clayton Christensen, and he was always described as a brilliant business consultant and professor at Harvard Business School, who is also LDS. Recently, he came and spoke at our quarterly department meeting, and I came to understand why people spoke so highly of him. While he was only scheduled to speak for an hour, I listened to him speak for 2 hours, and found myself wanting more. He told fascinating anecdotes from his days as a consultant, and applied the le...more
Peter
Compelling little book.

Distinguishes between "hygiene"and "motivating" factors at work (motivating factors contribute far more to subjective well-being). Makes the case for management as a truly noble profession -- "You are in a position where you have 8 or 10 hours every day from every person who works for you. You have the opportunity to frame each person's work so that, at the end of every day, your employees will go home [feeling great]."

Deliberate versus emergent strategies -- priorities s...more
Ricky Bache
I was lucky enough to read ‘The Innovators Dilemma’ at a formative point in my Pharma R&D career. Like many others, I was captivated by the ability of Christensen’s ‘big idea’ (disruptive innovation) to explain the perplexing phenomenon whereby small startups were able to upend established players in industry segments where the latter should have held all the aces. I have read a number of other books he has put out over the the years. These have invariably given me much to reflect on as a bu...more
Joseph Geskey
An article with the same title from the Harvard Business Review was initially published that created quite a response from readers. Mr. Christensen is extremely influential in the business community surrounding the concept of disruptive innovation--an innovation that upends current ways of doing business.
This book takes common business tactics to solve a particular problem so that one can apply them to their career and life. Even the most productive of us can feel like uninspired slacker after r...more
Brendan
Jan 20, 2013 Brendan added it
Shelves: 2013
I'm ambivalent on this one. Everything was a little muddled. I get using business examples to illustrate the principles that Christensen sets forth in this book, but sometimes the parallels weren't always apparent - it took explicit explanation for the connection to make sense. Arguably, the value in reading a self help (the best term I could come up with) book like this is in drawing those connections yourself.

I don't think there was anything groundbreaking in terms of content here either. To m...more
Beth
Christensen explains how theories to promote good business practices can also help us lead better lives. When I heard the premise, I was not impressed. When I read the book, boy, was I ever! This is one of those books where I go around telling everyone I know (and some I don't) what a great book I am reading. Christensen is a sincerely good man and his advice is great. As one of my book group friends said, his advice is just what you know already, but because he explains it in business terms, yo...more
Anne
Clayton Christensen has had such an amazing life, including major health issues, a long and happy marriage, several children, graduation from West High School in Salt Lake City, and being born in the 50's. We have a few of those things in common, but when he used all these life events as a springboard to make a huge difference in the world, that is where he and I part ways.
This book details many opportunities we face each day to become better in our personal and business life by asking several v...more
Khuyen
This book resonates with me so well that
1) I remember it in so many details.
2) I'm so tempted: maybe I will become a manager for professional career.
3) I'm recommending it to my close friends
4) It is one of the things that makes my gap year incredibly meaningful.

3 main questions
- How to choose a fulfilling job - because that's what we'll do for our lives?
- How to create meaningful relationships with family and friends forever?
- How to uphold integrity and stay out of jail?

How to choose...more
Linda
It was outstanding for the content it contains. I'm not a flagrant giver of "5's," but I was tempted. I ran across this at the library on a "new book" shelf, then before I read it was sent a link to a video of a speech the author gave at the Louisville school of business. The book contains some of the same examples and theories. It is based on the last class he teaches to his students at Harvard Business School.

I have no background in business and had never heard of the author, so I was surprise...more
Pankaj Sahai
Great book, really felt fulfilled after reading it.

I finished the book in one sitting on a Saturday, the day after I had long discussions (often energetic, forceful and agitated but always sincere, well-intentioned & for good cause ) with some of my very close friends till 1:30 am on various aspects of living a "good life" (ethics, morality, life goals, life purpose etc). This book, coincidentally, deals with most of what we we discussed the night before, providing insights , options and so...more
Joshua Guest
I read a lot of non-fiction. I am always looking for books that I feel could really help others change their lives, or at least make for good parlor conversation. I think that of all the books I have ever wanted other people to read, Clayton Christensen's "How Will You Measure Your Life?" ranks up there with The Book of Mormon, Stephen King's "On Writing", Henry J. Eyring's "Major Decisions", ...and that's about it. I immediately wanted to buy two dozen copies and give them out to friends and fa...more
Akshay
Ch 2 What Makes us Tick
Hygiene factors vs Motivation Factors
Motivation Factors are challenging work, recognition, responsibility, and personal growth
Hygiene factors are status, compensation, job security, work conditions, company policies and supervisory practices
Find a career that both motivates you and satisfies your hygeiene factors

1976 Jensen and Meckling
Principal-Agent or Incentive Theory
Frederick Herzberg
2 Factor Theory or Motivation Theory
Mind doesn't look at job satisfacti...more
Kim Pallister
I'm a big fan of Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma and other books about innovation and creative disruption. I was surprised to learn that he'd written a slightly different book, How Will You Measure Your Life?, this one about guiding principles for guiding one's career and one's life. I was curious about it being outside his usual fare, so I decided to give it a whirl.

As a self-help book, it's pretty unique. Christensen draws upon his many business case studies to make some...more
Terry
In "How Will You Measure Your Life" Clayton Christensen applies business theories to our personal lives. Some of the theories are well known and have been around for years such as Frederick Herzberg's Two Factor Motivation Theory. Others are Christensen's own theories. In applying these theories he asks us to take a long, hard look at our own lives to determine if we are on a course that matches our principles and will produce the results we want.

Applying proven theories to individual and family...more
James
Excellent book about focusing on what really matters in life. He asks three questions:

How can I be sure I'll find satisfaction in my career?

How can I be sure that my personal relationships become enduring sources of happiness?

How can I avoid compromising my integrity - and stay out of jail?

All are answered with real life examples involving businesses usually at first and then they are applied to family life. I especially liked the part about company culture and how that can be applied at the fam...more
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Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Technology & Operations Management and General Management faculty groups. He is best known for his study of innovation in commercial enterprises. His first book, The Innovator's Dilemma, articulated his theory of disruptive technology.

Christen...more
More about Clayton M. Christensen...
The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth Seeing What's Next: Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care

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“Does that mean that we should never hire or promote an inexperienced manager who had not already learned to do what needs to be done in this assignment? The answer: it depends. In a start-up company where there are no processes in place to get things done, then everything that is done must be done by individual people–resources. In this circumstance, it would be risky to draft someone with no experience to do the job–because in the absence of processes that can guide people, experienced people need to lead. But in established companies where much of the guidance to employees is provided by processes, and is less dependent upon managers with detailed, hands-on experience, then it makes sense to hire or promote someone who needs to learn from experience.” 3 people liked it
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