How Will You Measure Your Life? (Harvard Business Review Classics)

by Clayton M. Christensen

First, how can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career? Second, how can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness? Third, how can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail?

we find happiness in our careers—is from Frederick Herzberg, who asserts that the powerful motivator in our lives isn’t money;

it’s the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others, and be recognized for achievements.

I tell the students about a vision of sorts I had while I was running the company I founded before becoming an academic. In my mind’s eye I saw one of my managers leave for work one morning with a relatively strong level of self-esteem. Then I pictured her driving home to her family 10 hours later, feeling unappreciated, frustrated,...

the way she interacted with her children. The vision in my mind then fast-forwarded to another day, when she drove home with greater self-esteem—feeling that she had learned a lot, been recognized for achieving valuable things, and played a significant role in the success of some important initiati...

My conclusion: Management is the most noble of professions if it’s practiced well. No other occupation offers as many ways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team. More and more MBA students come to school thinking that a career in business means buying, selling, and investing in companies....

can I ensure that my relationship with my family proves to be an enduring source of happiness?—concerns how strategy is defined and implemented.

Its primary insight is that a company’s strategy is determined by the types of initiatives that management invests in.

If a company’s resource allocation process is not managed masterfully, what emerges from it...

what management i...

They didn’t keep the purpose of their lives front and center as they decided how to spend their time, talents, and energy.

purpose of their lives.

I decided to

spend an hour every night reading, thinking, and praying about why God put me on this earth. That was a very challenging commitment to keep, because every hour I spent doing that, I wasn’t studying applied econometrics. I was conflicted about whether I could really afford to take that time away from my studies, but I stuck with it—and ultimately figured out the purpose of my life.

I promise my students that if they take the time to figure out their life purpose, they’ll look back on it as the most important thing they discovered at HBS.

Clarity about their purpose will trump knowledge of activity-based costing, balanced scorecards, core competence, disruptive innovation, the four Ps, and the five forces.

For example, one of my former students decided that his purpose was to bring honesty and economic prosperity to his country and to raise children who were as capably committed to this cause, and to each other, as he was. His purpose is focused on family and others—as mine is.

The choice and successful pursuit of a profession is but one tool for achieving your purpose. But without a purpose, life can become hollow.

Your decisions about allocating your personal time, energy, and talent ultimately shape your life’s strategy.

I’m trying to have a rewarding relationship with my wife, raise great kids, contribute to my community, succeed in my career, contribute to my church, and so on. And I have exactly the same problem that a corporation does. I have a limited amount of time and energy and talent. How much do I devote to each of these pursuits?