Clayton Christensen was one of the great business thinkers. When he died on January 23, 2020 obituaries, like the New York Times, lauded him for his Disruption Theory. But there was a lot more to the man and his work. Most of us learned about Disruption Theory and Jobs to Be Done through his books. Some of us treasure what we took away from reading his book, How Will You Measure Your Life.

I devoted an issue of Weekend Leadership Reading to Christensen, his life, and his work. In this podcast, Art and I discuss the man, his work and life, and the books that affected us the most.

Listen now:

Show Highlights:

Wally shares his view on the impact of Clayton Christensen to our business and life thinking (1:20)

The power and impact of Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma (4:00)

The term “disruption” has taken on a slightly different tone than Clay intended (5:35)

Art shares some examples of The Innovator’s Dilemma he lived during his career in technology (6:15)

Wally suggests why we should re-read The Innovator’s Dilemma and Art tags on a suggested 2015 Harvard Business Review article (What is Disruptive Innovation) (9:00)

Art shares an overview of his favorite book of Christensen’s: How Will You Measure Your Life (10:40)

Wally adds his thoughtful, detailed views on How Will You Measure Your Life (13:50)

We discuss what age group might benefit the most from Measure (and yes, if you listen closely, you’ll hear my cat announce himself in the room) (17:00)

A comparison/contrast between Measure and Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture (18:19)

Wally suggests Competing Against Luck as another great Christensen book, based on the Jobs to Be Done theory and makes a strong case for matching the book with The Innovator’s Dilemma as a dual read (20:20)

We talk about the famous “milkshake” example from Competing Against Luck that illustrates the Jobs to Be Done theory. Wally provides a shout-out to Bob Moesta of The Rewired Group for his work with the “milkshake” example. (22:00)

Wally caps off our discussion about Clayton Christensen’s books and his contributions to our thinking in business and life (24:45)

Check out Wally’s Goodreads reviews for insights on these and many other books.

Note: All Amazon links for my recommendations are affiliate links. If you follow the links and purchase a book, I receive a tiny commission.