Clayton Magleby Christensen (April 6, 1952 – January 23, 2020) was an American academic and business consultant who developed the theory of " disruptive innovation", which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. Christensen introduced "disruption" in his 1997 book ''

The Innovator's Dilemma ''The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail'', first published in 1997, is the best-known work of the Harvard professor and businessman Clayton Christensen. It expands on the concept of disruptive technologies, a ...

'', and it led ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' to term him "the most influential

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

thinker of his time." He served as the Kim B. Clark Professor of

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

at the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

(HBS), and was also a leader and writer in

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church). He was one of the founders of the Jobs to Be Done development methodology. Christensen was also a co-founder of Rose Park Advisors, a

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm, and Innosight, a

management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

and

investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

firm specializing in

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

Early life

Clayton Christensen was born on April 6, 1952, in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, the second of eight children born to Robert M. Christensen (1926–1976) and his wife, Verda Mae Christensen (''née'' Fuller; 1922–2004). He grew up in the Rose Park neighborhood of Salt Lake City and attended West High School, where he was student body president. He was also an avid

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player at tall. Christensen and his siblings were raised as members of the LDS Church.

Education

Brigham Young University

After graduating from high school in 1970, Christensen was accepted to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

(BYU). He "decided to make the decision a matter of prayer" and felt a "clear impression" to attend BYU, which had awarded him a full scholarship. Christensen majored in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

, and was classmates in his first-year economics course with future U.S. presidential candidate

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

and future HBS dean Kim B. Clark. While at BYU, he took a two-year leave of absence from 1971 to 1973 to serve as a full-time missionary for the LDS Church. He was assigned to serve in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and became a fluent speaker of Korean. Christensen returned to BYU after completing his missionary service, and in 1975 graduated ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' with honors with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in economics.

Oxford University

Following graduation from BYU, Christensen was awarded a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

and spent two years studying applied econometrics at Oxford University's Queen's College, receiving a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in 1977. While at Oxford, Christensen was the starting center on the men's basketball team, winning back-to-back British University Sports Federation championships in 1975 and 1976 and the English Basketball Association's national championship for non-league teams in 1977.

Harvard University

Once Christensen completed his degree program at Oxford, he returned to the United States to attend HBS where he received an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

with high distinction in 1979. He later returned to Harvard for his doctoral study in business, receiving a

Doctor of Business Administration The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) is a terminal degree in business administration. The DBA is classified as a research doctorate or professional doctorate depending on the granting university and country where the degree was awarded. ...

degree in 1992.

Career

1979–1989

After receiving an MBA in 1979, Christensen began working for

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the "Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three" (or MBB, the world's three large ...

(BCG) as a consultant and project manager. In 1982, he was named a White House Fellow and took a one-year leave of absence from BCG to work in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

as an assistant to the

United States Secretary of Transportation The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...

, serving under both Drew Lewis and Elizabeth Dole. In 1984, he and several professors from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

founded an advanced

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

company named Ceramics Process Systems Corporation (now known as CPS Technologies). Christensen served as its president and CEO through the late 1980s until he decided to leave the company to pursue a

degree.

1990–1999

After completing his doctoral study, Christensen joined the HBS faculty and set a record by achieving the rank of full

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in only six years. At HBS, he taught an elective course he designed named "Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise", which teaches how to build and manage an enduring, successful company or transform an existing organization. He also taught in many of the school's executive education programs. Christensen was awarded a full professorship with tenure in 1998 and held eight honorary doctorates and an honorary chaired professorship at the National Tsinghua University in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

After 2000

In 2000, he founded Innosight LLC, a consulting and training firm. In 2005, together with his colleagues at Innosight, he launched Innosight Ventures, a venture firm focused on investing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. In 2007, he co-founded Rose Park Advisors LLC (named after the neighborhood in Salt Lake City where he grew up), an investment company that applies his research as an investment strategy. He served on the board of directors of Tata Consultancy Services (NSE: TCS), Franklin Covey (NYSE: FC), and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He also served for a time on the editorial board of the ''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...

''. Christensen was the best-selling author of ten books, including his seminal work ''

'' (1997), which received the Global Business Book Award for the best business book of the year. One of the main concepts depicted in this book is also his most disseminated and famous one: disruptive innovation. The concept has been growing in interest over time since 2004, according to Google Trends data. However, due to constant misinterpretation, Christensen often wrote articles trying to explain the concept even further. Some of his other books are focused on specific industries and discuss social issues such as education and health care. ''Disrupting Class'' (2008) looks at the root causes of why schools struggle and offers solutions, while ''The Innovator's Prescription'' (2009) examines how to fix the American healthcare system. The latter two books received numerous awards as the best books on education and health care in their respective years of publication. ''The Innovator's Prescription'' was also awarded the 2010 James A. Hamilton Award, by the College of Healthcare Executives. In 2017, Christensen predicted that “50 percent of the 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. will be bankrupt in 10 to 15 years.”

Personal life

After returning to the United States from his LDS Church mission to South Korea, Christensen began serving with the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

in a variety of roles. Over a period of 25 years, he served as scoutmaster, cub master, den leader, and as a troop and pack committee chairman. Christensen and his wife, Christine (''née'' Quinn), married in 1976. They had three sons, Matthew, Michael, and Spencer, and two daughters, Ann and Catherine. Their eldest son, Matthew (b. 1977), was a member of

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

's 2001 National Championship basketball team. Christensen served in several leadership positions in the LDS Church, including as an area seventy from 2002 to 2009, a counselor in the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

of the Massachusetts Boston Mission, and as a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. His book, ''The Power of Everyday Missionaries'', was a leading work in the LDS Church on how all people could be involved in sharing the gospel no matter their position in the church. He was also a moving force behind the creation of ''For All The Saints'', a book by Kristen Smith Dayley on the history of the LDS Church in New England, published in 2012 to which Christensen wrote the foreword. Christensen was also very involved in his community of

Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a western suburb of Boston and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, its population was 27,295, an increase of 10.4% from 2010. H ...

. After moving his family to Belmont in the early 1990s to continue his education at HBS, he was elected to the Belmont Town Council where he served for eight years. Christensen was also instrumental in the use of internet learning for students of Belmont High School to decrease the rising costs of education. In February 2010, Christensen was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, and in July 2010 he had an

ischemic stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop ...

that damaged his speech and required him to undergo speech therapy. Christensen died from complications of leukemia on January 23, 2020, at age 67.

Honors and awards

* 2011: Recognized by ''Forbes'' for being "one of the most influential business theorists of the last 50 years" in a cover story. * 2011 & 2013: Ranked number 1 in the Thinkers 50 which is awarded biannually to the world's most prestigious management thinkers. * 2014: Awarded the Herbert Simon Award for excellence in business and management studies. * 2015: Honored with an Edison Achievement Award for his commitment to innovation throughout his career. * 2015: Awarded the

Distinguished Service Award for embodying "Christ-like charity and service." * 2017: Ranked number 3 in the Thinkers 50.

Publications

Journal articles

* "Disruptive technologies: catching the wave", ''Harvard Business Review'', (January–February 1995), Christensen, Clayton M.; Bower, Joseph L. * "Meeting the challenge of disruptive change", ''Harvard Business Review'', (March–April 2000), Christensen, Clayton M.; Overdorf, Michael.
"Will disruptive innovations cure health care?"
, ''Harvard Business Review'', 78 (5): 102–12, 199, PMID 11143147, (September–October 2000), Christensen, Clayton M.; Bohmer, Richard; Kenagy, John. * "Marketing malpractice: the cause and the cure", ''Harvard Business Review'', 83 (12): 74–83, 152, PMID 16334583, (December 2005), Christensen, Clayton M.; Cook, Scott; Hall, Taddy. * "The tools of cooperation and change", ''Harvard Business Review'', 84 (10): 72–80, 148 PMID 17040041, (October 2006), Christensen, Clayton M.; Marx, Matthew; Stevenson, Howard H. * "Disruptive innovation for social change", ''Harvard Business Review'', 84 (12): 94–101, 163, PMID 17183796, (December 2006), Christensen, Clayton M.; Baumann, Heiner; Ruggles, Rudy; Sadtler, Thomas M.
"How will you measure your life?"
''Harvard Business Review'' (July–August 2010) Christensen, Clayton M.
"Know your customer's Job To Be Done"
''Harvard Business Review'' (September 2016), Christensen, Clayton M.; Dillon, Karen; Hall, Taddy; Duncan, David.
"The Hard Truth about Business Model Innovation"
''MIT Sloan Management Review'' (September 2016), Christensen, Clayton M.; Bartman, Tom; van Bever, Derek.

Books

* '' The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail'', (1997) Christensen, Clayton M. * '' The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth,'' (2003), Christensen, Clayton M.; Raynor, Michael E. * ''Innovation and the General Manager'', (2003) Christensen, Clayton M. * '' Seeing What's Next: Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change'', (2004), Anthony, Scott D.; Christensen, Clayton M.; Roth, Erik A. * '' Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns'', (2008), Christensen, Clayton M.; Horn, Michael. * ''The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care'', (2008), Christensen, Clayton M.; Grossman, Jerome H.; Hwang, Jason. * ''The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education'', (2011), Christensen, Clayton M.; Eyring, Henry J. * ''The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators'', (2011), Christensen, Clayton M.; Dyer, Jeff; Gregersen, Hal. * ''How Will You Measure Your Life?'', (2012), Allworth, James; Christensen, Clayton M.; Dillon, Karen. * ''The Power of Everyday Missionaries: The What and How of Sharing the Gospel'', (2013) Christensen, Clayton M. * ''Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice'', (2016), Christensen, Clayton M.; Dillon, Karen; Duncan, David; Hall, Taddy. * ''The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations out of Poverty'', (2019), Christensen, Clayton M.; Dillon, Karen; Ojomo, Efosa.

References

External links

* *
Christensen ''et al.'' publication list

Interview on NPR's On Point
- "Clayton Christensen’s Prescription For Health Care", April 14, 2011 (audio) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen, Clayton M. 1952 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Mormon missionaries American business theorists American business writers American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints American Mormon missionaries in South Korea American Rhodes Scholars Area seventies (LDS Church) Boston Consulting Group people Brigham Young University alumni Business educators Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Business School faculty Latter Day Saints from Massachusetts Latter Day Saints from Utah Writers from Salt Lake City West High School (Utah) alumni