Clayton M Christensen

Early life and education

Clayton M. Christensen was born on April 6, 1952, in Salt Lake City, Utah, 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 the nearby West High School, where he was student body president. Christensen and his siblings were raised as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

After graduating from high school in 1970, Christensen matriculated at Brigham Young University (BYU). While at BYU, he took a two-year leave of absence from 1971 to 1973 to serve as a volunteer full-time missionary for the LDS Church. He was assigned to serve in South Korea and became a fluent speaker of Korean. After completing his missionary service, Christensen returned to BYU, graduating in 1975 with an Honors B.A. summa cum laude in economics. Upon graduating, he received a Rhodes Scholarship and spent two years studying applied econometrics at Oxford University, receiving an M.Phil. in 1977. Christensen then returned to the United States and moved to Harvard University to pursue an MBA at the Harvard Business School, which he earned with high distinction in 1979.

Career

After receiving his MBA in 1979, Christensen left Harvard and began working for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as a consultant and project manager. He took a leave of absence from 1982 to 1983 to work in Washington, D.C. as an assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, serving under Drew Lewis and then Elizabeth Dole. In 1984, he and several professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology founded an advanced ceramics company called Ceramics Process Systems Corporation (now known as CPS Technologies). Christensen served as its president and CEO through the late 1980s, then decided to leave the company and become a university professor. He returned to Harvard for doctoral study in business, receiving a Doctor of Business Administration degree in 1992. After completing his doctorate, Christensen joined the Harvard Business School faculty and set a record by achieving the rank of "full" professor in only six years.

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 was raised), an investment company which applies his research as an investment strategy.

He serves on the board of directors of Tata Consultancy Services (NSE: TCS), Franklin Covey (NYSE: FC), and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

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

Christensen is the best-selling author of ten books, including his seminal work The Innovator's Dilemma (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 still often writes 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 have 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.

Personal life

Christensen lives in Belmont, Massachusetts with his wife, Christine. They have five children, including Matthew Christensen, who played college basketball at Duke University and was a member of the 2001 National Championship team. Christensen himself is an avid basketball player who stands 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall, and was the starting center on the men's basketball team during his time at Oxford.

Christensen is a member of the LDS Church. From 1971 to 1973 he served as a missionary for the church in Korea and speaks fluent Korean. He has served in several leadership positions in the LDS Church. He served as an area seventy from 2002 to 2009. Prior to that he served as a counselor in the presidency of the Massachusetts Boston Mission. He has also served as a bishop.

In February 2010, Christensen announced that he had been diagnosed with follicular lymphoma. In July 2010, he had an ischemic stroke. Despite Christensen’s health setbacks, he is once again actively teaching, speaking and writing. In 2011, Christensen published two books: The Innovative University and The Innovator’s DNA (Harvard Business Press).

Honors and awards