How Will You Measure Your Life?

How do you lead a fulfilling life? That profound question animates this book of inspiration and insight from world-class business strategist and bestselling author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen. After beating a heart attack, advanced-stage cancer and a stroke in three successive years, the world-renowned innovation expert and author of one of the best selling and most influential business books of all time – The Innovator’s Dilemma – Clayton M. Christensen delivered a short but powerful speech to the Harvard Business School graduating class. He presented a set of personal guidelines that have helped him find meaning and happiness in his life – a challenge even the brightest and most motivated of students find daunting. Akin to The Last Lecture in its revelatory perspective following life-altering events, that speech subsequently became a hugely popular article in the Harvard Business Review and is now a groundbreaking book, putting forth a series of questions and models for success that have long been applied in the world of business, but also can be used to find cogent answers to pressing life questions: How can I be sure that I’ll find satisfaction in my career? How can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse, my family and my close friends become enduring sources of happiness? How can I avoid compromising my integrity (and stay out of jail)? How Will You Measure Your Life? is a highly original, surprising book from a singular business figure. It’s a book sure to inspire and educate readers – companies and individuals, students of business, mid-career professionals, and even parents – the world over.

“If you're ready to get deep, real quick, you need to read Clay Christensen's new book, How Will You Measure Your Life?, co-written with James Allworth, a consultant and Harvard MBA, and Karen Dillon, former editor of the Harvard Business Review. It mixes tested business theories and a heap of common sense. It's one of the more surprisingly powerful books of personal philosophy of the 21st century.”Forbes “How Will You Measure Your Life? is an intriguing paradox. A self-help book that is not a self-help book, based on rigorous research but enlivened by anecdotes about the experiences of a man who is hailed as a model by his students. It neatly reverses the technique of those business bestsellers that use the lives and careers of great leaders – from Attila the Hun to General George Patton – to lay down timeless rules for corporate executives.”Financial Times “[A] highly engaging and intensely revealing work….Spiritual without being preachy, this work is especially relevant for young people embarking on their career, but also useful for anyone who wants to live a more meaningful life in accordance with their values.”Publishers Weekly “The book encapsulates Christensen’s best advice to keep high achievers from being disrupted in their own lives….[P]rovocative but reassuring: Peter Drucker meets Mitch Albom.” Bloomberg Businessweek Praise for The Innovator’s Dilemma: "Addresses a tough problem that most successful companies will face eventually. It's lucid, analytical-and scary."Dr. Andrew S. Grove, Chairman, Intel Corporation "The Innovator's Dilemma is absolutely brilliant. Clayton Christensen provides an insightful analysis of changing technology and its importance to a company's future success. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in business or entrepreneurship."Michael R. Bloomberg, CEO and Founder, Bloomberg Financial Markets

Clayton M. Christensen is the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. In addition to his most recent book, How Will You Measure Your Life, he is the author of seven critically-acclaimed books, including several New York Times bestsellers — The Innovator's Dilemma, The Innovator's Solution and most recently, Disrupting Class. Christensen is the co-founder of Innosight, a management consultancy; Rose Park Advisors, an investment firm; and the Innosight Institute, a non-profit think tank. In 2011, he was named the world’s most influential business thinker by Thinkers50. A native of Australia, James Allworth is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar, and the Australian National University. He writes regularly for the Harvard Business Review. He has previously worked at Booz & Company, and Apple. Karen Dillon was Editor of the Harvard Business Review until 2011. She previously served as deputy editor of Inc magazine and was editor and publisher of the critically-acclaimed American Lawyer magazine. She is a graduate of Cornell University and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. In 2011, she was named by Ashoka as one of the world’s most influential and inspiring women.