My younger brother
send me this wonderful talk “How Will You Measure Your Life” given by Harvard
Business School professor Clay Christensen to the graduating class of 2010 on their
request to address them, “not on how to apply his principles and thinking in
their post HBS careers but how to apply them to their personal life.” I liked
this article very much, specially the way he explained about the active search
for meaning of your life, is the most crucial to lead a satisfying and happy
life. I am giving below are some of the main points from that talk...
But first a
little bit about the professor and by the way, he is also a board member of Indian
software giant Tata Consultancy Services...
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A Brief Biography
Clayton M.
Christensen is the architect of and the world’s foremost authority on
disruptive innovation, a framework which describes the process by which a
product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of
a market and then relentlessly moves ‘up market’, eventually displacing
established competitors. Consistently acknowledged in rankings and
surveys as one of the world’s leading thinkers on innovation, Christensen is
widely sought after as a speaker, advisor and board member. His research
has been applied to national economies, start-up and Fortune 50 companies,
as well as to early and late stage investing.
His seminal
book The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997), which first outlined his
disruptive innovation frameworks, received the Global Business Book Award for
the Best Business Book of the Year in 1997, was a New York Times
bestseller, has been translated into over 10 languages, and is sold in over 25
countries. He is also a four-time recipient of the McKinsey Award for the Harvard
Business Reviews’s best article and received a Lifetime Achievement Award
from the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010.
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How Will You Measure Your Life?
by
Clayton M. Christensen
My class at
Harvard Business School is structured to help my students understand what good management
theory is and how it is built. On the last day of class, I ask my students to
turn those theoretical lenses on themselves, to find cogent answers to three
questions:
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? Though the last question
sounds light hearted, it’s not. (Two of the 32 people in my Rhodes Scholar
class spent time in jail. Jeff Skilling of Enron fame was a classmate of mine
at HBS. These were good guys—but something in their lives sent them off in the
wrong direction)
How to be sure, we find happiness in our
careers
One of the
theories that gives great insight on the first question—how to be sure 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.
Create a Strategy for Your Life
A theory
that is helpful in answering the second question—How can I ensure that my relationship
with my family proves to be an enduring source of happiness?— concerns how strategy
is defined and implemented.
For me,
having a clear purpose in my life has been essential. But it was something I had
to think long and hard about before I understood it. When I was a Rhodes Scholar,
I was in a very demanding academic program, trying to cram an extra year’s worth
of work into my time at Oxford. 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 but I stuck with it—and ultimately figured out the purpose
of my life. My purpose grew out of my religious faith, but faith isn’t the only
thing that gives people direction. 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.
Allocate Your Resources
Your
decisions about allocating your personal time, energy, and talent ultimately shape
your life’s strategy.
People who
are driven to excel have this unconscious propensity to under invest in their
families and overinvest in their careers—even though intimate and loving relationships
with their families are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness.
If you
study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find this predisposition
toward endeavours that offer immediate gratification. If you look at personal
lives through that lens, you’ll see the same stunning and sobering pattern: people
allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered
most.
Avoid the “Marginal Costs” Mistake
This theory
addresses the third question I discuss with my students—how to live a life of integrity
stay out of jail). Unconsciously, we often employ the marginal cost doctrine in
our personal lives when we choose between right and wrong. A voice in our head
says, “Look, I know that as a general rule, most people shouldn't do this. But
in this particular extenuating circumstance, just this once,” it’s OK.” The
marginal cost of doing something wrong “just this once” always seems alluringly
low. It suckers you in, and you don’t ever look at where that path ultimately
is headed and at the full costs that the choice entails. Justification for
infidelity and dishonesty in all their manifestations lies in the marginal cost
economics of “just this once.”
Remember the Importance of Humility
One characteristic
of these humble people stood out: They had a high level of self-esteem. They knew
who they were, and they felt good about who they were. We also decided that
humility was defined not by self-deprecating behavior or attitudes but by the
esteem with which you regard others. Good behavior flows naturally from that kind
of humility. For example, you would never steal from someone, because you respect
that person too much. You’d never lie to someone, either
I think that’s
the way it will work for us all. Don’t worry about the level of individual
prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become
better people. This is my final recommendation: Think about the metric by which
your life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day so that in
the end, your life will be judged a success.
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ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
An amazing poet: Pablo
Neruda Don Justo: Meaning of
life
