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Clayton Christensen Quotes

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Clayton M. Christensen is an esteemed professor known for his contributions to the fields of business management and innovation. Born on April 6, 1952, he is a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of 'The Innovator's Dilemma'.

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Famous Clayton Christensen Quotes

“In my first career I had founded my own company, with a group of MIT professors, before coming to Harvard to finish my doctorate, and so I had a deep respect for the brains, talent, and dedication of managers. That made it hard for me to believe the attributions in the business press that stupid management was to blame. So I looked elsewhere for an explanation.”

“In the study of management, unfortunately, many writers have been so anxious to articulate a theory in the form of, "If you do this, this will result," that they never go through this careful effort.”

Ifs Has Beens Form Results Effort Study Theory Management Careful Anxious

Author:Clayton Christensen

“Often they [writers on the study of management] have a point of view based upon intuition and experience. They then offer a cadence of two-paragraph examples carefully selected to "prove" their theory, and then they write "one size fits all" books. The message is, "If you'd do what these companies did, you'd be successful too."”

“One reason there are so many short-lived management fads is that their prescriptions were derived and advocated in precisely this way. So managers read about a fad and try it, find that it doesn't work, abandon the effort, and move on to the next thing. In reality, it is usually the case that the faddish prescription was indeed sound advice in certain circumstances, but actually was poor advice in other circumstances.”

Way Trying Reason Reality Moving Certain Next Sound Poor Effort Cases Advice Circumstances Management Managers Abandon Prescriptions Fads Short Lived Sound Advice

Author:Clayton Christensen

“I've concluded that getting the categories right is an absolutely crucial step to building useful management theory, and unfortunately too few writers do this. You've got to engage in serious scholarship, and then figure out how to write it in a way that lots of people can understand.”

People Way Writing Steps Figures Building Serious Theory Management Categories Crucial Scholarship

Author:Clayton Christensen

“If you want to make better theory, you've got to use the best that's available and look through the lens of another discipline to see if you can uncover more anomalies. By looking at the phenomena of failure from the perspective of sales, marketing, finance, general management, and the equity markets, I was able to see things that Rebecca [Henderson] hadn't.”

Ifs Want Looks Use Able Theory Perspective Discipline Management Marketing Available Finance Lenses Equity Anomalies Rebecca

Author:Clayton Christensen

“Management has to provide the coordinating mechanism between what the supplier provides and what the user needs in not-good-enough situations where product architecture is consequently interdependent. Management always beats markets when there is not sufficient information.”

Needs Enough Situation Information Products Beats Management Architecture Sufficient Good Enough Mechanism Users Not Good Enough Suppliers Coordinating

Author:Clayton Christensen

“By the time it becomes obvious that a technology will have truly disruptive impact, it is often too late to take action. This is one reason why we are such advocates of using theory to try to analyze industry change. Conclusive evidence that proves that a company needs to take action almost never exists. In fact, the data can fool management, lulling them into a false sense of security.”

Trying Reason Action Technology Security Fool Prove Evidence Management Obvious

Author:Clayton Christensen

“My conclusion: Management is the most noble of professions if it's practiced well. No other occupation offers as many ways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team.”

Source: Harvard Business Review Leadership Library: The Executive Collection (12 Books)

“Many think of management as cutting deals and laying people off and hiring people and buying and selling companies. That's not management, that's deal making. Management is the opportunity to help people become better people. Practiced that way, it's a magnificent profession.”

People Thinking Way Helping Opportunity Deals Company Cutting Management Profession Selling Buying Magnificent Hiring Buying And Selling

Author:Clayton Christensen

“Management is the most noble of professions if it's practiced well.”

Ifs Wells Management Noble Profession

Book:The Clayton M. Christensen Reader

Source: The Clayton M. Christensen Reader