37 pages • 1 hour read
Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, Karen DillonHow Will You Measure Your Life?
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Prologue-Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue Summary
Clayton M. Christensen begins the Prologue by describing a tradition that he started in the Harvard course he teaches—building and sustaining a successful enterprise. On the last day of class, Christensen leads an informal discussion on the ways that the atmosphere at class reunions has changed since his initial five-year reunion. Gradually, the optimism at these reunions dissipated, and as the years passed, he discovered that many of his classmates—who seemed to have lives of promise and fortune—struggled in their professional and personal lives, which included divorce and legal troubles. He mentions being a classmate of Jeffrey Skilling, whose role in the Enron scandal landed him in prison. Christensen points out that the Skilling he knew in college was not the same person who swindled so many people; however, Skilling’s life took a turn somewhere along the way.
In Christensen’s class, they use theories to try to predict outcomes for businesses and their own lives. This is the blueprint for How Will You Measure Your Life? Christensen also discusses a 2010 graduation ceremony at Harvard in which he was a speaker. He had been undergoing chemotherapy for an aggressive kind of cancer, one similar to that which claimed the life of his father. In the audience were James Allworth and Karen Dillon, who were so moved by Christensen’s presentation and speech that they offered to help him co-write this book.
Chapter 1 Summary
Christensen spends most of the chapter establishing a framework for how one should proceed through the book. Firstly, the book does not offer quick fixes to problems, either professional or personal. Christensen tells a story of being invited to present his ideas to Andy Grove, chairman of Intel. Grove wanted Christensen to explain how his business theories would help Intel, and Christensen emphasized his theory of disruptive innovation. Toward the end of their conference, Grove finally understood Christensen’s lesson—how to use the theory in practice. The how is important. Christensen makes distinctions between causation and correlation and illustrates these distinctions by discussing the origins of humans learning the mechanics of flight. Before humans learned the mechanics of flying, which many believe began with mathematician Daniel Bernoulli’s Hydrodynamica in 1738, they tried to mimic birds, most of which fly. This is an example of correlation. However, the early, failed aviators of history did not understand what allowed a bird to fly, such as the principle of lift. Once this causation was understood, real flight could be pursued. Christensen’s mission is to eschew correlation and train readers to understand causation.
Prologue-Chapter 1 Analysis
In the Prologue, Clayton M. Christensen mentions the course he teaches at Harvard—building and sustaining a sustainable enterprise. During a final discussion, his students apply business theories learned in class to their lives. Christensen leads this discussion by mentioning old classmates, especially those whose lives took a turn despite their promise. The Prologue informs much of How Will You Measure Your Life? as the book follows a seminar-style structure. The book is a summation of class discussions and insights gained, and Christensen believes these insights can guide people in The Pursuit of Lasting Happiness. He says as much to the reader, stating, “I hope the theories in this book can help you as you continue on your journey, so that in the end, you can definitively answer for yourself the question ‘How will you measure your life?’” (8). He frames the book as a guide but uses a business approach to do so.
Christensen acknowledges the obvious: that life can be a struggle. He does not mince words, claiming, “There are no easy answers to life’s challenges. The quest to find happiness and meaning in life is not new. Humans have been pondering the reason for our existence for thousands of years” (9-10). He points out that the self-help genre often mistakenly presents answers to life’s challenges in a way that makes it all seem easy: “The appeal of easy answers…is incredibly alluring” (15), but “[s]olving the challenges in your life requires a deep understanding of what causes what to happen” (16). In other words, Christensen takes a different approach to problem-solving, suggesting that overcoming life’s challenges is not easy and is always personal, a reality exhibited in Christensen’s interaction with the chairman of Intel, Andy Grove.
Christensen recognizes that part of what makes life difficult is the anxiety that comes with trying to determine the best course for one’s future. He sees wisdom in trying to learn from the past but knows it is not a foolproof approach: “People often think that the best way to predict the future is by collecting as much data as possible before making a decision. But this is like driving a car looking only at the rearview mirror—because data is only available about the past” (14). Consequently, his intention for the book is to arrange business theories and principles and apply them to some of life’s most important matters. Christensen uses case studies to transition to larger discussions, gleaning lessons and often relying on analogies to guide the reader in applying these lessons to their own life.
