Biography
Clayton M. Christensen is the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, and is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on innovation and growth. He 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. Christensen is the best-selling, award-winning author of seven books, and is releasing a new book in the spring of 2012 – “How Will You Measure Your Life.” His seminal work, “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” (1997) 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 more than 10 languages; and is sold in more than 25 countries. The book also “deeply influenced” Steve Jobs, as reported in Jobs’ biography by Walter Isaacson. Christensen has also focused the lens of disruptive innovation on social issues such as education and health care. “Disrupting Class” (2008) looks at the root causes of why schools struggle and offers solutions, “The Innovator’s Prescription” (2009) examines how to fix our health care system, while “The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out” (2011) explores the future of higher education in America. In “The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators” (2011), he identifies the capabilities demonstrated by the best innovators and explains how to master the skills as well. Christensen is also a five-time recipient of the McKinsey Award for the Harvard Business Review’s best article, including 2010’s award for How Will You Measure Your Life (the same title as his forthcoming book) and the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010 and has been featured twice (1998 and 2011) as the cover story in Forbes Magazine. Christensen is an experienced entrepreneur, having started three successful companies: CPS Technologies, innovation consulting firm Innosight and investment firm Rose Park Advisors. He also is the founder of Innosight Institute, a non-profit think tank whose mission is to apply his theories to vexing societal problems such as health care, education and clean energy. He currently serves as a board member at Tata Consulting Services (NSE: TCS), Franklin Covey (NYSE: FC), W.R. Hambrecht, and Vanu Inc. Christensen also serves on Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC).
