Clayton Christensen

1952–2020 · Harvard Business School professor & theorist of disruptive innovation

Clayton Magleby Christensen (born Salt Lake City, 6 April 1952; died Boston, 23 January 2020) was the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He coined disruptive innovation in a 1995 article and developed it in The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997), which The Economist cited in calling him the most influential management thinker of his time. He wrote as readily about how to live as about how firms fail, and the two quotations here come from that second strand.

Traced to source

2 quotes we’ve traced to Clayton Christensen

“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”

Verified

“It's easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time”

Attributed

Not actually Clayton Christensen

Often misattributed to Clayton Christensen

Famous lines widely pinned on Clayton Christensen that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Last year over one million quarter-inch drills were sold, not because people wanted quarter-inch drills but because they wanted quarter-inch holes”

actually Leo McGivena

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