Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

But the company had almost failed several times, and even success was brutal. The financial risk of a career in entrepreneurship is the chance of spending 20 years in startups with nothing to show for it — neither money nor an impact on the world. Develop deep expertise — your best risk-mitigation strategy .

Career 10

Career Company IPO Christensen 10

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

It's not news to anyone who's looked for a job recently that the days of a monolithic career spent at one company or in one well-defined field are over. Many of us have had to — willingly or out of necessity — rethink our career paths. At six years old, I knew what I wanted to be: a designer. I started out designing cars.

Career 8

Career Christensen Disruptive Innovation Travel 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 5, 2012

When Clay Christensen, his son Matt, and I first launched Rose Park Advisors, we considered bringing on investors at the GP (general partner) level. Even in the middle of my career, it felt like a punch to the solar plexus. When we are outside the apparatus of power, we have to find workarounds if we are to achieve success.

Career 17

Career Christensen Disruptive Innovation Learning-by-Doing 17

Chart Your Course

JUNE 30, 2016

Every HR, OD professional, and management consultant should at the very least be aware of their existence, if not well-versed in their ideas and theories. In one of the defining management studies carried out in the 90s, Collins and his team complied a list of 1,435 companies in search of those special few that could truly be called “great.”

Human Resources 100

Human Resources Talent Management Resources Ulrich 100

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 22, 2011

Notwithstanding the considerable career and financial (I am the primary breadwinner) risks involved, it was time to leave my comfortable perch and become an entrepreneur. Six years into my mid-career move, here are some lessons learned from my personal disruptive trajectory: If it feels scary and lonely, you're probably on the right track.

Disruptive Innovation 20

Disruptive Innovation Christensen Metrics Innovation 20

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 26, 2012

The crisis exposed the fallacies of measuring success in monetary terms and left many leaders with a deep feeling of unease that they were being pulled away from what I call their True North. By external standards I was highly successful, but inside I was deeply unhappy. I was losing my way. That is much easier said than done.

Christensen 15

Christensen Self-aware Short-term Long-term 15

N2Growth Blog

JANUARY 13, 2011

My advice to you is not to let your business get caught up in embracing random ideas – at least not without some initial analysis being conducted to determine the likelihood of success. Failed initiatives are costly at several levels. Every sound business initiative begins with a solid strategic plan.

Blog 413

Blog Innovation Strategic Planning Brand 413

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Over the past six years, we have put in place a 30-person consulting team at EMC Information Infrastructure (EMC II) using a model we have found to be successful, winning projects away from external management consulting firms at a fraction of the cost, and with great “client” (that is to say, EMC) satisfaction.

Consultative 8

Consultative Team How To McKinsey 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Bob is the Managing Partner of The Re-Wired Group in Detroit, an innovation incubator and consultancy specializing in demand-side innovation. An engineer, designer, serial entrepreneur, investor, and researcher, he has developed 1,000+ products/services and has collaborated with Clay Christensen at HBS for more than 15 years.

Mentor 17

Mentor Christensen Incubator Learning-by-Doing 17

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

I never intended to disrupt my career over and again, eventually becoming a free agent. When my husband was on the hunt for an academic job after completing his PhD, his choices were Boston and San Antonio, both of which had the potential to cut my Wall Street career short. Certainly that has been the case for me.

MBO 14

MBO Learning Curve Christensen Trends 14

Harvard Business Review

JULY 11, 2016

I consulted 20 professionals who have worked with or supervised interns in higher education, business, law, and nonprofits, and compiled the most valuable advice for interns from their stories, my own observations, and management literature. Renowned management thinker Clay Christensen recommends spending time formulating the right questions.

Critical Success Factor 8

Critical Success Factor Ryan Christensen Advice 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 16, 2014

As Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen described in his mega-bestseller How Will You Measure Your Life? (with Karen Dillon and James Allworth), the ROI of work is immediately apparent. Instead, he writes , “Happiness is…the precursor to greater success. But, of course, it was possible. But that’s actually backward.

Christensen 15

Christensen Gilbert Short-term Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 19, 2012

My own publisher, HBS Press, published two the very same month as my book — one of them co-authored by heavyweight Clay Christensen. What if success or failure is just one unexpected moment away? Ask for the keys to career success and you'll get logical explanations, recommendations, pathways and approaches.

Succession 20

Succession Diversity Open-book Innovation 20

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 11, 2013

When I suggested to Clayton Christensen that we partner with Hatkoff to create the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards , Clay’s response was : I trust you Whitney. She loved her job, and with a background in public affairs in communications had been successful in both international business and management roles.

Innovation 14

Innovation Christensen Decisionmaking CTO 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 20, 2013

Associate director for the Motivation Science Center at the Columbia University Business School and author of Nine Things Successful People Do Differently. The key to success (scientifically speaking) is perseverance. But those paths, the ones you learned about in your career offices aren''t the only ones afforded to you.

Advice 15

Advice Learning-by-Doing Career Open-book 15

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 16, 2012

Communities of practice, where they share a common career or field of business, will extend your offer because it extends their expertise (like McAfee mavens ). Many of you know of Clay Christensen's iconic work the Innovators Dilemma. Perhaps the new model for a successful business should be "Nimble." Everything. Or "Flux."

Christensen 18

Christensen Business Model Decentralization Innovation 18

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 23, 2015

Many of the most common missteps we see companies make would fit nicely in Steve Kerr’s management classic , “The folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B.” ” Indeed, the academic literature suggests that almost every commercial success had a failure somewhere in its lineage. They chose … spandex.

Innovation 8

Innovation Company Six Sigma Constraint 8