The Measure of a Man’s Life
3 Life Changing Lesson from Professor Clayton Christensen.
Here is a brief review of Professors Clayton Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon’s book, How Will You Measure Your Life. Professor Clayton authored business bestsellers like The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution, but this title is my all time favorite. The authors dissect high sounding economics and business terms to the practical understanding of the uninitiated.
Following in the steps of his other groundbreaking bestsellers on innovation and other subjects, this book, to say the least, will be highly appreciated by all.
Granted that life is not all about business, he (and the co-authors) used simplified and yet highly practical language to propose what should and ought to be the most important measure and approaches to life in general.
The first two takeaways;
- Deliberate (or planned) strategy
- Emergent Strategy
These two strategies and their typical life applications are briefly explained below.
The authors explained how readers can use deliberate (or planned) and emergent strategy to discover their life’s purpose, goal, pursuits and what might eventually work for them in life. The likelihood of the success of any of these strategies been tested along the way with the statement, “What has to prove true for this to work?”
Going further, according to them, people in all cadres of life can use the theory of full costs and marginal costs when taking decisions that have overreaching long or short term repercussions in business and in situations that call for moral choices. They explained thus, that “The marginal cost of doing something wrong “just this once” always seems to be negligible, but the full cost will typically be much higher.”
Unconsciously, we all naturally tend to employ the marginal cost doctrine in our personal lives. A Voice in our head says, “Look, I know that as a general rule, most people shouldn’t do this. But in this particular extenuating circumstance, just this once, it’s okay. And the voice in our head seems to be right; the price of doing something wrong “just this once” usually appears alluringly low. It suckers you in, and you don’t see where that path is ultimately headed or the full cost that the choice entails.”
This book did not set out to just simply teach us morals. But, in our world and times where people see morals as relative especially in the age where new and ever increasing “alternative truths” are the other of the day, I find the authors’ emphasis in this area towards the end of the book a highly reassuring guide.
Never lower your morals in other to please others or meet their expectations. Do not debase yourself or go contrary to what you know to be your true inner convictions and what is the right thing to do. Why? For, “it is easier to stay true to your convictions 100% of the time than it is to stay true to them 98% of the time.” Because, you never can tell where or how far you will go down the drain after that first, initial, “Just this one time only” act of compromise.
SOURCE
©Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, Karen Dillon; How Will You Measure Your Life?
