Father of innovation
Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, and is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on innovation and growth.
Early life and education
Clayton Christensen was born on April 6, 1952, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the second of eight children born to Robert M. Christensen (1926–1976) and his wife, Verda Mae Christensen (née Fuller; 1922–2004).He grew up in the Rose Park neighborhood of Salt Lake City and attended West High School, where he was student body president. Christensen and his siblings were raised as members of the LDS Church. Christensen was an avid basketball player who stood 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall, and later became the starting center on the men's basketball team during his time at the University of Oxford.
After graduating from high school in 1970, Christensen was accepted to Harvard University, Yale University, and Brigham Young University (BYU). He "decided to make the decision a matter of prayer" and felt a "clear impression" to attend BYU, which had awarded him a full scholarship.Christensen majored in economics, and was classmates in his first-year economics course with future U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney and future Harvard Business School dean Kim B. Clark.While at BYU, he took a two-year leave of absence from 1971 to 1973 to serve as a volunteer full-time missionary for the LDS Church. He was assigned to serve in South Korea and became a fluent speaker of Korean. Christensen returned to BYU after completing his missionary service, and in 1975 graduated with an Honors B.A. summa cum laude in economics.
After graduating from BYU, Christensen won a Rhodes Scholarship and spent two years studying applied econometrics at Oxford's Queen's College, receiving an M.Phil. in 1977.While at Oxford, Christensen was a member of the men's basketball team, which won back-to-back British University Sports Federation championships in 1975 and 1976 and the English Basketball Association's national championship for non-league teams in 1977.Christensen then returned to the United States to attend the Harvard Business School, receiving an MBA with high distinction in 1979.
Career
In 1982 Professor Christensen was named a White House Fellow, and served as assistant to U.S. Transportation Secretaries Drew Lewis and Elizabeth Dole. He was awarded his DBA from the Harvard Business School in 1992, and became a faculty member there the same year, eventually receiving full professorship with tenure in 1998. He holds five honorary doctorates and an honorary chaired professorship at the Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
Prior to his academic career, Clayton worked as a management consultant with BCG in their Boston office and helped co-found Ceramics Process Systems, a Massachusetts-based advanced materials company. He has subsequently helped establish many other successful enterprises, including the innovation consulting firm Innosight, the public policy think tank Innosight Institute, and the investment firm Rose Park Advisors.
Personal life
Christensen and his wife Christine (née Quinn) married in 1976. They had three sons, Matthew, Michael, and Spencer, and two daughters, Ann and Catherine. Their eldest son, Matthew Christensen (b. 1977), was a member of Duke University's 2001 National Championship basketball team.
Death
Clayton M. Christensen, Harvard Business School’s Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration, acclaimed author and teacher, and the world’s foremost authority on disruptive innovation, died on January 23, 2020, surrounded by his loving family. Christensen was 67 years old.
Collected from:
