Photo: World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Clayton Christensen was one of those rare thinkers who could hand you a simple framework and completely rewire how you see the world. His concept of disruptive innovation — the idea that scrappy upstarts topple giants not by beating them at their own game but by targeting overlooked customers with "good enough" products — became the lens through which Silicon Valley, boardrooms, and business schools interpreted almost everything from 2000 onward. A Rhodes Scholar out of Brigham Young University, he spent decades at Harvard Business School earning a reputation as one of the most cited management thinkers alive. What I find genuinely moving is that alongside all the intellectual firepower, he was a deeply humble man of faith who wrote openly about what he believed mattered more than strategy. He passed in January 2020, and the field is noticeably quieter without him.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Clayton Christensen
- Name (Japanese)
- クレイトン・クリステンセン
- Reading
- くれいとん・くりすてんせん
- Born
- April 6, 1952 – January 23, 2020
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Dragon
- Origin
- Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
- Occupation
- priest / university teacher / writer / missionary / economist
2. Background
- High school
- West High School
- University
- Brigham Young University
Awards & achievements
- 2014 Herbert Simon Award
- 1975 Rhodes Scholarship
- 2016 honorary doctorate
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Clayton Christensen born?
April 6, 1952 – January 23, 2020.
Where is Clayton Christensen from?
Clayton Christensen is from Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
What does Clayton Christensen do?
Clayton Christensen works as priest, university teacher, writer, missionary, economist.
University teacher — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.