How Will You Measure Your Life?

Professor Clayton Christensen applies a pedagogical method that I enjoy: explain some theory, exemplify the theory to solidify the insights, then use this theory to analyze a new situation and discuss the predictions/guidance that the theory yields.

It's strange to attempt to design a life based on business administration theory, and it's somewhat bleak that so often the book invites the reader to think of themselves, their careers and their families as a business to grow and manage. But I have to confess that the lessons are convincing, mostly because those management principles are crystals of common sense.

The advantage of this approach is that business cases are more well documented and more convincing than examining the life of "successful" people, exactly because the success of a business is easier to measure than a human life. I recommend not taking the theories too seriously (there's a lot of literature on motivation theory elsewhere, for instance) but to focus on a few key aspects: some investments need to happen early; certain things should not be outsourced; priorities are defined by resource allocation; culture is defined by decision making;

Overall a good book to re-read once in a while to remind myself to re-balance my life's portfolio.