Professor Clayton Christensen at the Harvard School of Business is one of my heroes in the business world. His series of books on
disruptive innovation have changed the way I think about new products, and provide theoretical tools that have assisted my approach to intellectual property strategy in my work (even though IP strategy is not discussed in his works). I was happy to see an article from him in the February
Ensign (not yet on the LDS.org site) - I hope you'll read it. Also, I was impressed to see that he has made his personal testimony of the Gospel available on his Website,
ClaytonChristensen.com. It's in the form of an essay about his beliefs called "
Why I Believe." Since it's almost guaranteed to cost him some business, I admire his courage and kindness in sharing that.
2 comments:
I found it a bit amusing/interesting that in the Ensign article he essentially criticizes Church practice of "roll-keeping" during sacrament meeting, contrasting it with the Savior's imperative to leave the ninety and nine and seek after the one.
His advice on filling "leadership" positions in the ward/branch level with those "on the periphery" so that the same "qualified" members don't rotate around the same key callings was a refreshing insight.
From the article: "Building His Church on the backs of the simple and weak (see D&C 1:19) was not a temporary, stop-gap staffing plan to tide the Church over until enough experience, committed, qualified leaders had arrived on the scene."
I remember being in attendance at a business leadership class at BYU a few years ago where the professor pointed out that most Church leaders, both local and general, had significant business leadership experience. I vocally took exception to that, considering a man on my mission who was a janitor that was serving as the bishop at the time and was greatly loved by the members of his ward, and the fact that my own father had served as a bishop but didn't have the resume of a business executive.
In my own experience in a position of stewardship, I remember recommending a member to fill a calling in my organization although this person was "on the periphery". The calling was never extended and it left me wondering if despite the good feelings I had about the recommendation, whether the bishop's paradigm limited callings to those no "in the periphery".
From my perspective, this is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed on a larger scale at stake priesthood leadership meetings, PEC meetings, etc.
Great find, Jeff. I really enjoyed Clayton's articles. A PDF version of the February Ensign is available.
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