...HBR.ORG July–AuGust 2010 reprinT r1007B How Will You Measure Your Life? Don’t reserve your best business thinking for your career. by Clayton M. Christensen How Will You Measure Your Life? Don’t reserve your best business thinking for your career. [ By C l ay t o n M . C h r i s t e n s e n ] EditOR’s NOtE: When the members of the class of 2010 entered business school, the economy was strong and their post-graduation ambitions could be limitless. Just a few weeks later, the economy went into a tailspin. They’ve spent the past two years recalibrating their worldview and their definition of success. The students seem highly aware of how the world has changed (as the sampling of views in this article shows). In the spring, Harvard Business School’s gradu- ating class asked HBS professor Clay Christensen to address them—but not on how to apply his principles and thinking to their post-HBS careers. The students wanted to know how to apply them to their personal lives. He shared with them a set of guidelines that have helped him find meaning in his own life. Though Christensen’s thinking comes from his deep religious faith, we believe that these are strategies anyone can use. And so we asked him to share them with the readers of HBR. 2 Harvard Business Review July–August 2010 CoPyRIgHT © 20104 HARvARd BUSIneSS SCHool PUBlISHIng CoRPoRATIon. All RIgHTS ReSeRved. foR aRtIcle RepRInts call 800-988-0886 oR 617-783-7500, oR vIsIt hbr.org Before I published...
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...“You can talk all you want about having a clear purpose and strategy for your life, but ultimately this means nothing if you are not investing the resources you have in a way that is consistent with your strategy. In the end, a strategy is nothing but good intentions unless it's effectively implemented.” –Clayton M. Christensen (1) Something that really struck me in Christensen’s book was when he talked about how he developed the strategy for his own life. At the time, Christensen was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and his academic program was very demanding. Yet, Christensen “decided to spend an hour every night reading, thinking, and praying about why God put [him] on this earth.” This daily commitment was challenging to keep because it took him away from his studies, but reflecting upon that commitment and experience, he said: “Had I instead spent that hour each day learning the latest techniques for mastering the problems of autocorrelation in regression analysis, I would have badly misspent my life. I apply the tools of econometrics a few times a year, but I apply my knowledge of the purpose of my life every day. It’s the single most useful thing I’ve ever learned. I promise my students that if they take the time to figure out their life purpose, they’ll look back on it as the most important thing they discovered at HBS. If they don’t figure it out, they will just sail off without a rudder and get buffeted in the very rough seas of life.” (2) In order to answer the question...
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...Easy Measures for Increasing Identity Theft Protection Introduction Imagine getting ready to purchase a home. Your family has outgrown the house you are currently living in, and a bigger home would be a perfect fit for your family. Since you have owned your home for many years and made your payments on time (along with your other bills), you feel applying for a home loan will be easy. With banks offering lower interest rates and trying to obtain business from customers, now is the time (you feel) to apply for a home loan. You walk into the bank and meet with the local loan officer. After explaining your financial and work situation, the loan officer provides an interest rate and term on a home loan. You find the home loan favorable and wish to proceed with the home loan. The loan officer is happy to proceed and explains that a credit report will need to be pulled. You agree to have your credit report pulled, as you feel your credit score is in good shape. The loan officer pulls your credit report and you see a look of concern come across his face. The loan officer prints your credit report and proceeds to tell you that due to your high debt, failure to make payments, and low credit score; the bank cannot offer you a loan. You now have this look of horror on your face as you do not know how you have late payments, your debt is high, and your credit score is low. You ask to see your credit report. When you review the credit report, you realize these unpaid, high-balance...
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...simply means making sure your goals are in harmony with and aligned to what you really want in life. An Important Illustration: Let's say you hate your job so you set a new goal find another job. You're so desperate and emotional to leave your current work situation you focus your goal on what you are feeling in the moment. Your goal: Find a better job, that pays money, with less stress. Maybe you follow the SMART goals formula and add specifics that you can measure, such as you want to find this job within four months and your minimum salary requirement is 10% more than your current job. Let's say four months later you achieve your goals - you have a better paying job and less stress. However, you're still dissatisfied, because the new job is not challenging. Your workday seems extremely long and you're unhappy. When you ensure your goals are aligned with what really want in life then you will be happier in the long run. If you would have taken the time to focus on what you really wanted your job search may have taken you in a new direction. In the end, you'd be doing work you love, with more energy, and interest. You'd feel a sense of accomplishment and be happier. Never underestimate the power of effectively aligning your goal. It's the foundation for really smart goals. Objective: Setting Personal Goals that Will Spark Your Enthusiasm and Lead to Lasting Success You Want to Be With the 3% That Succeed! 97% of people do not know how to set goals that provide...
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...of the slain boy, a minister, asked the judge to spare the life of the young cutthroat leader, and to be permitted to adopt him as his son, to replace the son that was murdered. As a result of this extra measure of forgiving love, the young Communist and all of his living relatives were converted to Christianity. What is the source of such heroic love? The answer is found in the very command to love with the extra measure, in the words "I say to you..." (Matt. 5:44). The secret of love and its glacier-melting warmth can be found only in the person of Jesus. He didn't say, "Without my ideals, you can do nothing," or "Without my precepts, you can do nothing." He said, “Without me you can do nothing." You can't live the Sermon on the Mount unless the Savior of the mount lives in you. "And this is how we know that he lives in us," says John. "We know it by the Spirit he gave us" (1 John 3: 24). Virtue, like a well-cut diamond, is multifaceted. Heroic virtue is any of those facets supercharged with love. "Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity" (Col. 3:14). That's why it is in the treatment of the virtue of charity or love that Jesus spotlights the "principle of the extra measure." It required heroic love to go beyond obeying the legal demands of the occupying Roman soldiers who could require a Jew to carry their military gear, but Jesus told them, "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles" (Matt. 5: 40-41). Heroic...
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...RESEARCH & IDEAS Applying Business Theories to Your Life Published: June 4, 2012 Author: Carmen Nobel Scholarly economic theory applies to more than just business. The same causal mechanisms that drive big corporations to success can be just as effective in driving our personal lives, says Professor Clayton M. Christensen. Key concepts include: • In evaluating major life decisions, it's helpful to employ a tool called discovery-driven planning, which essentially boils down to a single question: What assumptions must prove true for this plan to work? • Incentives are not the same things as motivators. • Marginal thinking can be dangerous. It's safer to decide early on that you'll stay true to your commitments 100 percent the time, rather than assess the risk of every "just this once" possibility that comes along. Intel Corp. and the Pentagon, for example. In 2011, Thinkers50 named him the world's most influential business thinker. At the same time, he has held major leadership positions in his church, and he's never taken a business meeting on a Sunday because his faith encourages its members to keep the Sabbath Day holy. He sees no dichotomy. "You know, it's a travesty that somehow our society has gotten to a point where people have the view that science and academia are inconsistent with a spiritual life, and the belief that there we've been put here for a purpose," he says. "The reality is that the only reason you're interested in either of these things is that you're interested...
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...How Will You Measure Your Life? Aquino, theory suggests, a healthy relationship between family, guarantees that their association in leadership turns out to be a persisting source of harmony, which helps to characterized and actualized life. Knowledge and leadership has similarity technique in line with the connection within family. The same ability organization's technique is implemented in controlled, by the sorts of activities that administration puts resources into. Since organizations' frameworks are intended to control speculations to activities that offer the most unmistakable and quick returns, organizations scam, interests in activities that are essential to their long haul method as with the long term and commitment to family. The inability to keep the motivation behind ones lives up front as we chose how to invest our time, gifts, and vitality, amid marriage can prompt short relationship, and failed marriages. It is very startling that a huge division of individuals every year from some of the world's best Universities have given little thought to the motivation behind their lives. They feel they will have additional time, and vitality to reflect at a later moment in time to figure out their purpose. It is imperative to have an acceptable reason for your life as well as a fundamental necessity. A purpose is something one must contemplate long and hard if they intend to excel, alongside technique examining, while praying and seeking God, as to His purpose for you...
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...What Makes Us Happy 25 Pillar Four: Employee Wellness 36 Pillar Five: You and Your Boss 42 Pillar Six: You and Your Co-Workers 48 Pillar Seven: Personal Growth 54 Pillar Eight: Company Alignment 58 Pillar Nine: Career Satisfaction 63 Pillar Ten: Ambassadorship 66 Conclusion ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jacob Shriar Director of Customer Happiness Jacob is the Director of Customer Happiness at Officevibe, and is on a mission to make the world of work better. He believes that everyone deserves to love their job, and be happy, healthy, and productive at work. He's passionate about startups and company culture, and believes you should never stop learning. 1 PREFACE Why Did I Write This Guide? I wanted to emphasize the importance of emotional metrics, and how they affect engagement. The HR department has a real opportunity to engage workers on a deeper, more emotional level. I want managers to be able to tell how happy and healthy their employees are. I want managers to be able to measure, optimize, and improve each of these metrics so that their employees can be as happy as possible. Who Is This Guide For? This guide is for HR managers, and anyone responsible for employee happiness and company culture. If you’ve wanted to measure and improve your employees’ happiness and wellness levels, this guide is for you. If you’ve ever wondered how to improve relationships between...
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...received. Private information can be handle very delicately by a doctor’s office, but with the wrong click of the mouse. You can basically hand over your life to someone and have your life stolen. I personally chose social media as a way to stay in contact with most of my family and friends. Not until 2007 did I realize how social media worked and how privacy could become an issue. Posting the wrong picture or allowing someone to post a not so pleasing one of you could cause and ethical issue in the work place years later. Trying to get a job these days required you handing over your Facebook password and allowing people to form an opinion of you from what you do or say away from the workplace. The ethical issue behind this demand of you private life only start here. That’s why I learned to interact with social media very carefully. Watching what I post, and being aware of what other people post of myself. Protecting you privacy can be pretty easy. Being aware of what you say around a group of people is very important. For example, you’re at work and you make a call to your local bank. Before you can begin to discuss your account the operator needs to verify some personal information like your social security number, account number, and home address. This is not something that should be discussed sitting in an open cubical. The human protective measure should be to get up, go to a hoteling station and close the door or go into a conference...
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...are reading. Critical response paragraphs do not simply summarize the text or evaluate whether or not you like the text; they are a 7- to 10-sentence persuasive and focused analysis, argument, or interpretation about the text. They not only help you think critically about the texts you read but also help you formulate ideas that can be expanded into longer essays. There are four parts to a critical response paragraph:1) an argumentative topic sentence, 2) evidence in the form of quotations or paraphrases for the argument you are making, 3) interpretation of your evidence in relation to the argument, and 4) a strong concluding statement. Follow the guidelines under each part to help you write a critical response paragraph. Do not write a plot summary. Engage the text. 1. The Argumentative Topic Sentence You can think of your critical response paragraph as a mini-essay; your paragraph’s topic sentence (usually the first sentence) must act as both the thesis and the introduction. You should include the author’s name and the title of the text you are writing about, and you must state precisely and concisely what you are going to argue, prove, or analyze about the text. Creating a strong argumentative topic sentence is perhaps the most crucial step in writing a critical response paragraph. A strong topic sentence gives you something to say; it helps ensure that the paragraph you write proves, argues, illustrates, interprets, or explains something. The most common mistakes students...
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...Personal responsibility essay Older generations had trust in teachers that they could leave their children alone in a one on one setting and even employ corporal punishment if necessary. My definition of personal responsibility is when someone takes ownership of a task, team or person weather they ultimately achieve success and or failure. Our education system is riddled with scandals and bouts of inappropriate relationships between faculty and students which ultimately have grave ramifications hindering these young people in their future and how they perceive the educational system. Today we are finding that this is no longer the case because not all people in positions of trust should hold their position. Many teachers have been caught having inappropriate relationships, assaulting the same children they are charged with educating and also, some teachers have chosen to neglect their “less capable” students. I feel that if we begin taking responsibility for our actions early on, then our society would suffer less. People would begin holding themselves accountable for the things that they are doing, or thinking of doing. Our young students need their teachers taking responsibility for their actions. These things are damaging them far beyond the point where their studies are on the forefront of their mind. On the flip side of that statement, as our young students become adults, they must find a way to overcome the mental trauma that consumes them and creates...
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... Introduction Many people think of the word “control” in the context of manipulating someone or something. They think of control as getting someone to do something that WE want them to do, and it follows that they may NOT want to do it! In management, control has a different meaning. It is simply an information system that provides valuable feedback. In your textbook, control is defined as “the process of monitoring activities to ensure that they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations” (Robbins et al., page 308). In other words, you measure the results you are getting and compare this with your objectives and then make any necessary adjustments. Managers who control the finances of an organization are often referred to as “controllers.” These managers use financial control measures on a daily basis. Project managers also use control mechanisms to monitor their projects. Control measures are determined at the beginning of a project and used throughout the life of a project to monitor time, budget, and project scope. The control measures give the project team valuable feedback on how they are doing. Just as feedback is a critical component in good communication, feedback is also a key factor in developing management controls. Measurement controls can be set up in virtually any area of an organization. One area that most people have experience with is the annual performance appraisal. An employee’s direct manager has traditionally conducted...
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...Purpose: Demonstrate how to properly fit for a bra Thesis Statement: Wearing the correct size bra maintains breast health and can improve your appearance. Good Morning Ladies and Gents! As you may know, my name is Janell, and I am pleased to talk with you about a topic that is near and dear to my heart: Bra Fitting! This may not pertain to the gentlemen here today but it is useful information that you could pass along to the women in your life. I have been working as bra fitter for the past six months with the company called Macy’s. Let me ask you a question: “On average, what percentage of women are wearing the wrong size bra?” (Pause) According Wikipedia, 75-85% of women wear the wrong size. For the next few minutes I would like to provide you with a few helpful facts and demonstrate how to measure yourself for the right fit. Believe it or not, most women wear a bra too large in the back and too small in the cups. Most people know that bra sizes are made up of two parts - a number and a letter. The number is known as the "band size" and the letter is the "cup size." However, what many people do not realize is that cup sizes are in proportion to the band size. According to Lisa Hill at our local Macy’s store, you should get re-fitted every time you have a shift in weight. Whether it be weight gain or loss, or even pregnancy; they all have an effect on your bra size. Achieving the proper fit helps with breast health, comfort, and your overall appearance. If your bra is the correct...
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...Women and Cardiovascular Disease Biology 1114 April 6, 2011 Women and Cardiovascular Disease Did you know that cardiovascular disease is not a disease affecting only men? Cardiovascular disease has been found to be the number one killer of women. According to Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) experts women die from cardiovascular disease one in two; compared with one in twenty-five die from breast cancer.1 According to research women may not be as aggressively treated as men; and another known fact is related to symptoms which may vary differently from men who are having a heart attack compared to women. Within 1 year of a man having a heart attack statistics show that 24 percent of those men die, in comparison to women it is a significant increase to 42 percent. The differences for the reason women die more than men are still not understood. We do know that women are likely to get cardiovascular disease about 10 years later in life than men, and also have coexisting chronic conditions. In 2007, cardiovascular disease was the cause of death in 306,246 females.2 Often times in cardiovascular disease related to women is considered an “older women’s disease” and it is the leading cause of death in women over the age of 65. In women age 25-44 cardiovascular disease is the third leading cause and following in the second leading cause in women age 45-64. What is cardiovascular disease? Cardiovascular disease occurs when a substance called...
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...pollution on mankind and the environment Suggest possible measures that should be taken to reduce pollution. Suggest possible measures that should be taken to protect endangered animals. Causes and consequences of student stress Effects of the popularity of televisions/ Internet Consequences of eating an unbalanced diet/fast food/convenience food Talk about the problems of overpopulation in big cities, and suggest some solutions to this problem. 2. The advantages/ disadvantages The advantages/ disadvantages of books/ reading books/ English The advantages/ disadvantages of technology/ Internet/ computer/ cell phones (in education) The advantages/ disadvantages of daily exercises / balanced diet The advantages/ disadvantages of city life/ rural life 3. Education and work The most difficult school objects you are studying and what you would like your friends and your teacher to do to help you learn that subject more effectively Why should you attend a university/ how important is tertiary study to you? Would you prefer to do an undergraduate course abroad or in your country? Explain your choice Should students study abroad/ wear uniforms? Talk about a job you may do after you finish school Suppose you are looking for a part-time job as a librarian during the summer holiday at a university in the UK, write a letter of application for the University’s Employment Service Which international organizations would you like to work for WWF. WHO, or the UN? Why? 4. Describe...
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