Black & white portrait photo of Clay Christensen in a suite and tie

Vale Clayton Christensen

Written by Dr Timothy Mansfield
Published on 31 January 2020

About the author

Tim Mansfield is a strategist, culture consultant and futures researcher, specialising in the cultural sector. He has been the CEO of the Interaction Consortium since August 2016.

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Clayton M. Christensen, a Harvard professor whose groundbreaking 1997 book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, outlined his theories about the impact of what he called “disruptive innovation” on leading companies and catapulted him to superstar status as a management guru, died on Thursday in a Boston hospital. He was 67.

We've been using Prof. Christensen's concepts of disruptive innovation and his Jobs-To-Be-Done theory for years. By all accounts he was a generous, thoughtful soul who was kind and helpful to the people around him.

This is a message from his family, posted on his Twitter account which gives you some idea of the man and his legacy. While his life was a gift to his family and friends and, more broadly, to those of us who think about business and innovation, his death is a loss to all of us.

Here is a list of obituary pieces to give you some idea of Clay's impact:

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