Of course I knew that he was an icon within the Latter-Day Saint world, and also in the business world and I’ve always been interested in both but I don’t remember when I first heard of Clayton Christensen. When I first read his book “How will you measure your life?” I was reeling from a painful and devastating divorce. I found it so meaningful that I bought a copy for each of my children. I wanted them to realize that there are good people in the world and that they could be one of them through their life choices. This book expressed my hopes for my children in a way that I couldn’t at the time.
For several years I ate, worked, slept, went to church, took walks or attended yoga classes and tried to help and love my children as we were all trying to heal. It was an intentionally small world, but it felt safe and I desperately needed that. In my job at Colorado Early Colleges in Parker, Colorado, high school students had the opportunity to take college classes for free on our campus and had the possibility of graduating from high school with an associates or bachelors degree debt free. As the Exceptional Student Services Coordinator, I was tasked with helping our students with learning differences and disabilities, learning accommodations plans, our English language learners, and our gifted or twice exceptional students. Because it was a new high school education model we were all feeling some anxiety. I wasn’t quite sure how to help our students successfully transition from high school to college classes and they were struggling to do so. On a whim, after a particularly discouraging conversation, I started a google search for graduate programs for motivation. The top of the list was Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. I was surprised and intrigued. I read their website. I It resonated with my heart and mind and brought tears to my eyes to find a program that had a philosophy I wanted to live by. I applied with only the tiniest glimmer of hope. I was shocked and elated and then terrified when I was accepted. But I gathered all the courage I could muster and moved to Boston.
Sight unseen I signed a contract for an apartment with 2 roommates. It was located within the Belmont 2nd ward boundaries. I was surprised to find that Clayton Christensen was a member of that ward. Before I had left my job to move to Boston, the founder of Colorado Early Colleges, Keith King, had mentioned that Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation had heavily influenced the work that he had done for education and our charter schools in Colorado. I told him that I would say hello if I ever had the opportunity to meet him while I was attending Harvard. When I learned that he was in my ward I gathered up my courage to approach Brother Christensen, tell him about Keith King’s admiration and ask if he would help me send a copy of the Book of Mormon to Mr. King. He graciously agreed and so I wrote a letter and my testimony and had my picture taken with Brother Christensen. He brought a copy of his book “How Will You Measure Your Life?” with a hand written note in the front for Mr. King and I mailed all of it to him.
Shortly after I arrived in Belmont I was called to teach the 11 year old primary class. They were a cheerful and fun group which included Ethan Perry, Nick Vergilio, Eleanor Warinner, William Johnson, the son of Mark and Jane Clayson Johnson, Helen Goodsell and Gretchen, the daughter of our Stake President, Matthew and Lizzie Christensen and granddaughter of Clayton and Christine Christensen. The kids were always so happy to be together and enjoying conversation that my lessons rarely were completed so I thought it might be worth having the kids teach the lessons instead. They loved the idea and took turns signing up to teach with the help of their parents or to bring treats. Gretchen always had insightful and funny comments to make and she has a genius for imitating people. When I was attending an open house at Clayton & Christine’s home for a newly baptized member, I enjoyed talking with Gretchen and a few other members of the family and getting to know them more. In particular, I remember Christine taking such a genuine interest in me and sharing insights into her family that helped me reconsider how I might approach and support my own children.
When I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about my favorite scripture to introduce myself, Brother Christensen came up to me afterwards and thanked me for my talk and said that it was one of the best sacrament meetings that he had ever attended. I was surprised and humbled that he would take the time to share his thoughts with me.
As my first semester at HGSE was starting to wrap up I realized how quickly the time would go and the idea came to my mind to ask a few of the professors in our ward if they had any recommendations on how I could maximize the remainder of my time at Harvard and if they had any particular suggestions on what I should be sure to do. When I asked Brother Christensen he considered it for a moment and suggested that he would like some time to think about it and invited me to set up an appointment to discuss his ideas. I was nervous when I went to his HBS office, and not sure what to expect, but hopeful for a meaningful conversation. As we talked and I shared some of my personal background and educational goals he thought for a moment and said that he thought I should take his BSSE class, he said it would change my life. I was completely caught off guard and intimidated by that suggestion but absolutely grateful that he would even offer me that opportunity. I knew that by attending Harvard’s Graduate School of Education I had the opportunity to take classes at any of the other graduate schools, including HBS, but there were far too many offerings to choose from and I hadn’t seriously considered it up to that point.
The BSSE winter class of 2018 was co-taught by Clayton Christensen, Willy Shih and Chet Huber. The first day they posted a long list of all the ailments that Professor Christensen had or was experiencing, and yet he was usually in class, listening to the discussion, asking questions and making comments. He would always said hello with a friendly smile to everyone he met. On the final day of class, after the presentations as everyone was saying their goodbyes, I thanked him for the opportunity to attend and participate in HBS Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise (BSSE). He very kindly asked about my next steps and wished me well.
To this day I still refer to the theory and ponder often about how I can use disruptive innovation to be more effective at work and in my personal life.
About a year after graduation I was in the San Jose, CA airport waiting to fly to Boston for a brief visit friends and then onto Paris for my son Joshua’s wedding. Spencer and Channing were there with their children and were taking their newborn back to Boston to meet Grandma and Grandpa and the family. They said that Clayton was in the hospital.
When I heard that Brother Christensen had passed away my heart dropped. All these memories came flooding back into my mind and I was filled with sadness and gratitude. As I have pondered my few simple experiences with Clay, I realized that beyond my time in BSSE, my life has truly been changed by his significant example of what it means to be a man of faith, a successful business leader, a caring educator and a loving husband and father.
I wrote this with love and gratitude to all the Christensen family.
1/26/2020
