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Clayton Christensen has died

deseret.com

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Re: Clayton Christensen has died

#31

Post by chrispeel »

NeutralCrane wrote: post #25

More than anything, I admire him for the way in exemplified a balanced life. He was obviously hugely influential in the realm of business, but his career was clearly only ever a single part of his life, rather than the entirety of his life. He was wise without being arrogant. He was spiritual and contemplative without being preachy. He seems very much like the kind of person I aspire to be.

I did not find Christensen to be especially humble. I recall thinking his response to Jill Lepore's story [1] to be ... not humble.

To be clear, I think Christensen's ideas are useful.

[1] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/23/the-disruption...

Re: Clayton Christensen has died

#33

Post by paulddraper »

ticmasta wrote: post #28
NeutralCrane wrote: post #25

More than anything, I admire him for the way in exemplified a balanced life. He was obviously hugely influential in the realm of business, but his career was clearly only ever a single part of his life, rather than the entirety of his life. He was wise without being arrogant. He was spiritual and contemplative without being preachy. He seems very much like the kind of person I aspire to be.

So without stereotyping too harshly, I wonder if his humility came from his faith? I've met quite a few LDS who show significant tolerance for beliefs that conflict with their own, maybe because historically Mormons have been the victims of intolerance?

As with many religions, "tolerance" is a sensitive issue: blacks, women, LGBT.

But yes, there is the stereotype of a humble/reserved successful Mormon businessman. (E.g. I'd put Mitt Romney in that category too)

Re: Clayton Christensen has died

#34

Post by dorian-graph »

ticmasta wrote: post #28
NeutralCrane wrote: post #25

More than anything, I admire him for the way in exemplified a balanced life. He was obviously hugely influential in the realm of business, but his career was clearly only ever a single part of his life, rather than the entirety of his life. He was wise without being arrogant. He was spiritual and contemplative without being preachy. He seems very much like the kind of person I aspire to be.

So without stereotyping too harshly, I wonder if his humility came from his faith? I've met quite a few LDS who show significant tolerance for beliefs that conflict with their own, maybe because historically Mormons have been the victims of intolerance?

I’ve found it to be fairly true/common with LDS people. A lot of the foundational beliefs and programs in the church around the family, and about having balance. Last year the Sabbath day service was shortened an hour from 3 to 2, with one of the purposes to reduce the time away from family.

Re: Clayton Christensen has died

#35

Post by samatman »

warent wrote: post #29
ticmasta wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So without stereotyping too harshly, I wonder if his humility came from his faith? I've met quite a few LDS who show significant tolerance for beliefs that conflict with their own, maybe because historically Mormons have been the victims of intolerance?

It's interesting because I've always perceived Mormonism (at least the dogmatic kind) as being intolerant given its history of racism and sexism. I suppose a lot has changed over the years, although I've still never met a black mormon and I even lived in Boise for like 4 years

Neither race nor sex are beliefs, so that wouldn't be in contradiction to the comment you're replying to.

I have no opinion on whether Mormons are racist, sexist, or tolerant of different beliefs. My limited experience with them suggests that they're easy-going and work hard, that's about all I've got.

Re: Clayton Christensen has died

#36

Post by bryanrasmussen »

ticmasta wrote: post #28
NeutralCrane wrote: post #25

More than anything, I admire him for the way in exemplified a balanced life. He was obviously hugely influential in the realm of business, but his career was clearly only ever a single part of his life, rather than the entirety of his life. He was wise without being arrogant. He was spiritual and contemplative without being preachy. He seems very much like the kind of person I aspire to be.

So without stereotyping too harshly, I wonder if his humility came from his faith? I've met quite a few LDS who show significant tolerance for beliefs that conflict with their own, maybe because historically Mormons have been the victims of intolerance?

From someone who lived in Utah for 20+ years and whose stepfamily are all Mormon, I wouldn't think of tolerance as one of the faith's defining characteristics.

Although the intolerance often manifests itself as the kind of fake niceness found in movies when an old lady character needs to belittle someone with a sweet smile or calmly shut them out of polite society, not the fire breathing intolerance that wants to wage holy war.

Re: Clayton Christensen has died

#37

Post by wahern »

paulddraper wrote: post #33
ticmasta wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So without stereotyping too harshly, I wonder if his humility came from his faith? I've met quite a few LDS who show significant tolerance for beliefs that conflict with their own, maybe because historically Mormons have been the victims of intolerance?

As with many religions, "tolerance" is a sensitive issue: blacks, women, LGBT. But yes, there is the stereotype of a humble/reserved successful Mormon businessman. (E.g. I'd put Mitt Romney in that category too)

Not many religions in the U.S. have tolerance issues with "blacks" or "women", per se. The LDS church was unique in that regard. But to be fair, that aspect seems to have been sincerely discarded. What lingers is the uncomfortable landscape it finds itself in, and given the background racial landscape in the U.S., I'm sure it'll be an especially long journey out of that wilderness.

Re: Clayton Christensen has died

#38

Post by paulddraper »

warent wrote: post #29
ticmasta wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So without stereotyping too harshly, I wonder if his humility came from his faith? I've met quite a few LDS who show significant tolerance for beliefs that conflict with their own, maybe because historically Mormons have been the victims of intolerance?

It's interesting because I've always perceived Mormonism (at least the dogmatic kind) as being intolerant given its history of racism and sexism. I suppose a lot has changed over the years, although I've still never met a black mormon and I even lived in Boise for like 4 years

> I've still never met a black mormon and I even lived in Boise for like 4 years

You live in Boise. So...

I know many black Mormons, but only in places with a significant black population.

FWIW, Utah had a black LDS Congresswomen for the past several years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia_Love

Re: Clayton Christensen has died

#39

Post by mrosett »

gklitt wrote: post #24

He was such an intriguing thinker. I love this 2013 blog post from Ben Thompson. It's titled "What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong", but I think it ironically does a good job of showing how Christensen's ideas are actually interesting enough to deeply study and debate, unlike many others in business. https://stratechery.com/2013/clayton-christensen-got-wrong/

Yeah, Ben is a big fan of Clayton Christensen. I doubt he would have written a post with that title if he didn't think Christensen got most things right.

Re: Clayton Christensen has died

#40

Post by compiler-guy »

wahern wrote: post #37
paulddraper wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As with many religions, "tolerance" is a sensitive issue: blacks, women, LGBT. But yes, there is the stereotype of a humble/reserved successful Mormon businessman. (E.g. I'd put Mitt Romney in that category too)

Not many religions in the U.S. have tolerance issues with "blacks" or "women", per se. The LDS church was unique in that regard. But to be fair, that aspect seems to have been sincerely discarded. What lingers is the uncomfortable landscape it finds itself in, and given the background racial landscape in the U.S., I'm sure it'll be an especially long journey out of that wilderness.

The LDS church was not unique in that regard at all. They are just ~30 years behind the society around them.

For example, they had massive problems fully accepting blacks until the seventies, which was long after most mainstream religions got over their issues. But most mainstream religions (at least the protestand ones) had all kinds of trouble themselves in the forties.

The LDS church isn't unique in its problems, it's just decades behind.

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