Learning from Awesome People: Clayton Christensen

“Why do I have to have another angel on my side?”

Focus, Life of Dillon

Losing people is hard.

Last weekend I went to the funeral for Clayton Christensen, well known in my Church community and the Business world for his ability to never lose sight of the individual while seeking to understand the big picture.

My personal interactions with this great man were fleeting – ones he may not even remember. But he was someone I’ve long admired from afar and relished my minor interactions with – from listening to him speak while he served as a regional leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while I was in grad school in Boston, to speaking to him for a moment when he visited his daughter while we both lived in NYC.

Again from afar, I’ve also admired his resilience in the face of numerous health challenges he and his family faced with faith and fortitude over more than a decade.

Sitting at his funeral, I was reminded of the influence one person can have. I found myself thinking about what I want to do in my life, the way I want others to remember me.

I was inspired by a quote shared on the program:

“When I have my interview with God, our conversation will focus on the individuals whose self-esteem I was able to strengthen, whose faith I was able to reinforce, and whose discomfort I was able to assuage. The only metrics that will truly matter to my life are the individuals whom I have been able to help, one by one, to become better people.”

            -Clay Christensen

The room I sat in was full of people who had been helped in one way or another (and in most cases, in many ways) by this incredible man.

Even more than how I want others to “remember me” being at this funeral made me think about how I want each person I interact with to know that I love them because God loves them. I want to be a conduit of God’s love to every person I come in contact with.

The final speaker at the funeral was President Henry B. Eyring and he told us that the advice he received was to let the family share insight into the life and greatness of this wonderful man, because they could do it better than he could. Instead, he should tell us where Clay is now. That there really is life after death.

I believe both those things – that the family shared more eloquently than I ever could about the power of Clayton Christensen’s life, and that there is life after this one.

With that in mind, below are the highlights from the notes I took during the funeral, paraphrased, but still the words of Clay’s wonderful children who I respect and admire greatly as well.

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• Get along with, value, and appreciate the differences in others
• Uncompelled Humility
• “Anomalies wanted”
• Be truly and deeply interested in learning about people - if so, you two will have something in common
• People learn when they are ready to learn, not when you are ready to teach
• Servant of the individual
• Don’t just serve reactively, do so proactively
• Got his head back on straight by raising his hand reflexively for every service opportunity
• Let others feel that you really, really care about others
• Emanate the ethos to come as you are
• Be the best at living up to the privilege to be who you are
• “It could be a wonderful adventure or it could be a high stakes disaster - but if you go, I’ll pray for you.”
• It would have been easier if he just told me what to do but I’m grateful he equipped me with both spiritual and logical tools
• Serve and give and buoy people up until your wheels fall off
• Write it all down - others will appreciate it later
• Take a borderless approach to teaching
• If a principle is true and a theory is good it shouldn’t be constrained to one part of the universe
• Present life must reflect what you’re trying to teach
• What can I do to make the job better for  _______? How can I best support ______ in her next step of personal and professional development
• Use first-person pronouns and present tense verbs
• Teach lessons through constant actions
• Pray that others will feel God’s love through you 
• This changes how you see those around you.
• More important to ask good questions than have good answers
• Children are meant to be able to follow the example of their parents
• Work ethic was part of his fingerprint
• In what He gives us and in what He takes away God blesses us. 
• Act in a way that is true to the principles you learn
• Laugh at your quirks, but talk about things that matter most
• Serving others brings more goodness into your life than you know
• Use your work as a vehicle to help as many people as you can
• “I’m fine, but the world has lots of problems & we’re not solving them in here”
• See the best in people and be unfailingly forgiving of their faults.
• My dad got most of the credit, but everything he did was a team effort
• Look out for each other and those who are not here
• Thoughtfully and prayerfully determine what your purpose in life is and organize your time accordingly
• Strengthen your faith until you can serve others with love
• Speak to the one, let others listen in as they choose.
• It’s sweet to look back, but look forward - remember where people are now
• He’s as busy there as he was here
• The Holy Ghost will help you with the nostalgia and loss, but he also will help you know where he is now
• “You know he [Clay] will talk to everyone and he won’t be discouraged”
• Joy in knowing who we really are, I hope you feel joy
• [The spirit world] is not some drifty place, it’s real, they are busy