37 pages • 1 hour read
Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, Karen DillonHow Will You Measure Your Life?
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Section 3-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Section 3: “Staying out of Jail”
Section 3, Chapter 10 Summary: “Just This Once”
Christensen argues that most people do not start off with the aspiration of doing unethical things. Instead, a series of small, unethical decisions eventually leads to the normalization of unethical values. These decision makers only consider the cost of their behavior in the present. Christensen uses the case study of video rental giant Blockbuster to explain marginal cost thinking. Blockbuster was so successful that it did not consider the start-up Netflix, which used a different model for video rental, as a threat. Rather than adapting its own strategy and investing in Netflix’s increasingly popular model, Blockbuster remained true to its own model. Eventually, the company declared bankruptcy—which Christensen attributes to its marginal thinking, to assuming the current model would remain productive. He also studies US Steel and its competitor, Nucor. When it became evident that Nucor’s strategy of depending on mini-mills for cheap steel production was advantageous, US Steel did not follow suit. They relied on their current mills instead of adapting. When executives consider whether or not to invest in something new, they contend with paying the full cost of this something or leveraging what they already have to keep costs marginal.
As a case study of how marginal cost thinking can lead to trouble, Christensen describes the story of Nick Leeson, a former trader with the British merchant bank Barings. In 1995, Leeson racked up “1.3 billion dollars in trading losses” (187), which eventually brought down the company. This all began with a decision to cover up a mistake because he did not want to appear as a failure. This decision escalated into deceitful behavior that eventually landed Leeson in prison. Christensen attributes Leeson’s demise to him covering up his mistake rather than admitting to it, a hallmark of marginal cost thinking. When faced with dilemmas, people must be wary of their inner voice, encouraging them to take the easy road. Christensen then discusses a situation in his own life, when he was a starting center for his university basketball team in England. His team made the national final match, and the game was to be played on a Sunday, the day of the Sabbath. Devoutly religious, Christensen struggled with what to do. His coaches and teammates argued in favor of making an exception. Ultimately, Christensen decided not to play in the game. He uses this anecdote to drive home the importance of being true to oneself and developing self-discipline.
Epilogue Summary
The final chapter returns to Christensen’s initial premise of people experiencing misfortune despite seeming successful. He briefly discusses the Nick Leeson scandal in which Leeson, through a series of compounding errors, led the British merchant bank Barings to collapse. Leeson’s deceit can be traced to a small but crucial decision to cover up a mistake. This single decision set him on a course that would land him in prison for a six-year sentence in Singapore. Christensen recognizes that not everyone is in a position in which their mistakes could collapse a bank. Overall, Lesson’s story is a cautionary tale. Christensen points out that “most of us will face a series of small, everyday decisions that rarely seem like they have high stakes attached. But over time, they can play out far more dramatically” (178). What ultimately led Leeson to his demise was a single temptation to lie. This lie normalized deceitful behavior and spiraled out of control. Therefore, Christensen advises readers to consistently stand up for their values, especially in the face of temptation—reinforcing the theme of Extrinsic Versus Intrinsic Motivation. Lies, shortcuts, and temporary solutions are forms of what Christensen calls “marginal cost thinking”—a mindset that compromise one’s ethics and sets them up for failure both professionally and personally. He does not promise that making ethical decisions will necessarily lead to happiness, but normalizing unethical decision-making will lead one further from it.
In the Epilogue, Christensen lays out a three-part strategy for determining purpose—consisting of likeness, commitment, and metrics. He reminds readers that this strategy requires introspection and self-reflection. While people may have an innate sense of what their purpose is, it does not simply manifest out of nowhere. Christensen suggests that “[t]he type of person you want to become—what the purpose of your life is—is too important to leave to chance. It needs to be deliberately conceived, chosen, and managed” (197). Both developing a culture and finding meaning are active processes that require effort and a will to dig deeper into what matters to you in your life. Finally, Christensen shares his own purpose and how he learned to measure his own life. To him, “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” (203-04). This reinforces his overall lesson on The Pursuit of Lasting Happiness, suggesting it comes from being of service to others and finding meaning in what we do.
