Leaving A Lasting Impact

Twenty women who have been audacious with their ambitions and touched lives while pursuing their goals

- Varsha Meghani

As Forbes India was putting together this issue, news of Clayton Christensen’s death hit the headlines. The well-regarded Harvard Business School professor, who had been battling cancer, succumbed at the age of 67. A book written by him, a personal favourite, is How Will You Measure Your Life? (2012).

In it, Christensen recasts his management theories as formulae for how best to live your life. He writes, “I know I’ve had substantial impact,” referring to his management ideas that helped leaders, including Intel’s Andy Grove and Netflix’s Reed Hastings, rethink their business strategy (and generate enormous revenue). “But as I’ve confronted this disease, it’s been interesting to see how unimportant that impact is on me now. I’ve concluded that the metric by which God will assess my life isn’t dollars but the individual people whose lives I’ve touched.”