There is no single right answer or path forward, but there is one right way to frame the problem.
Clayton M. ChristensenRead
The financial doctrines so zealously followed by American companies might help optimize capital when it is scarce. But capital is abundant. If we are to see our economy really grow, we need to encourage migratory capital to become productive capital - capital invested for the long-term in empowering innovations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the need for long-term investment in innovation rather than merely optimizing scarce resources.
Clayton M. Christensen highlights the importance of shifting the focus from short-term financial optimization to fostering an environment where capital can be invested in sustainable innovations. He argues that with abundant capital available, the key to economic growth lies in encouraging this capital to be utilized in ways that empower and support long-term innovative projects that can drive real progress and productivity in the economy.
Themes
InvestmentCapitalInnovationEconomyGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a business meeting discussing future strategies, one might say, 'As Clayton M. Christensen pointed out, we need to focus on empowering innovation for long-term growth.'
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Companies, in fact, are specifically organized to under-invest in disruptive innovations! This is one reason why we often suggest that companies set up separate teams or groups to commercialize disruptive innovations. When disruptive innovations have to fight with other innovations for resources, they tend to lose out.
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There is no evidence that success in business will make us happy people or allow us to have happy families.
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By definition, big data cannot yield complicated descriptions of causality. Especially in healthcare. Almost all of our diseases occur in the intersections of systems in the body.
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The breakthrough innovations come when the tension is greatest and the resources are most limited. That's when people are actually a lot more open to rethinking the fundamental way they do business.
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