Dr. Clay Christensen, Harvard Professor extraordinaire, taught generations of his students the virtues of kindness over profitability. He passed away earlier today — losing his fight to leukemia.
His ability to think outside the box, and certainly color outsides the lines, made him unique. Rather than focus on the ABC’s of profitability, he taught his students the importance of “creating a strategy for living a good life”. I don’t think we, as educators, do enough of that. We focus too much on teaching students how to make money, and not enough about how to make a good life and how to treat people the right way.
I love the notion of him teaching his students less about what to do, and more about how to think. I try doing that with my students every single day. I think we should all do more of that.
Every now and then an educator comes along that challenges the status quo, and disrupts the educational landscape. The world is better because of it.
Rest well, good Sir. I sense your legacy will be around for a while.
About Hemant Rustogi