Clayton M. Christensen

The Innovator's Dilemma asked why competent, well-run companies with satisfied customers get destroyed by inferior products, and answered that they fail precisely by listening to their best customers.

Disruptive technologies start worse and cheaper, serve a market the incumbent does not want, and improve until they take everything. The theory reshaped how a generation of executives talked about strategy.

Christensen taught at Harvard Business School and was a devout Mormon who had served a mission in Korea. Later research has challenged how well the historical cases actually fit the model, which he engaged with rather than dismissing. How Will You Measure Your Life came out of a lecture to graduating students about applying the same thinking to a family.