Competing Against Luck; The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice

xx, 262, [4] pages. Index. Signed by the author sticker on front of the DJ. Signed by Taddy Hall on the title page. Clayton Magleby Christensen (April 6, 1952 - January 23, 2020) was an American academic and business consultant who developed the theory of "disruptive innovation", which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. Christensen introduced "disruption" in his 1997 book The Innovator's Dilemma, and it led The Economist to term him "the most influential management thinker of his time." He served as the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School (HBS), and was also a leader and writer in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was one of the founders of the Jobs to Be Done development methodology. Christensen was also a co-founder of Rose Park Advisors, a venture capital firm, and Innosight, a management consulting and investment firm specializing in innovation. Karen Dillon is a 3x co-author with revered Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, including their New York Times bestseller, How Will You Measure Your Life? She is also the co-author of The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems--and What to Do about It, which was named a Thinkers50 Best Management Books of 2023. A former editor of Harvard Business Review, Karen is currently on the faculty of Intermountain Healthcare Leadership Institute. Taddy Hall is an Expert Implementer of Innovation, Marketing & Growth Strategies; Authority on Elevating the Consumer Experience for Maximum Growth; Senior Partner, Lippincott. David S. Duncan is a Senior Partner at Innosight, focused on helping leaders to develop customer-centric teams, strategies, and organizations. He has advised and written extensively on how organizations can build systematic capabilities for innovation and is a leading authority on the theory and application of "jobs to be done." The foremost authority on innovation and growth presents a path-breaking book every company needs to transform innovation from a game of chance to one in which they develop products and services customers not only want to buy, but are willing to pay premium prices for. How do companies know how to grow? How can they create products that they are sure customers want to buy? Can innovation be more than a game of hit and miss? Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen has the answer. A generation ago, Christensen revolutionized business with his groundbreaking theory of disruptive innovation. Now, he goes further, offering powerful new insights. After years of research, Christensen and his co-authors have come to one critical conclusion: our long held maxim--that understanding the customer is the crux of innovation--is wrong. Customers don't buy products or services; they "hire" them to do a job. Understanding customers does not drive innovation success, he argues. Understanding customer jobs does. The "Jobs to Be Done" approach can be seen in some of the world's most respected companies and fast-growing startups, including Amazon, Intuit, Uber, Airbnb, and Chobani yogurt, to name just a few. But this book is not about celebrating these successes--it's about predicting new ones. Christensen, Hall, Dillon, and Duncan contend that by understanding what causes customers to "hire" a product or service, any business can improve its innovation track record, creating products that customers not only want to hire, but that they'll pay premium prices to bring into their lives. Jobs theory offers new hope for growth to companies frustrated by their hit and miss efforts. This book carefully lays down the authors' provocative framework, providing a comprehensive explanation of the theory and why it is predictive, how to use it in the real world--and, most importantly, how not to squander the insights it provides. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated].…