How Will You Measure Your Life?

Christensen claims that people often make the mistake of assuming that because their relationships are going well, they can disinvest energy in them. Rather, steady relationships should be invested in even further. Christensen again uses examples from business to support his position. He discusses the telecommunications company Motorola and their failure with a subsidiary named Iridium. Motorola promised to make cell phone service more accessible by using satellites rather than cell towers, as signals can reach anywhere in the world. The strategy was innovative, but Motorola did not anticipate potential problems. Ultimately, Iridium was a disaster and lost millions for Motorola. Christensen claims the disaster was due to the theory of “bad money and good money” (86). Iridium failed because all investment money went into the original idea, making the idea highly risky. Because the majority of successful companies eventually abandon their original strategies, Motorola’s full investment in their original strategy left no money for emergent strategies.

Christensen claims that the smart move for a company is to make investments for growth while the company is growing. This provides stable growth, which Motorola did not allow for Iridium. As for one’s personal life, close relationships should not be taken for granted.