Competing Against Luck

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 has 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 contends 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 Christensen’s 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.

“This game-changing book is filled with compelling real world examples, including from inside Intuit. Jobs Theory has had --and will continue to have ---a profound influence on Intuit's approach to innovation. It just might change yours, too.”

As a long-time fan of Clay Christensen, I was eager to read Competing Against Luck -- and it didn't disappoint. This book has the potential to change the way you view innovation. Engaging and well-written, Christensen and his co-authors caused me to stop and really think about how Khan Academy is growing. I highly recommend it.--Sal Khan, Founder & CEO, Khan Academy
Clayton Christensen's books on innovation are mandatory reading at Netflix.--Reed Hastings, Co-founder and CEO of Netflix
Competing Against Luck offers fresh thinking on how to get innovation right. Clayton Christensen and his coauthors offer a compelling take on how to truly understand customers by the progress they're seeking to make in their lives. Bravo!--Muhtar Kent, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company
In an age of big data and hyper segmentation, Christensen's thinking is refreshing and clarifying. This book will relieve you of tired marketing conversations and invite you into worlds of new and ultimately, defining possibilities. Competing Against Luck is a must read for anyone working on developing or sustaining a distinctive brand.--Maureen Chiquet, former CEO of Chanel and author of forthcoming Beyond the Label
--Scott Cook, Co-founder & Chairman of Intuit
Competing Against Luck is an excellent primer on the both the theory, and on the applications of this theory to many areas of business. A fun and quick read - and a set of ideas that will be useful when you negotiate with vendors or plan your next program.-- Inside Higher Education
Clay Christensen and his co-authors have presented critical business thinkers and doers with a breakthrough theory that will change how leaders approach innovation by reverse engineering from a high value and focused customer job to be done. I have read it cover to cover--and will ask my top team to do the same.--Ron Frank, IBM

Clayton M. Christensen is the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. In addition to his most recent book, How Will You Measure Your Life, he is the author of seven critically-acclaimed books, including several New York Times bestsellers — The Innovator''s Dilemma, The Innovator''s Solution and most recently, Disrupting Class. Christensen is the co-founder of Innosight, a management consultancy; Rose Park Advisors, an investment firm; and the Innosight Institute, a non-profit think tank. In 2011, he was named the world’s most influential business thinker by Thinkers50.A native of Australia, James Allworth is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar, and the Australian National University. He writes regularly for the Harvard Business Review. He has previously worked at Booz & Company, and Apple.Karen Dillon was Editor of the Harvard Business Review until 2011. She previously served as deputy editor of Inc magazine and was editor and publisher of the critically-acclaimed American Lawyer magazine. She is a graduate of Cornell University and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. In 2011, she was named by Ashoka as one of the world’s most influential and inspiring women.

A generation ago, Clayton Christensen revolutionized business with his groundbreaking theory of disruption--a way to predict how competitors will respond to different types of innovation. In this book, Christensen and his coauthors examine the other side of the puzzle: what causes growth, and how to create it. After years of research, Christensen, Hall, Dillon, and Duncan show that the long-held maxim--that the crux of innovation is knowing more and more about the customer--is wrong. Customers don't simply buy products or services; they "hire" them to do a job. Understanding customers does not drive innovation success. The key is understanding customers' Jobs to Be Done. 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, and Airbnb to name just a few. This book carefully lays down the authors' provocative framework, providing a comprehensive explanation of the theory, why it's predictive, and, most important, how to use it to improve innovation in the real world.

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