Called "the father of disruptive innovation theory," Clayton M. Christensen is at it again. With his coauthors, Christensen makes the case that companies shouldn’t be selling benefits. Instead, they should be selling themselves for hire. Customers are looking for products and services to do specific jobs. When companies focus on the job at hand, they can innovate more effectively to win market share and customer loyalty. Using real-world examples like Amazon and Airbnb, the book makes it easy to translate this new way of thinking to your business.

''One of the best business books of 2016'' -- Fast Company

Books by Karen Dillon

Nonfiction Business

The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty (HarperCollins, January 2019)

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice

"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." --Scott Cook, Co-founder & Chairman of Intuit

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?
After years of research, Harvard Business School professor Clayton 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.

How Will You Measure Your Life?

"One of the more surprisingly powerful books of personal philosophy of the 21st century."

–Forbes

"[A] highly engaging and intensely revealing work... Spiritual without being preachy, this work is especially relevant for young people embarking on their career, but also useful for anyone who wants to live a more meaningful life in accordance with their values."

–Publishers Weekly

"The book encapsulates Christensen’s best advice to keep high achievers from being disrupted in their own lives... [P]rovocative but reassuring: Peter Drucker meets Mitch Albom."

–Bloomberg Businessweek

"[M]ore genuinely a self-help book than the genre it disparages. Instead of force-feeding readers with orders on how to improve, it aims to give them the tools to set their own course"

–Financial Times

The HBR Guide to Office Politics

"To help people learn how to use office politics to get things done rather than merely suffer as the victim of the machinations of others, Harvard Business Review Press has just published The HBR Guide to Office Politics by Karen Dillon."

–Vedomosti

"Office politics might sound a somewhat throwaway knockabout topic for such an esteemed set of guides but as former Harvard Business Review editor Karen Dillon demonstrates, it's deadly serious. Her guide tackles common quandaries, from an over-controlling manager to a bullying colleague, employing real, practical advice rather than pop psychology, and her guidance on effective conflict management techniques is as sound as you'll read anywhere."

–People Management (UK)

"The tagline to HBR Guide to Office Politics is 'Rise above rivalry, Avoid power games, Build better relationships.' It offers dozens of really useful tips to help us do exactly that."

–MindTools (mindtools.com)

Quick Links

Authors Guild

Advocates for published authors since 1912

Authors Guild Directory

A compendium of member websites

Recent Articles and News

Don't Throw Away Your Shot! The Science of Mental Preparation

Have a big moment coming up? A big sale? Asking for a raise? Speaking to a crowd? What you do right before that moment may make -- or break -- your chance to shine.

The Secret to American Girl dolls' success

Explaining why American Girl has been successful for 30 years... one of my favorite stories.

What Airbnb Understands about Customers' Jobs to Be Done

The Secret of Airbnb's success? They understand something others miss.

Behind the book Competing Against Luck

Want to understand Jobs Theory more clearly? An interview with co-author Karen Dillon

Harvard Business Review article: Know Your Customers' Job to Be Done

Want to get innovation right? Ask different questions.

HBR podcast: How to say no to more work

You want to be a team player -- but you're drowning in work. Here's how to say no. An Interview with HBR Guide to Office Politics author Karen Dillon.

HBR.org: How much should you share with a new colleague?

Are you doing a new colleague a favor giving them the real lay of the land? Or making yourself vulnerable?

WNYC podcast: coping with credit stealing colleagues

Colleagues stealing your ideas? Your thunder? Your opportunities? Here's how to fight back, with dignity. An interview with Karen Dillon