Unveiling the Power of Jobs Theory with Exploration “Competing Against Luck” by Clayton M. Christensen

Uncover the game-changing concept of jobs theory, igniting innovation and success. Get ready to revolutionize your approach to competition and strategy. Embark on a transformative journey into the realm of business strategy with Clayton M. Christensen’s “Competing Against Luck.”

Ready to unravel the secrets of sustained success and innovation? Keep reading to dive deep into the world of jobs theory and discover how it can reshape your business landscape.

“Competing Against Luck” delves into the core concept of jobs theory, a groundbreaking approach to understanding customer needs and driving innovation. Clayton M. Christensen, renowned for his disruptive innovation theories, explores how successful companies focus not on products, but on the jobs customers hire them to do. Through real-world examples, the book demonstrates how businesses can identify and fulfill these jobs, ensuring long-term success and customer satisfaction.

Christensen’s “Competing Against Luck” is a revelation in the business strategy landscape. The exploration of jobs theory provides a fresh perspective, challenging traditional product-centric approaches. The book seamlessly weaves theory with practical examples, making it accessible to both seasoned business leaders and newcomers. Christensen’s insights are not only enlightening but also actionable, offering a blueprint for businesses seeking sustained innovation and competitive advantage. “Competing Against Luck” is a must-read for anyone aiming to stay ahead in today’s dynamic business environment.

Genres

Marketing, Sales, Productivity, Entrepreneurship, Management, Leadership, Business, Innovation, Strategy, Corporate Culture, Market Dynamics, Customer Behavior, Competitive Analysis

Recommendation

The “Theory of Jobs to Be Done” unlocks the mystery of successful product innovation – a mystery often dismissed as luck. “Jobs Theory” holds that people don’t merely buy goods, they “hire” and “fire” products based on whether those products do the “job” that consumers need done. Companies practicing Jobs Theory know their understanding of consumer behavior helps predict successful innovation. Best-selling author and Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen and his co-authors Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan explain that the detailed observation of targeted customers – in their struggle to make progress – leads to a precise narrative that specifies the Job to Be Done. Such a narrative can serve all levels of an organization as a decision-making guide and a map of the need for an innovative product. We recommends this leap forward to professionals tackling product innovation and anxious to get it right.

Take-Aways

• The “Theory of Jobs to Be Done” says consumers “hire” and “fire” products based on whether they do the job that customers want to accomplish.
• A Job to Be Done is the individual progress that a consumer seeks in specific circumstances.
• Concentrating on the consumer’s Job to Be Done can focus your search for successful product innovation.
• The theory clarifies consumer behaviors that impel opportunities for innovation.
• For example, Amazon concentrates on three things that solve jobs for customers: a broad selection of merchandise, competitive prices and rapid delivery.
• Identifying a Job to Be Done requires describing the job in narrative detail.
• Innovation comes from understanding what people are struggling to accomplish.
• Data tabulations are less meaningful than narratives in pinpointing open niches.
• When consumers find ways to work around or compensate for jobs that have no great solutions, this behavior signals new product or service opportunities.
• Often the biggest competitor is not another product, but “nonconsumption” – people’s decisions not to buy anything to solve a job.

Introduction: Discover keys to innovation success through customer-focused strategies

Competing Against Luck (2016) challenges you to rethink innovation and growth through what is known as the jobs to be done theory. This transformative concept invites you to understand on a deeper level why customers make the choices they do, thereby helping you shape how you develop and market your products or services. Dive into a world where success hinges not on luck but on a profound comprehension of your customer’s true needs and desires.

Have you ever wondered why some innovations thrive while others barely survive? What really drives a customer to choose one product over another in a vast sea of options? It’s not always about the shiniest features or the most cutting-edge technology. Sometimes, it’s about understanding the deeper needs and jobs that customers are trying to accomplish through these products. This concept might seem simple, yet it’s incredibly powerful in shaping successful innovation strategies.

In this summary, you’re about to unravel the big picture behind the jobs to be done theory – a concept that pivots the focus from mere product features to the underlying reasons why customers use or “hire” a product or service.

Whether you’re steering a business, developing a product, or simply aiming to understand the dynamics of market success, this perspective will provide you with the tools to align your strategies more closely with what customers truly need.

Tailor products for specific needs

In a world brimming with innovations and the relentless pursuit of the next big thing, the question of why certain innovations succeed while others falter remains rather perplexing. The heart of this puzzle lies not in the brilliance of technology or the allure of groundbreaking designs, but rather in a fundamental understanding of what prompts a customer to choose one product over another.

That’s where the jobs to be done theory comes in, a concept that has the potential to revolutionize your approach to innovation. At its core, this theory suggests that customers “hire” products and services to accomplish a job in their lives, driven by specific circumstances. The key to unlocking successful innovation is to understand these jobs deeply and create products that are not just technologically advanced but are fundamentally aligned with what customers need to achieve.

Take this example: For years, fast-food chain McDonald’s struggled to enhance its milkshake sales, trying various tactics based on customer feedback. However, it was only when they reframed their perspective to understand the “job” the milkshake was being hired for that they unlocked success. Through observation and interaction, they discovered that customers were hiring the milkshake for a unique job; to make their morning commute more engaging and to stave off hunger until lunch. This revelation wasn’t about the milkshake’s ingredients or price – it was about understanding the specific job for which it was being hired.

So, with this realization in hand, the fast-food chain had a revelation. To better cater to the morning commuters, they could make the milkshake thicker, adding elements of surprise like fruit chunks or chocolate bits. This would not only enhance the taste but also add a fun element to the otherwise monotonous morning drive. These targeted improvements led to a significant increase in sales and customer satisfaction. By understanding and catering to the specific “jobs” the milkshake was hired for, the fast-food chain transformed a generic product into a multifaceted solution and, by doing so, enhanced its appeal.

So, how can you go about implementing this at your organization as you navigate the complex terrain of innovation? First, it’s crucial to shift your focus from merely improving product features to understanding the job your customers need to get done. This approach involves keen observation and interaction with your customers, seeking to understand the circumstances under which they use your product or service.

Second, innovation should not be about creating a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s about recognizing and responding to the diverse needs of your customers. Each customer interaction presents a unique job to be fulfilled, and understanding this variability is key. By adapting your product to meet these specific jobs, you can transform a standard offering into something precisely tailored to address distinct customer requirements.

Alright. Now that you know the secret to successful innovation, you can start creating products or services that resonate more profoundly with your customers. This will ensure not just immediate success but sustained relevance in an ever-evolving market.

Uncover hidden innovation opportunities

On the journey to innovation, understanding the customer’s needs is a crucial stepping stone, yet it’s only the beginning. Beyond recognizing the job a product or service is hired to do, there lies a broader landscape of untapped potential. This landscape is rich with overlooked opportunities and unmet needs, often hidden in the day-to-day experiences and challenges that people face. It’s a realm where keen observation and a deeper understanding of the human context can lead to truly transformative innovations.

Embarking on this path requires adopting a job hunting mindset. This isn’t only about observing what people do – it’s about understanding why they do it. It involves exploring the nuances of everyday life, where nonconsumption, workarounds, and unusual uses of products aren’t just anomalies but signposts pointing toward opportunities for innovation. Consider a scenario where a commonly used product is being applied in a way that it wasn’t originally intended for. This off-label use isn’t just a quirk – it’s a clue that there’s an unmet job waiting to be discovered and addressed.

Delving into these opportunities means understanding the multifaceted nature of jobs. Jobs aren’t just functional – they encompass emotional and social dimensions too. Take the case of a simple home tool like a drill. While its functional job is to make holes, its emotional job might be to empower the user with a sense of accomplishment in DIY projects, and its social job could be to enable the user to contribute to their home’s comfort and appearance, gaining appreciation from family members.

In exploring these nuances, we begin to see how everyday objects can play multiple roles in our lives, far beyond their primary functions. The key to innovative thinking lies in understanding these layered jobs and finding ways to enhance them. Imagine a smart alarm clock that not only wakes you up but also offers motivational quotes or a brief summary of the day’s weather and news. This enhanced functionality adds value, catering to the emotional job of starting the day positively and the social job of keeping one informed and connected. In a rapidly evolving world, it’s these human-centered innovations that stand the test of time, continually adapting to meet the changing needs and desires of people.

Understand your customers’ needs

As we delve deeper into understanding the driving forces behind customer choices, let’s move on to another important concept – how to build customer stories to reveal the job of a product or service. This concept emphasizes that while customers might not always articulate their needs precisely, their actions, struggles, and the choices they make weave a narrative that reveals the true jobs they use products or services for. Let’s explore this idea and consider how it can be applied.

One remarkable story that vividly illustrates this concept is that of the American Girl doll, created by Pleasant Rowland. Initially, the dolls were met with skepticism, but Rowland was convinced of the deeper job they were to fulfill. Her vision was that these dolls weren’t just toys – they were tools for historical and emotional education, offering a unique sense of connection for children. Each doll, with its own backstory set in a specific historical era, was designed to engage children not just in play but in learning about different periods and cultures. This approach to play was a departure from the typical doll experience, aiming to fulfill a more enriching and educational role in a child’s life.

But how do we uncover such innovative “jobs” in the first place? The key lies in observing and interpreting customer behaviors, which often speak louder than their words. In Rowland’s case, she noticed a gap in the market: Children were playing with dolls but there was an unmet desire for more meaningful, educational interaction. She recognized that while parents bought dolls for play, they also sought ways to educate and connect with their children. This insight allowed her to redefine the “job” of a doll from solely entertainment to a tool for learning and emotional growth. As a result, American Girl dolls did become more than toys – they transformed into vehicles for storytelling, history lessons, and emotional development, resonating deeply with both children and parents.

So, how can you put this knowledge into practice at your organization? First, adopt the mindset of a detective or a documentary filmmaker. Pay close attention to customer behaviors, struggles, and the circumstances in which they use your products. This insight can be more revealing than direct feedback. Second, remember that innovation is not just about attracting customers to your new product. It also involves understanding what current behavior or product they will have to let go of or “fire” to make room for yours. This consideration is crucial as people often resist change due to comfort in the status quo or fear of the unknown.

As you develop a deep comprehension of your customers’ desires, you’ll be better equipped to create products and services that meet their needs more effectively, leading to innovation that resonates and endures.

Balance efficiency with customer experience

Gaining a competitive edge is a complex undertaking. But here we’re going to focus in particular on the key to creating real value and maintaining a sustainable advantage. That is, the strategy of aligning processes around the customer’s job.

To see this concept in action, imagine visiting a hospital like the Mayo Clinic, known for its exceptional patient care. Unlike traditional hospitals, Mayo Clinic has a unique process. When a patient arrives for a diagnostic visit, a process expert coordinates all necessary appointments with various specialists in a single visit. This person ensures that the patient’s journey is seamless, removing the burden of navigating the complex medical system. This approach focuses on the patient’s job – to get an accurate diagnosis quickly and efficiently. The Mayo Clinic’s success lies in its process, which integrates various functions to deliver a smooth experience for the patient.

This example illustrates that competitive advantage stems from how an organization integrates its processes to perform the customer’s job, not just from its own resources. A process-centric approach ensures that every interaction, decision, and communication aligns with delivering value to the customer. It’s about creating a system where all parts work harmoniously to fulfill the customer’s needs.

What does this mean for your organization, you might be asking? Well, first, you’ll need to shift your focus from internal metrics to job-focused metrics. Measure success based on how well you’re meeting customer needs, rather than just internal efficiency. For instance, if you’re a software company, don’t just track how many features you release – measure how those features impact the user’s job to be done.

Secondly, while optimizing efficiency is important, it’s crucial not to lose sight of the customer’s desired experience. Processes should be flexible enough to adapt to changing customer needs without compromising the quality of the service or product.

By focusing on job-focused metrics and maintaining the balance between efficiency and customer experience, you can create a system that consistently delivers value and stands out in the market. This approach not only ensures success but lays the foundation for long-term relevance and growth.

Avoid the three fallacies of innovation data

Throughout the life of any long-standing business, staying true to the core purpose that sparked its inception is crucial yet challenging. In doing so, you must bear in mind the three fallacies of innovation data, which, if unacknowledged, can significantly derail a company’s focus from its core mission. This is because as companies grow and expand, they often drift away from their foundational job, getting caught in a trap of misconceptions. Understanding these pitfalls is essential to keeping innovation aligned with the company’s original mission.

Imagine a company as a ship setting sail with a clear destination. Initially, the focus is sharp, driven by a deep understanding of the customer’s needs, much like a captain attuned to the murmurings of the sea. Here, we’re in the realm of passive data – the subtle yet potent insights gleaned from observing and empathizing with the customer’s daily struggles and desires. But as the journey progresses, the waters get murky. The ship, now a larger vessel, starts responding more to the active data – the loud, quantifiable metrics that emerge from sales and operations. This shift, while seemingly logical, often leads the company away from its true north, focusing more on the numbers and less on the underlying customer job it set out to address.

Consider the story of V8 Vegetable Juice, a brand that redefined its purpose by shifting its focus from competing against other beverages to fulfilling a specific job for the customer – making vegetable consumption convenient. This shift led to a remarkable increase in sales. However, over time, V8 lost this clarity, expanding its product line extensively and losing sight of its focus. The brand, once a clear solution to a specific job, became just another option among many, losing its unique position.

This tale exemplifies the first fallacy, where the focus on active data overshadows the fundamental insights of passive data.

The second fallacy, that of surface growth, further complicates the path. Companies, in their quest to grow, often start expanding their product lines and services, trying to be everything to everyone. This approach, while tempting, leads to a diffusion of effort and a drift away from the core job the company originally set out to fulfill.

Lastly, the third fallacy, that of conforming data, is perhaps the most insidious. It’s human nature to seek confirmation for our beliefs and decisions. In the business context, this often translates into interpreting data in ways that support existing strategies and viewpoints, rather than challenging them to stay aligned with the customer’s job.

But how can these three fallacies be avoided? Well, first and foremost, you’ll need to maintain an unwavering focus on the customer’s job at all times. This requires a continual return to the essence of passive data, the rich, qualitative insights that reveal what customers truly need and want. It also calls for a disciplined approach to growth, ensuring that any expansion or diversification directly contributes to better fulfilling the customer’s job. And lastly, it demands a critical examination of the data we choose to see, ensuring it reflects the reality of customer needs, your preconceptions or aspirations.

In essence, by avoiding the pitfalls of the three fallacies, companies can stay on course, continuing to innovate and grow in ways that are truly meaningful and aligned with their foundational purpose. Remember, it’s not just about the products or services you offer, but about the job they’re hired to do in your customers’ lives.

Summary

The “Theory of Jobs to Be Done”

According to the Theory of Jobs to Be Done, people do not merely buy products. They “hire” products to help them make personal progress toward a specific objective. Unless the purchase and use of a product helps the consumer make progress toward his or her goal, no amount of fidgeting with its features will translate to successful innovation. Identifying a Job to Be Done calls for a narrative description of a “job” or of the specific type of progress prospective customers seek.

“Every successful company achieves initial success, consciously or not, by performing a valuable job for a group of consumers.”

On the surface discerning what exactly caused a customer to purchase one product over all other choices may be difficult. But if you look more closely, what customers hire – and equally importantly, what they “fire” – tells a story. That story is about the functional, emotional and social dimensions of their desire for progress – and what prevents them from getting there. The challenge is in becoming part sleuth and part documentary filmmaker by piecing together clues and observations to reveal what jobs customers are trying to get done. This construct can help product marketers clarify the processes that drive their consumers’ choices to buy and sell.

“A job is “the progress that a person is trying to make in a particular circumstance.”

Ample anecdotal evidence supports the practical utility of “Jobs Theory.” Quantitative critics may wish to fall back on data, but data obscure “real stories of real people in real companies.” Data tell you how many, but they don’t tell you why. Telling these stories unveils a wealth of data. Observing real people in their moments of struggling to make progress can provide deep insights into their purchasing decisions.

“Jobs Theory changes not only what you optimize your processes to do, but also how you measure their success.”

Akio Morita, the founder of Sony, dismissed market research. Instead, he searched for intuitive inspiration by observing “how people live.” Sony suspended development of its Walkman cassette tape player when market research indicated that consumers wouldn’t buy it because it was a tape player that didn’t record. Morita ignored the research, trusted his beliefs and resumed development. Sony sold more than 330 million units and the Walkman inaugurated the worldwide proliferation of personal music-playing devices.

Doing Jobs That Customers Need Done

Jobs Theory defines a job as the progress a person tries to make in particular circumstances. Buyers integrate products into their daily lives to accomplish specific jobs. A job has not only functional dimensions, but critical social and emotional dimensions as well. Grasping the full dimensions of a job requires identifying the buyer’s struggle to make progress, its situational context, the obstacles impeding that progress and the definition of “quality” in a good solution.

“How often do you hear a success dismissed as simply the right product at the right time? We can do better than that.”

Airbnb identified a Job to Be Done by listing homes and rooms available for short-term rental. At its inception, Airbnb wasn’t competing with mainstream hotels. It was competing with being unable to go somewhere at all or with staying on a friend’s couch. With this Jobs-focused perspective on the market, Chip Conley, head of global hospitality and strategy at Airbnb, said that 40% of Airbnb users would have stayed with family or not traveled if Airbnb were unavailable.

Optimal Level of Abstraction

Jobs Theory can be useful if companies define a targeted job at an optimal level of abstraction. Don’t rely on a loose definition of a job when applying Jobs Theory. Outlining a Job to Be Done takes nouns and verbs, so you can’t describe a supposed job with adjectives and adverbs. And, a simple consumer preference for certain product features isn’t a job.

“Customers don’t buy products or services; they pull them into their lives to make progress.”

Consider the decision to buy a milk shake during your morning commute to work. Just preferring specific product features, like flavor or container size, does not qualify as a Job to Be Done. More abstractly, the milk shake purchase performs a larger job: for some people, it makes driving to work more enjoyable and precludes getting hungry during a morning meeting. Buying or “hiring” the milk shake to do this job means “firing” the diverse set of alternatives to a milk shake, whether a chocolate bar, bagel, doughnut, cup of coffee or banana. When the milkshake does the job best, people will hire it.

Multidimensional Jobs

To ensure that a new product will succeed, companies should address each dimension of the job the product does, including its social and emotional facets, and should deliver customer experiences that fulfill expectations and make it hard for competitors to imitate. Fully defined jobs are complex, but that gives Jobs Theory practitioners an advantage. Their mission is “perfectly satisfying someone’s job,” not just inventing a new product or feature.

“Competitive advantage is built not just by understanding customers’ jobs, but by creating the experiences that consumers seek both in purchasing and using the product or service.”

Focusing on the underlying job the customer wants done is the best guide for innovation. This means companies should jettison pet in-house solutions that fall short of helping customers make personal progress. By understanding the specific circumstances in which consumers make purchases, companies can gain fresh insights.

Margarine and Jobs Theory

For example, would margarine be more prevalent in American kitchens today if Unilever, the leading margarine producer, had focused less single-mindedly on how margarine competes with butter as a flavoring agent. Seen through a jobs’ lens, margarine also competes with olive oil as a flavoring agent, with mayonnaise as a spread and with Teflon as a product that keeps food from sticking to pans.

“Even great companies veer off course in nailing the job for their customers and focus instead on nailing the job for themselves.”

Big companies too often rely on internal research about products and customers to guide their decision making. They should find out what job their customers are hiring a product to do – and then make sure the product responds to that job very well. In the case of Unilever, by the mid-2000s, US households buying butter outnumbered those buying margarine. The so-called “yellow fats business” has not recovered from medical worries about trans fats in margarine. In 2014, Unilever disposed of its weak “spreads” business as a stand-alone firm, rather than retain a margarine-based subsidiary that slowed company growth. Unilever might have found an innovative solution to declining margarine sales if its marketers had identified the jobs customers want margarine to accomplish.

“Data has the same agenda as the person who created it, wittingly or unwittingly.”

A common presumption holds that successful innovation arises from good luck. But companies can create successful innovations without leaving it to chance. Jobs Theory can create a shared language for understanding the “causal mechanisms of human behavior.” Successful innovations are based on such an understanding.

Discovering Customer Jobs

Corporate mission statements are often too vague to guide employees’ decision making. But an identified Job to Be Done defines “a clear job spec” so detailed it can guide daily decision making companywide. Jobs Theory practitioners can discover jobs that are being done poorly or not done at all. They learn to see opportunities in “nonconsumption,” discover work-arounds for flawed solutions and monitor products customers use in unusual ways.

“Stories are hidden when they are parsed and distilled into numbers. When stories are told, they are rich in data.”

Work-arounds, or consumer behaviors that compensate for the shortcomings of unsatisfactory products, provide clues that an opportunity to innovate is at hand. Unusual uses of a product are another harbinger of opportunity, as Church & Dwight, the maker of Arm & Hammer baking soda, found. Consumers used baking soda as a personal deodorant, a laundry additive, a toothpaste, and a deodorizer for refrigerators and kitty litter boxes. Now Church & Dwight markets the brand in a variety of products, including a toothpaste, deodorant, air freshener, and a cleanser for carpets and showers. This generates millions of dollars of revenue atop its baking soda business. Similarly, NyQuil is a decades-old treatment for the common cold. Buyers also use it as a sleep aid, a pattern of unexpected use that led to the introduction of ZzzQuil, a related brand that induces sleep without the cold-symptom medications in NyQuil.

“With all theory building, you have to be open to finding things that the theory can’t explain – anomalies – and use them as an opportunity to strengthen it.”

Sometimes firms win more customers by grasping the full scope of their competition. Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) found that it was competing not just against other colleges, but also against the choice not to attend college – nonconsumption. SNHU then developed online degree programs and marketed them to a largely overlooked niche: adult students trying to make academic progress while working and raising families.

“Jobs Theory focuses you on helping your customers do their jobs.”

By fiscal 2016, its sharp focus on helping busy adults made SNHU into a fast-growing school with $535 million in annual revenue. SNHU used the language of the Theory of Jobs to Be Done in designing marketing materials aimed at helping older learners bypass obstacles to getting degrees and achieve the progress they want. Among other initiatives, its staffers responded by phone to potential students’ financial aid inquiries within 10 minutes and resolved financial aid queries within days, not weeks or months.

Uncovering Obstacles to Sales

Finding unsolved customer jobs involves observing everyday life and assembling a narrative that details the Job to Be Done. When you’re searching for Jobs, narrative details that identify the real struggle people are having are meaningful.

“If a consumer doesn’t see his job in your product, it’s already game over.”

A construction company asked consultant Bob Moesta to help improve sales of its Detroit-area condos amid a slumping mid-2000s real estate market. The company targeted homeowners downsizing to smaller residences due to divorce, their children’s departure or other circumstances. The company suspected that unfavorable locations, bad weather, poorly performing salespeople, a possible recession, slow holiday traffic and competitive offerings were hurting their sales.

“We don’t ‘create’ jobs, we discover them.”

The company could not distinguish serious buyers from uncommitted shoppers, so Moesta interviewed scores of condo buyers to determine their motives. Post-purchase interviews unveiled a common concern: What would buyers do with their outsized, traditional dining tables? Giving up that embodiment of family history blocked the progress that buyers sought by downsizing.

Moesta grasped the multilayered Job to Be Done: His company was not just building condos; it was “moving lives.” The company responded with redesigns that enlarged the dining rooms by shrinking second bedrooms. The company arranged moving companies for buyers and gave them up to two years of free storage. The result was a 25% business growth in 2007, a time when sales dropped 49% in the rest of the Detroit-area condo market.

What Are “Negative Jobs”?

Negative jobs are tasks consumers would rather avoid. A busy parent whose child has a sore throat raises this Job to Be Done: “I don’t want to see the doctor.” Rick Krieger, a graduate of Harvard Business School, addressed this negative job by developing QuickMedx. This predecessor of MinuteClinics in CVS drugstores offers treatment of routine ailments. CVS drug stores in 33 states have more than 1,000 MinuteClinic locations.

American Girl and Amazon

Merely improving a product will translate to unsuccessful innovation unless the firm delivers the experiences people want when they buy and use the product.

Pleasant Rowland didn’t do any research when she started the firm that became the American Girl doll company. Rowland conceived of American Girl dolls as a way for mothers and daughters to enjoy discussions about past generations of women and the challenges they faced. These high-quality dolls are racially and ethnically diverse. Historically accurate storybooks portray the dolls as girls from different places or historic periods. They express feelings their preteen owners may share. American Girl dolls command premium prices because buyers are purchasing both a well-made doll and a rich emotional experience.

Jobs Theory affects how companies design processes and measure success. For instance, Amazon concentrates on three things that solve jobs for customers: a broad selection of merchandise, competitive prices and rapid delivery. Amazon integrates this mission in its processes by prioritizing delivery times over shipment times to measure performance.

Conclusion

Successful innovation hinges on understanding the “job” customers hire products and services for, an insight central to the jobs to be done theory. Observing daily life uncovers hidden needs, guiding innovations that resonate deeply with customers on functional, emotional, and social levels. This approach leads to impactful, enduring solutions in a dynamic market.

About the Authors

Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen’s nine books include The Innovator’s Dilemma. He and co-author Karen Dillon, former Harvard Business Review, also co-wrote the bestseller How Will You Measure Your Life? Taddy Hall is a principal with the Cambridge Group. David S. Duncan is a senior partner at Innosight.