Clayton Christensen Quotes

There are direct paths to a successful career. But there are plenty of indirect paths, too.

I think that's an important lesson for young people who want to be artists: You have to find someone who believes in you and who will help you find that time where you don't have to think about a job but just making work. If I didn't have those people in my life, I wouldn't be in the position I'm in.

I kind of have never thought about a career path, which is an unusual approach.

I've been very lucky not to have turned down too many roles that I've later regretted.

I have a five year-old son and a three year-old daughter. I want my son to have a choice to contribute fully in the workforce or at home. And I want my daughter to have the choice to not just succeed, but to be liked for her accomplishments.

I think some of our most talented people are not going to pick the arts as a way that they're going to spend their lives.

Not everyone has to be a model and a designer, there are so many other options that are great and long-lasting. It's just finding what you're good at and being honest with yourself.

Google attracts so much talent, it can afford to look beyond traditional metrics, like G.P.A. For most young people, though, going to college and doing well is still the best way to master the tools needed for many careers.

I think in the case of my father, in terms of the things that influenced me, he never pressed me to go into academics or pressed me to go to a field, and indeed, my behavior was largely to move as far the other direction. I don't think that's uncommon with people with very successful parents.

It's nice to know that there are several different avenues I could pursue.

It seems that no two people came to this specialized area of work via the exact same route.

I've been lucky to have opportunities with David Lynch in 'Lost Highway' and Jennifer Lynch in this movie 'Surveillance,' so I've always boomeranged around a little bit, and no one has caught my foot in the trap yet, but I think if I move fast enough... 'cos I think I got trapped a couple of times.

After 'Broadcast News,' I could have played that same part, but I didn't want to. So I didn't follow it up with a hit.

I'm a firm believer that you don't have to pick one career path.

Most young people want to get out of the environment they grow up in, move on, and do something. The big question for everyone is what they want to do and how. It's something that most young people feel.

I was a history undergrad, and there's some things I could do in academics or business.

My parents are so supportive of whatever we want to do and completely nurtured that, and they're so proud of that as well. My sister's a doctor, and I have an older brother as well. He went into the music industry; he's very musically talented.

I have a lot of interests. I daydreamed about various career options growing up; the one I'm in is the first one that worked out, and I love it, so I feel very lucky.

You've gotta realize this - you could be working at Burger King or working for the biggest wrestling company in the world.

Sundance is incredible and has been very important for my career as a filmmaker, but it's also not the only route to success. There are a ton of great movies that don't get in and go on and do wonderfully.

I had very few skills. If I hadn't been a producer I'd been a failed actor. That would have been really disastrous.

I received a letter from a lad asking me for an easy berth. To this I replied: You cannot be an editor; do not try the law; do not think of the ministry; let alone all ships and merchandise; abhor politics; don't practice medicine; be not a farmer or a soldier or a sailor; don't study, don't think. None of these are easy. O, my son, you have come into a hard world. I know of only one easy place in it, and that is the grave!

In my fifth-grade yearbook - it's right up there on the top shell - the last page says, "What about your future?" and under my name, it says, "When I grow up, I would like to be either an actor, a radio announcer, an impersonator or a comedian."

If they don't go to law school, bright college graduates head to Wall Street precisely because they have no real plan for their careers.

I loved Cookie [Mueller]. She was a much better writer than actress. She shouldn't have stuck with me in the beginning; she should have immediately become a writer. She would have had more of a chance.