Provide names of other journalists involved.
Editor: Bruce Upbin
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
March 14, 2001 issue of Forbes magazine
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor who has studied the health care industry, suffered a heart attack, cancer and a stroke in three years. This is the story of how he survived and what he learned. The story mixes an oral history by Christensen, his doctors, family and friends with analysis of the business of health care and prescriptions on how to raise the quality and lower the cost of care. The story ends with a powerful discussion of Christensen’s faith and its connection to his survival.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
This wasn’t an investigative story per se. It did experiment with new forms of story-telling, particularly an oral history. To that end I studied other oral histories such as Tom Shales’ book on Saturday Night Live and Warren Zevon’s autobiography. In terms of documents I also read Christensen’s large body of books and essays. These included not just the business publications but also some very compelling writings on his faith–and one that I would recommend broadly called “How Will You Measure Your Life?” Finally in terms of documents I looked at his medical records–which were accessed via his physicians. Overall I immersed myself in Christensen’s life, his scholarship and the history of his illnesses.
Explain types of human sources used.
I spent over 50 hours interviewing Christensen, his doctors, his family and his friends. I transcribed all those tapes and condensed the story into the current form. Many of those I spoke to did not make into the final draft. I also spent a significant time understanding Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation and how it might apply the health care world. That meant spending time with his colleagues like Jason Hwang and Matt Eyring. I also spent a couple days at Harvard Business School attending Christensen’s classes and hearing him lecture.
Results:
I hope the story speaks for itself as a call to action to apply the forces of disruptive innovation to fix our health care system. I also hope that Christensen’s story of survival is inspiring to others facing health challenges.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No corrections or clarifications.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
This was a very rewarding project. It was difficult initially to get Christensen, who was still recovering from the complications related to his stroke, to participate because his speech was significantly impaired. I would suggest that other journalists be cautious and compassionate when trying to draft a patient history. I found that it took time to build trust and that the better prepared I was and the more courteous I was towards the sources (for a story like this), the better results I got. Getting concerned family members to open up about the time that their father or husband almost died took some finesse. For more traditional business reporting I often have gotten the best results by asking tough, pointed questions but this was on the other end of the spectrum.