Answering the core question of existence – How will you measure your life?

By Alec Hogg

There's a lot to be gained from reflection.

Since leaving Moneyweb, I've been drawing on the wisdom of a "most admired" group. Many have provided sensible guidance. But two pearls stand out: Charlie Munger's advice to give yourself the best hour of every day; and Jannie Mouton's recommendation to spend lots of time reading, thinking and planning.

The nub of what Munger and Mouton suggest is simple. Opt out of the distractions of modern life. Most of us do rather than think; exist rather than consider. Often with tragic consequences. A bit like lifelong smokers, we wake up to the impact too late. As another of the sages advised, what's the use of climbing the ladder only to discover at the top that it was leaning against the wrong wall?

Some years back I buttonholed a Columbia University professor who specializes in advising companies on innovation and growth. The engagement was brief. But I've often recalled her thought that only two professions still possess the luxury of time to think – academics and journalists. So use it, she said. Despite being in one of the camps, for years I acted as though she was talking about others. For me there just wasn't time. No longer.

In my hours of reading and reflecting over the past five months, much has become apparent. Obvious stuff ignored in our warp-speed world. Like how easy it is to lose our way – in both a business and personal sense. How it's part of the human condition to adapt. To stand apart, even justifying even the most immoral behavior, usually from those who pay our salaries. Often, too, from political leadership. Because taking a stand against what we were once revolted would consume even more of the time we don't have. And force us to abandon hard-won comfort zones.

One of my new heroes, Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen, wrote the best book I have ever read on this subject. He called it "How will you measure your life?". In it, the man famous for The Innovator's Dilemma applies to fellow human beings the theories learnt from a lifetime of studying business disruption. Christensen was triggered by a realization that most of his own Harvard MBA Class ended up sad, bitter, dysfunctional people. He wanted to find out why.

Clay, who in person proved to be as authentic in real life as on paper, reaches a starting conclusion. The true measure of a life, he concludes, is not what we are told to aim for. It's not how much money we amassed, how many universities we endowed or how long ancestors remember us. But the true measure of a life is how many people we helped. How we served. Not how we took.

I can almost hear some business leaders of my acquaintance chortling. Bear-trap shut minds propagated with the Gospel according to Ayn Rand worship the theory of self-interest. The more liberals among them might add the prefix "enlightened". They will counter that this has served them well in the past. And the system has created jobs, added wealth and generally uplifted mankind.

Maybe. But brilliant minds like Christensen (rated the top business thinker on earth) believe they're wrong. And the scary reality of the Western World's low growth, high unemployment future is forcing demands the privileged few to consider alternatives.

Christensen is not alone. The fastest growing media empire on earth was founded on a belief in this principle – ask Arianna Huffington. Then there's the phenomenal Adam Grant (31), Wharton's youngest and highest rated professor, whose views on service first, self last has brought an army of followers. Cape-based strategist Nici Richter pointed me to a fascinating New York Times article about Grant entitled "Is giving the secret to getting ahead". It's an eye opener.

Grant, who took just three years to get his PhD, specialises in workplace dynamics. Outside his teaching and student mentoring, he helps major US companies get the best out of staff, and employees the most out of their jobs. The NYT article is long. And detailed. But I found myself reading to the end. Because it's a living example of the power that flows from helping others. Quoting, among others, Google's staffing chief who says Grant gets the call when "we are thinking about big problems we are trying to solve."

Christensen, Grant, Huffington. They are the tip of an iceberg. The list of success stories is growing. God is in his heaven. There is always hope. Sometimes you just need to take the time to reflect on this stuff. And look at things differently to appreciate there is always a better way.