The internet effectively broke this past Sunday with the shocking news of the tragic death of Kobe Bryant. A basketball giant and complicated pop culture icon. Information and misinformation rocketed around the world at warp speed before the truth could catch up. It was an unprecedented day both in sadness and scale.

We also said goodbye to Clayton Christensen after a long battle with leukemia last week. Who is Clayton Christensen you might ask? Harvard Business School Professor and author of The Innovator’s Dilemma. Professor Christensen touched countless students lives in addition to his defining work on the theory of disruptive innovation.

It was a curious coincidence to watch the disruptive forces Christensen laid out in his research play out so vividly the week of his passing. In 2006 an internet messaging service launched that was clunkier, slower, and less reliable than any corporate e-mail client or news organization. It was a toy. A little over a decade later, Twitter has disruptively displaced the collective power and speed of any news desk and (mis)information transfer service on planet earth.

Disruption aside, the best teaching Christensen left us with may actually be his lesser known book, How Will You Measure Your Life.

It’s about being deliberate with your time, finding purpose, and creating meaningful impact through the people whose lives you touch. And a reflection within its pages that “management is the most noble of professions if it’s practiced well”. Amen to that.

Kobe Bryant seemed to measure what counts including his well documented helicopter commuting to save time that could be better spent with his family. How devastating.

If you knew about Professor Christensen, did you also know he was a 6 foot 8 inch former college basketball player? Two different men from different fields who made immeasurable impacts to the people and communities around them. There are so many different ways to win, aren’t there? Maybe they’ll get to play a game of pickup out there in the great beyond.

How would you measure your life? What matters to you? A stark reminder this week that it can all be gone unexpectedly and too soon.

The lesson, probably, is to make the most of it. Today.