Stephen Covey

File:Stephen Covey Beyond the 7 Habits.jpg

Stephen R. Covey on the cover of his audio book Beyond The 7 Habits

Stephen R. Covey (born October 24 1932 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is the author of the international best selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in 1989. Other books he has written include First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families. His latest book is The 8th Habit, published in 2004. Covey lives with his wife Sandra, and their family in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. He is a father of nine and a grandfather of forty-four; he received the Fatherhood Award from the National Fatherhood Initiative in 2003.

Covey is the founder of the formerly Covey Leadership Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, which after a merger with FranklinQuest on May 30, 1997 became the Franklin-Covey Company, a global professional services firm (mainly management consulting). Their mission statement reads: "We enable greatness in people and organizations everywhere."

Covey holds a BS in Business Administration from University of Utah in Salt Lake City, an MBA in Business Administration from Harvard University, and a DRE in Church History and Doctrine from Brigham Young University. He has made teaching principle-centered living and principle-centered leadership his life's work.

Covey is also a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey's most famous book, was extremely successful and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide since first publication in 1989. The audio version was also the first non-fiction audio book in U.S. history to sell more than one million copies. Many of the ideas and language are recast from the classic 1966 Peter F. Drucker text "The Effective Executive," wherein he writes "Effectivenss, in other words, is a habit" and which includes a chapter called "First Things First." In Covey's version, he argues against what he calls "The Personality Ethic", something he sees as prevalent in many modern self-help books. He instead promotes what he labels "The Character Ethic", which is about aligning one’s values with so called "universal and timeless" principles. Covey is adamant about not confusing principles and values. Principles are external natural laws; values are internal and subjective. Covey proclaims values govern people’s behaviour but it's principles that ultimately determine the consequences. Covey presents his teachings in a series of habits - a progression from dependence, to independence, to interdependence.

The Habits:

Habit 1: Be Proactive: Principles of Personal Vision
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind: Principles of Personal Leadership
Habit 3: Put First Things First: Principles of Personal Management
Habit 4: Think Win/Win: Principles of Interpersonal Leadership
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Principles of Empathetic Communication
Habit 6: Synergize: Principles of Creative Communication
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

Follow-up titles to The Seven Habits are meant to both add to the original and form a cohesive philosophy on personal, principle-based leadership. They are available in the format of audio books as well (such as the title Beyond The 7 Habits). Covey has also written a number of learning books for children. His son, Sean Covey, has written a version for teens: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens. This version simplifies Covey's 7 Habits for younger readers to better understand them.

The 8th Habit

Covey's latest book The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness (published in 2004) is the sequel to The Seven Habits. Covey claims being effective is not enough in what he calls "The Knowledge Worker Age". He proclaims "The challenges and complexity we face today are of a different order of magnitude." The 8th habit is essentially "Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs..."

Purpose of the books

Covey's aim is to help others gain proficiency in their lives, especially within the context of business and management and make money doing it. However, his books also emphasize family and personal leadership. They are marketed to a wide-ranging audience, from high-powered executives to stay-at-home moms. Similar authors might include Peter Drucker, David Allen, and Dale Carnegie as well as other more business-centered writers. Covey’s works also exhibit a central philosophical ideal, which some would interpret as right of center or conservative, although he was for a time a consultant to President Bill Clinton.

Criticism

Critics of Covey's methods contend that the author offers a "quick-fix" that dissipates when measured against the reality of day-to-day life. When confronted with situations that contain elements that are outside the realm of their personal influence, those imbued with Covey's summary of accountability can become frustrated at the "habits'" failure to place situations within that personal "circle of influence". In short, Covey is sometimes said to preach impractical, idealistic methods. Some of the examples in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People are clearly aimed at/designed for/relevant to a corporate executive than (for example) a single mother working two low-wage jobs, which limits the broad applicability of the book and system.

Advocates of Covey's methods point out that the author consistently opposes "quick-fix" solutions to life or business problems and insists that changes in paradigm or mindset to align with natural principles are the true source of solutions. Covey points out, for example, that the paradigm that produces short term results in business inevitably leads to an inability to produce results for the long term. He calls this "killing the golden goose." The most effective mindset for the business person is to balance short and long term productive capacities.

Covey has also been criticized by gay rights groups for his activity in opposing same-sex marriage in Hawaii in the early 1990s. [1]

Religious views

Stephen Covey is a devout, practicing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and who has authored several devotional works for Latter-day Saint or Mormon readers, including Spiritual Roots of Human Relations (1970). Some suggest that Mormon theology and cultural practices, specifically the notion of "agency" and belief in a personable deity, undergird his writing for a general audience.

Honors and awards

2003 Fatherhood Award from the National Fatherhood Initiative
The Thomas More College Medallion for continuing service to humanity
Speaker of the Year in 1999
The Sikh's 1998 International Man of Peace Award
The 1994 International Entrepreneur of the Year Award
The National Entrepreneur of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership
Being named one of Time Magazine's 25 most influential Americans
Accepted the nationally acclaimed Corporate Core Values Award from California University of Pennsylvania

Bibliography

Spiritual Roots of Human Relations, published in 1970 (ISBN 0-87579-705-9).
The Divine Center, published in 1982 (ISBN 1-59038-404-0).
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, published in 1989 (ISBN 0-671-70863-5).
Principle Centered Leadership, published in 1992 (ISBN 0-671-79280-6).
First Things First, co-authored with Roger and Rebecca Merrill, published in 1994 (ISBN 0-684-80203-1).
Living the Seven Habits, published in 2000 (ISBN 0-684-85716-2).
6 Events: The Restoration Model for Solving Life's Problems, published in 2004 (ISBN 1-57345-187-8).
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, published in 2004 (ISBN 0-684-84665-9).

External links