Stephen Covey (1932- 2012)
American expert in personal development and leadership (pictured right) .
Key books
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
(1989)
(for more detail see The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People in the Business Books section)
The seven principles for success are:
1. Be proactive
Accept responsibility for your life and do something to change it.
2. Begin with the end in mind
Find your life’s purpose based upon changing the world through your principles.
3. Put first things first
Do what’s important first.
4. Think win/win
Seek mutual benefit in your relationships.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be
understood
Empathetic two-way communication.
6. Synergize
Creative co-operation with others in groups.
7. Sharpen the saw
Self-improvement in four areas that should all be kept in balance:
- physical (exercise, nutrition, stress management).
- social/emotional (service, empathy, good relationships, psychological security).
- spiritual (reflection and clarifying values).
- mental (reading, visualizing, planning and writing).
Key quote on influencing
people
It is character that communicates most eloquently.
Key quotes on
success
We see the world not as it is but as we are.
When we really, deeply understand each other, we open the door to creative solutions.
Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity-minded.
Key quote on
motivation
Trust is the highest form of human motivation.
The 8th Habit (2004)
Covey added an eighth habit of personal effectiveness:
“Find your voice and inspire others
to find theirs”
i.e. be uniquely significant and encourage others to do the same.
Key quote on leadership
Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in
themselves.
Principle-Centred Leadership (1992)
(for more detail see Principle-Centred
Leadership in the Business Books section)
Principle-centred leaders inspire trust because of their
- character and principles.
Key quote on leadership
Trust - or the lack of it - is at the root of success or failure in relationships and in the bottom-line results
of business
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