Saturday, July 21, 2012

Thank you, Stephen Covey, for influencing so many people around the world

23 years ago, Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” had the business world raving.

 Do Generation X and Y know the name Stephen Covey?
Have new thought leaders and gurus learned and built on these Habits? 

I am sure the Internet have discussed these principals in many many ways, many many times.... 


Covey, 79, passed away yesterday, this week leaving a special legacy.

I looked in my bookshelf for the "7 Habits”

Habit No. 1:  Be proactive. Self-awareness enables us to stand apart and examine even the way we ‘see’ ourselves — Know yourself. It affects not only our attitude and behaviors, but also how we see other people. It becomes our map of the basic nature of mankind.”

 Habit No. 2  Begin with the end in mind. “This habit is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a mental  creation, and a physical  creation to all things.”
Visualize what you want as if it already happened and the universe will begin to work wonders.

 Habit No. 3: Put first things first. This habit is about personal and time management.
Management, is  different from leadership. Leadership is primarily a high-powered, right brain activity. It’s more of an art; it’s based on a philosophy. You have to ask the ultimate questions of life when you’re dealing with personal leadership issues. But once you have dealt with those issues, once you have resolved them, you then have to manage yourself effectively to create a life congruent with your answers.

Habit No. 4:    Think win/win/win. This is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. Win/win/win means agreements are mutually beneficial, mutually satisfying… Most people think in terms of dichotomies: strong or weak, hardball or softball win or lose. But that kind of thinking is fundamentally flawed.

 Habit No. 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. We have such a tendency to rush in, to fix things up with good advice. But we often fail to take time to diagnose, to really, deeply understand the problem first… LISTEN!!! This principle is the key to effective interpersonal communication.

Habit No. 6:   Synergize. -People involved involved in a project/deal will gain more insight, and that the excitement of that mutual learning and insight will create a momentum toward more and more insights, learning, and growth. Synergy is almost as if a group collectively agrees to subordinate old scripts and to write a new one for mutual benefit.... 1+1 = 10!!

Habit No. 7:  Sharpen the saw. -It’s renewing the four dimensions of your nature—physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional.- continuous self-improvement is key.

Commit, learn, and do.

 Thank you, Stephen Covey, for influencing so many people around the world

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