Habits of Highly Effective People

Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Stephen Covey first published "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" in 1989. Over 20 years later, many of his concepts still apply to the modern business world, whereas others have been eclipsed by less idealistic modes of thinking. The book is based on seven principles that Covey sees as essential for successful organizational and personal leadership. These seven principles are:

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 Empathic Communication

Habit 6: Synergize: Principles of Creative Cooperation

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

The first three principles, or habits, are classified as "private victories" because they are based on setting and achieving personal goals. The next three habits are categorized as "public victories" and "paradigms of independence" because they extend outside the self and have a liberating effect. The final principle is classified as a "renewal" because it encourages an ongoing state of rebirth and revelation.

Habit 1: Be Proactive: Principles of Personal Vision

The notion of being proactive -- that is, acting instead of simply reacting -- is perhaps even more applicable today than it was 20 years ago when Covey designated it as his first principle of leadership success. His emphasis on self-awareness and environmental determinism in this chapter lay the groundwork for his equalization of the terms proactive and effective. Covey explains that being proactive means more than just getting ahead of the game or taking an offensive stance. It is actually about taking responsibility for our actions and decisions and not blaming external stimuli for the situations we end up in. The mantra "Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions" (71) effectively sums up the sentiments of Covey's proactive model.

In the 21st century, this model could go a long way in teaching executives to stop deflecting the blame for their managerial failures and take personal responsibility for the decisions they have made. Government bailouts are just a band-aid to the real problems of mismanagement, corruption and the omnipresent 'blame game' that permeates the modern business environment. Unfortunately, Covey may be thinking a bit too idealistically, considering that it seems to be human nature to deny responsibility when things go wrong and demand it when things go right. Of course, Covey is not attempting to paint a picture of the world as it is; he is trying to show readers how it could be if they were to follow his formula. Thus, in that sense, the level of idealism is warranted.

Covey also makes a point in this chapter about how to use proactive language as opposed to reactive language to achieve better results. The way we phrase things, according to Covey, can have a dramatic impact on the results of just about any situation. Language is something that we can control. Therefore it is our responsibility to use it effectively. If we do not make the effort to do so, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. Some examples he provides are, instead of saying "There's nothing I can do," you should say "Let's look at our alternatives." or, instead of complaining that "he makes me so mad," you should tell yourself "I control my own feelings" (78). Covey claims that once people begin to get used to these proactive ways of thinking and speaking, they will become habits -- that is, they will come natural to them instead of having to force themselves to think or speak this way. This is important, Covey asserts, because reactive language can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

At the end of the chapter, as in all of his chapters, Covey provides "application suggestions" that show how this principle can be used in everyday life. While they come off sounding like homework assignments, the intent seems to be to show readers the viability of being proactive in a variety of different real-world situations.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind: Principles of Personal Leadership

In this chapter, Covey encourages readers to envision themselves at their own funeral and think about what they would want the attendees to say about them. The ultimate aim of this chapter, and this principle, is "to begin today with the image, picture or paradigm of the end of your life as your frame of reference or the criterion by which everything else is examined" (98). The idea is that as long as you keep in mind the things that you value and thus the criterion that you want to be judged on in the end, then your choices will be in alignment with those aims.

This advice is in opposition to the more current self-help propaganda not aimed at businesses, which urges people to 'live in the moment'. By focusing on the destination, as opposed to the journey, like Covey suggests, might be considered inadvisable today in one's personal life, in business, there is something to be said for setting goals and 'keeping your eyes on the prize'. Without goals, and with a focus solely on the day at hand, not much would get accomplished in this world. Thus although Covey's recommendations are at odds with the 'live in the moment/one day at a time' mantras of our current self-help gurus, they may in fact be more prudent both in personal lives and in business.

As Covey points out, every business must have a set of objectives that it is trying to achieve, as well as a plan, or a blueprint, for achieving those objectives. However, in accordance with the old carpenter's rule, "measure twice, cut once" (99) Covey makes it clear that there are two steps to any design process -- the first is an idealized vision and the second is the actual construction of that vision. He uses the example of building a new home to illustrate his point. He notes that when you plan on building your new home, you have a head full of ideas of how you want it to be. That is the 'first creation.' But it is the second creation that really counts, because the second creation injects a healthy dose of reality into the mix. Once all of your ideas are actually put into a physical blueprint, it usually becomes clear that certain changes need to be made. If you were to skip the second stage and jump right into building your home, you would likely have an expensive mess on your hands. This why, Covey exclaims, everything has to be created twice.

Covey then applies these concepts to leadership and management. Leadership, according to the author, is the first creation and management is the second creation. In other words, the leader is the one in charge of the 'big ideas', the visions. The manager is in charge of the details that can make those visions happen. Without effective leadership, no amount of effective management will succeed; a concept he equates with "straightening deck chairs on the Titanic" (102). This is an excellent analogy for what Covey is trying to convey; the details are not going to float if the vessel carrying them sinks.

Because this chapter is about personal leadership, the primary focus is on how to become your own 'first creator.' This task begins, explains Covey, by writing your own personal mission statement. He breaks the components of the mission statement up into four interdependent categories: security, guidance, wisdom and power. These are our life support factors, and they all revolve around a central set of proclivities. The 'center square', so to speak, can be comprised of anything from family to money to work to pleasure. Whatever a person considers to be the most valuable entity in his or her life is the core, and the four branches that protrude from that center are security, guidance, wisdom and power. The goal, however, is to be 'principle-centered' meaning that your life (or your company) revolves around a core set of values as opposed to specific items or people. Covey provides a chart to help the reader determine which of their personal principles matches with each of the four categories, as a means of helping the reader to identify their "center." Having this information will, according to the author, assist greatly in helping both individuals and businesses develop an effective and successful mission statement.

Habit 3: Put First Things First: Principles of Personal Management

The distinction between leadership and management plays a substantial role in habit 3, as it is not so much concerned with the 'whole' as it is with 'the sum of its parts.' If someone is to become 'principle-centered' then they will need to become adept at taking the steps to get there. The concept at the core of the process is "independent will." Independent will is defined by Covey as "the ability to make decisions and choices and to act in accordance with them. It is the ability to act, rather than be acted upon" (148). This goes back to Covey's original principle regarding being proactive.

While the ideas of being proactive and prioritizing are widely accepted as essential parts of effective management, where Covey seems to go off track a bit in this chapter is his downgrading of the importance of efficiency. Covey believes that there is too much focus on efficiency and not enough focus on developing rich relationships. This may very well be the case, but in today's technology-driven environment, efficiency is king, and it is highly unlikely that it will be dethroned anytime soon.

Where Covey's model does make sufficient sense for the working world of the 21st century is in regard to prioritizing. Certainly not a new or groundbreaking idea, putting items and tasks in the order of importance has almost invariably been shown to be a wise decision. Prioritizing is a particularly essential part of time management, as often times everything that needs to get done simply doesn't, so it is critical that the most important things get done first. Again, there is nothing really new or groundbreaking here, but Covey does manage to provide enough interesting and applicable scenarios, charts and diagrams to keep the chapter relatively fresh.

Habit 4: Think Win/Win: Principles of Interpersonal Leadership

With chapter 4, we enter the "public victory" section of the book. This is where the book transitions from a focus on independence to interdependence. The bulk of this chapter is devoted to a metaphor devised by Covey that he calls the "Emotional Bank Account." According to the author, the bank represents the amount of trust and ease you feel with other people. You can either make deposits or withdrawals from this bank account based on how your relationships develop. You can also build up a reserve, by depositing positive emotions such as courtesy, kindness and honesty. However the bank can just as easily be overdrawn, when more is taken out than is put in. Covey tops the metaphor off by stating "Building and repairing relationships are long-term investments."

Covey then proceeds to outline six major deposits that will build the bank account into a healthy reserve of trust and respect. The first of these is "understanding the individual" which essentially entails a combination of good communication and the Golden Rule. The second thing of which you want to make plenty of deposits into your emotional bank account is "attending to the little things." Taking the time to do a kindness for a stranger or stop and smell the proverbial roses makes for a high value deposit, according to Covey. "Keeping commitments" is the third type of deposit Covey discusses, emphasizing that breaking your promise to someone is one of the most damaging thing you can do to a relationship. The fourth deposit 'material' is "clarifying expectations" which is supposed to prevent miscommunication, and the fifth is "showing personal integrity" which essentially equates to being a good and honest person. The sixth and final deposit Covey inserts into his metaphor is "apologizing sincerely when you make a withdrawal" (190-198). In other words, when you do something wrong, own up to it, and make sure whoever you betrayed knows that you are sincerely sorry for it, and that it will not happen again. It is not enough to merely speak the words, but you must follow through with your actions as well.

If you make more deposits than you make withdrawals, you should ideally, according to Covey, end up in a win-win situation. Of the six different paradigms of human interaction, which run the gamut from win/win to lose/lose, clearly win/win is the one for which we all should strive to achieve. However Covey makes this goal seem much easier than it tends to be in real life. Win/Win is extremely difficult to attain because it usually means that one or both parties have to give up something. Compromise cannot be achieved without sacrifice. While Covey makes effective arguments for why a situation might be considered lose/lose despite the perceptions of the parties involved seeing it as the opposite, he never makes it entirely clear how to achieve win/win. This is most likely due to the fact that win/win situations generally only occur when there is no conflict between what the negotiating parties are seeking.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood:

Principles of Empathic Communication

Empathetic communication begins with empathetic listening. According to Covey, people often tend to jump into quickly with potential solutions when they have not really listened to and understood the problem. This is a bad habit for many people in both their personal lives and their business dealings. Many people spend half the time the other person is speaking thinking about how they are going to respond. In the process they miss a lot of important information that seriously change the way they would respond if they were listening with the intent to understand.

This is an age old problem that has deterred effective communication since the dawn of man; and it will likely continue to be a problem well in to the future. After all, people find it difficult to concentrate on what someone else is saying when they have so many distractions and so many other thoughts racing through their brains. The cure to this ailment, according to Covey is to "diagnose before you prescribe." In other words don't name the disease until you've heard and analyzed all of the symptoms. It is critical to know what it is you are trying to fix before you start actually trying to fix it. As Covey points out "If you don't have confidence in the diagnosis, you won't have confidence in the prescription" (243).

Once you have gained a clear perspective about what you need to understand, the next step is to seek to be understood. It is not sufficient to develop a solution to the problem; you also have to communicate it effectively. Covey turns here to a discussion of how the ancient Greeks divided the art of persuasion into three distinct domains. These are: 1) Ethos, which refers to the credibility of the communicator; 2) pathos, which refers to the emotions of the audience; and 3) logos, which refers to the logic of the message. A truly persuasive speaker is able to use each of these domains to his or her advantage.