The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: A Critical Review

Introduction to Covey's Seven Habits

Stephen Covey first published The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in 1989. Over twenty 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 twenty years ago when Covey designated it as his first principle of leadership success. His emphasis on self-awareness and environmental determinism in this chapter lays the groundwork for his equation 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 blame for their managerial failures and take personal responsibility for the decisions they have made. Government bailouts are just a band-aid for 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. 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 outcome of just about any situation. Language is something we can control, and therefore it is our responsibility to use it effectively. If we do not make the effort to do so, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Some examples he provides include saying "Let's look at our alternatives" instead of "There's nothing I can do," or telling yourself "I control my own feelings" rather than complaining that "he makes me so mad" (78). Covey claims that once people begin to practice these proactive ways of thinking and speaking, they will become habits — that is, they will come naturally rather than requiring conscious effort. 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 across as homework assignments, the intent seems to be to demonstrate the viability of being proactive in a variety of real-world situations.

Habits 2 and 3: Personal Leadership and Management

In this chapter, Covey encourages readers to envision themselves at their own funeral and think about what they would want 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 you value — and thus the criteria by which you want to be judged in the end — your choices will remain in alignment with those aims.

This advice stands in opposition to the more current self-help trend, outside of business contexts, that urges people to "live in the moment." Focusing on the destination rather than the journey, as Covey suggests, might seem inadvisable in one's personal life; in business, however, 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, very little would be accomplished. Thus, although Covey's recommendations are at odds with the "live in the moment" and "one day at a time" mantras of contemporary self-help culture, they may in fact be more prudent — both in personal life and in business.

As Covey points out, every business must have a set of objectives it is trying to achieve, as well as a plan or blueprint for achieving those objectives. 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 the point. When you plan to build a new home, you have a head full of ideas about how you want it to be — that is the "first creation." But it is the second creation that really counts, because it injects a healthy dose of reality into the mix. Once all of your ideas are 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 directly into building, you would likely have an expensive mess on your hands. This is why, Covey explains, 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. In other words, the leader is in charge of the "big ideas" — the visions — while the manager is responsible for the details that 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: the details are not going to stay afloat 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 into four interdependent categories: security, guidance, wisdom, and power. These are our life-support factors, and they all revolve around a central set of values. The "center square," so to speak, can be comprised of anything from family to money to work to pleasure. Whatever a person considers most valuable is the core, and the four branches that extend from that center — security, guidance, wisdom, and power — flow outward from it. The goal, however, is to be "principle-centered," meaning that your life (or your company) revolves around a core set of values rather than specific items or people. Covey provides a chart to help readers identify which of their personal principles matches each of the four categories, as a means of helping them determine their "center." Having this information will, according to the author, greatly assist both individuals and businesses in developing an effective mission statement.

The distinction between leadership and management plays a substantial role in Habit 3, which is less concerned with the whole than with the sum of its parts. If someone is to become "principle-centered," they will need to become adept at taking the necessary steps to get there. The concept at the core of this process is "independent will," which Covey defines 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 circles back to Covey's original principle about being proactive.

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

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