Living the 7 Habits: The Courage to Change
by Stephen R. Covey

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Book Reviews of Living the 7 Habits: The Courage to Change

Book Review: A multitude of examples of successful applications
Summary: 5 Stars

"Living the 7 Habits: The Courage to Change" is a collection of personal statements in four broad contexts: individual, family, community and education, and workplace. This synopsis is about the person who was appointed change agent of a major company that, with an annual growth rate of 40%, was one of the fastest growing companies in the world. " My goal was to create an organization of fifteen thousand exceptional businesspeople. We assumed that everyone wanted to be an entrepreneur within the company, and we gave them credit for having the brains and initiative to do it. My mission was to change the culture within what is essentially a virtual company. Our corporation had more territorial rivalries than the Middle East. Information was hoarded. Communication was disjointed. Trust and synergy were virtually nonexistent. Suddenly, the competition was all over us, undercutting our prices and courting our customers. One of my directives was to make the company more competitive and to learn faster than our competition. My job was to help create among the company's widely scattered population a sense of shared purpose (Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind). After recruiting the best, brightest, and most highly motivated people, we gently immersed them in the realities of our business, presenting them with information on profit margins, the marketplace, and the influences impacting the decisions of their customers (Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood). They were also introduced to a specially designed 7 Habits course to provide them with foundational principles and context for the other materials. There were only three rules: Take care of yourself. Take care of each other. Take care of this place. It wasn't long before mission statements began appearing on cubicle walls, and the conversations among employees were marked by references to making deposits into Emotional Bank Accounts. It was an experience of self-discovery for many people. They realized that the company valued them. I had spouses come to me after their husbands or wives had been to a session and say, 'This changed my life because it changed our family.'"

Not all the stories relate specific actions against a specific habit. This is a synopsis of a story by a person from Indian stock whose grandfather was cheated out of 160 acres of oil-rich land. "It was only after he died, when we were going through his papers and correspondence, that I realized what a phenomenal man my simple, unassuming grandfather actually was. The Washington my grandmother referred to was actually Washington, D.C. In his papers, we found letters from governors, senators, U.S. representatives. Some congratulated him on his fiftieth wedding anniversary; others thanked him for his help with legislation issues and for his community service. I sat there thinking, "Did they know the same man I did?" He had no eloquence, no wealth, not even his own home. Yet here were famous, powerful people corresponding with him. I realized that his life had been lived not to acquire things for himself, but to help other people. He had lived a life of integrity, honesty, and dedication to family and community all the while toiling in relative obscurity and humility. Once, before he died, he told me that there are two reward systems: people who will be rewarded here and people who will be rewarded later. 'These are not the same people,' he said. He continued, 'For all that you don't see in a reward system now, you will see some other time.' We debated long and hard what to do about the situation. Should we sue him to take back the land? Should we let it alone? Shouldn't he have to pay for his wrong doings? In the end, we knew. We knew what he would do. He would let it alone and allow the taxpayer to reap whatever rewards his behavior would cause him to reap, whether here or later. My grandfather might not have been able to leave us 160 acres of oil-rich land in Oklahoma but he left us something far more important. His insistence on humility, on compassion, on spending his life trying to help those around him with no thought of reward or praise is now our family legacy. He has changed generations of people with the help he gave. Can you put a dollar-and-cents value on that? I say absolutely not. We now have a value I try to instill in my own family to continue the legacy started by the Choctaw preacher who never owned his own home."

I think there is a maturity continuum. It is as though most other books address the nuts and bolts of doing business well - and of course that is important - and then we discover that there is something more to business than just that. Then we are ready for Stephen Covey.

Summary of Living the 7 Habits: The Courage to Change

Success that endures -- sustainable and balanced success -- can seem difficult to achieve in today's turbulent, complex world of change. But those who achieve this kind of success live by seven universal, timeless, self-evident principles that apply in any situation, in any culture.

In Living the 7 Habits: The Courage to Change, Dr. Covey shows how successful people have used these principles to solve problems, overcome obstacles, and change their lives. By showing how real people have used the principles to thrive in a changing world, he provides practical guidance and powerful inspiration to readers searching for a proven framework for living a meaningful life.

Motivational Books

• Subjects > Self-Help > Motivational
• Success
• Business & Investing > Job Hunting & Careers > Guides
• Management & Leadership > Leadership
• Management