In his #1 bestseller, Stephen R. Covey presented a framework for personal
effectiveness. The following is a summary of the first part of his book,
concluding with a list of the seven habits.
Inside-Out: The Change Starts from Within
While working on his doctorate in the 1970's, Stephen R. Covey reviewed 200
years of literature on success. He noticed that since the 1920's, success
writings have focused on solutions to specific problems. In some cases such
tactical advice may have been effective, but only for immediate issues and not
for the long-term, underlying ones. The success literature of the last half of
the 20th century largely attributed success to personality traits, skills,
techniques, maintaining a positive attitude, etc. This philosophy can be
referred to as the Personality Ethic.
However, during the 150 years or so that preceded that period, the literature on
success was more character oriented. It emphasized the deeper principles and
foundations of success. This philosophy is known as the Character Ethic, under
which success is attributed more to underlying characteristics such as
integrity, courage, justice, patience, etc.
The elements of the Character Ethic are primary traits while those of the
Personality Ethic are secondary. While secondary traits may help one to play the
game to succeed in some specific circumstances, for long-term success both are
necessary. One's character is what is most visible in long-term relationships.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I
cannot hear what you say."
To illustrate the difference between primary and secondary traits, Covey offers
the following example. Suppose you are in Chicago and are using a map to find a
particular destination in the city. You may have excellent secondary skills in
map reading and navigation, but will never find your destination if you are
using a map of Detroit. In this example, getting the right map is a necessary
primary element before your secondary skills can be used effectively.
The problem with relying on the Personality Ethic is that unless the basic
underlying paradigms are right, simply changing outward behavior is not
effective. We see the world based on our perspective, which can have a dramatic
impact on the way we perceive things. For example, many experiments have been
conducted in which two groups of people are shown two different drawings. One
group is shown, for instance, a drawing of a young, beautiful woman and the
other group is shown a drawing of an old, frail woman. After the initial
exposure to the pictures, both groups are shown one picture of a more abstract
drawing. This drawing actually contains the elements of both the young and the
old woman. Almost invariably, everybody in the group that was first shown the
young woman sees a young woman in the abstract drawing, and those who were shown
the old woman see an old woman. Each group was convinced that it had objectively
evaluated the drawing. The point is that we see things not as they are, but as
we are conditioned to see them. Once we understand the importance of our past
conditioning, we can experience a paradigm shift in the way we see things. To
make large changes in our lives, we must work on the basic paradigms through
which we see the world.
The Character Ethic assumes that there are some absolute principles that exist
in all human beings. Some examples of such principles are fairness, honesty,
integrity, human dignity, quality, potential, and growth. Principles contrast
with practices in that practices are for specific situations whereas principles
have universal application.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People presents an "inside-out" approach to
effectiveness that is centered on principles and character. Inside-out means
that the change starts within oneself. For many people, this approach represents
a paradigm shift away from the Personality Ethic and toward the Character Ethic.
The Seven Habits - An Overview
Our character is a collection of our habits, and habits have a powerful role in
our lives. Habits consist of knowledge, skill, and desire. Knowledge allows us
to know what to do, skill gives us the ability to know how to do it, and desire
is the motivation to do it.
The Seven Habits move us through the following stages:
Dependence: the paradigm under which we are born, relying upon others to take
care of us.
Independence: the paradigm under which we can make our own decisions and take
care of ourselves.
Interdependence: the paradigm under which we cooperate to achieve something
that cannot be achieved independently.
Much of the success literature today tends to value independence, encouraging
people to become liberated and do their own thing. The reality is that we are
interdependent, and the independent model is not optimal for use in an
interdependent environment that requires leaders and team players.
To make the choice to become interdependent, one first must be independent,
since dependent people have not yet developed the character for interdependence.
Therefore, the first three habits focus on self-mastery, that is, achieving the
private victories required to move from dependence to independence. The first
three habits are:
Habit 1: Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Habits 4, 5, and 6 then address interdependence:
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Habit 6: Synergize
Finally, the seventh habit is one of renewal and continual improvement, that is,
of building one's personal production capability. To be effective, one must find
the proper balance between actually producing and improving one's capability to
produce. Covey illustrates this point with the fable of the goose and the golden
egg.
In the fable, a poor farmer's goose began laying a solid gold egg every day, and
the farmer soon became rich. He also became greedy and figured that the goose
must have many golden eggs within her. In order to obtain all of the eggs
immediately, he killed the goose. Upon cutting it open he discovered that it was
not full of golden eggs. The lesson is that if one attempts to maximize
immediate production with no regard to the production capability, the capability
will be lost. Effectiveness is a function of both production and the capacity to
produce.
The need for balance between production and production capability applies to
physical, financial, and human assets. For example, in an organization the
person in charge of a particular machine may increase the machine's immediate
production by postponing scheduled maintenance. As a result of the increased
output, this person may be rewarded with a promotion. However, the increased
immediate output comes at the expense of future production since more
maintenance will have to be performed on the machine later. The person who
inherits the mess may even be blamed for the inevitable downtime and high
maintenance expense.
Customer loyalty also is an asset to which the production and production
capability balance applies. A restaurant may have a reputation for serving great
food, but the owner may decide to cut costs and lower the quality of the food.
Immediately, profits will soar, but soon the restaurant's reputation will be
tarnished, the customer's trust will be lost, and profits will decline.
This does not mean that only production capacity is important. If one builds
capacity but never uses it, there will be no production. There is a balance
between building production capacity and actually producing. Finding the right
tradeoff is central to one's effectiveness.
The above has been an introduction and overview of the 7 Habits. The following
introduces the first habit in Covey's framework.
FROM DEPENDENCE TO INDEPENDENCE
Habit 1: Be Proactive
A unique ability that sets humans apart from animals is self-awareness and the
ability to choose how we respond to any stimulus. While conditioning can have a
strong impact on our lives, we are not determined by it. There are three widely
accepted theories of determinism: genetic, psychic, and environmental. Genetic
determinism says that our nature is coded into our DNA, and that our personality
traits are inherited from our grandparents. Psychic determinism says that our
upbringing determines our personal tendencies, and that emotional pain that we
felt at a young age is remembered and affects the way we behave today.
Environmental determinism states that factors in our present environment are
responsible for our situation, such as relatives, the national economy, etc.
These theories of determinism each assume a model in which the stimulus
determines the response.
Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who survived the death camps of Nazi
Germany. While in the death camps, Frankl realized that he alone had the power
to determine his response to the horror of the situation. He exercised the only
freedom he had in that environment by envisioning himself teaching students
after his release. He became an inspiration for others around him. He realized
that in the middle of the stimulus-response model, humans have the freedom to
choose.
Animals do not have this independent will. They respond to a stimulus like a
computer responds to its program. They are not aware of their programming and do
not have the ability to change it. The model of determinism was developed based
on experiments with animals and neurotic people. Such a model neglects our
ability to choose how we will respond to stimuli.
We can choose to be reactive to our environment. For example, if the weather is
good, we will be happy. If the weather is bad, we will be unhappy. If people
treat us well, we will feel well; if they don't, we will feel bad and become
defensive. We also can choose to be proactive and not let our situation
determine how we will feel. Reactive behavior can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
By accepting that there is nothing we can do about our situation, we in fact
become passive and do nothing.
The first habit of highly effective people is proactivity. Proactive people are
driven by values that are independent of the weather or how people treat them.
Ghandi said, "They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to
them." Our response to what happened to us affects us more than what actually
happened. We can choose to use difficult situations to build our character and
develop the ability to better handle such situations in the future.
Proactive people use their resourcefulness and initiative to find solutions
rather than just reporting problems and waiting for other people to solve them.
Being proactive means assessing the situation and developing a positive response
for it. Organizations can be proactive rather than be at the mercy of their
environment. For example, a company operating in an industry that is
experiencing a downturn can develop a plan to cut costs and actually use the
downturn to increase market share.
Once we decide to be proactive, exactly where we focus our efforts becomes
important. There are many concerns in our lives, but we do not always have
control over them. One can draw a circle that represents areas of concern, and a
smaller circle within the first that represents areas of control. Proactive
people focus their efforts on the things over which they have influence, and in
the process often expand their area of influence. Reactive people often focus
their efforts on areas of concern over which they have no control. Their
complaining and negative energy tend to shrink their circle of influence.
In our area of concern, we may have direct control, indirect control, or no
control at all. We have direct control over problems caused by our own behavior.
We can solve these problems by changing our habits. We have indirect control
over problems related to other people's behavior. We can solve these problems by
using various methods of human influence, such as empathy, confrontation,
example, and persuasion. Many people have only a few basic methods such as fight
or flight. For problems over which we have no control, first we must recognize
that we have no control, and then gracefully accept that fact and make the best
of the situation.
SUMMARY OF THE SEVEN HABITS
Habit 1: Be Proactive
Change starts from within, and highly effective people make the decision to
improve their lives through the things that they can influence rather than by
simply reacting to external forces.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Develop a principle-centered personal mission statement. Extend the mission
statement into long-term goals based on personal principles.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission, observing the proper
balance between production and building production capacity. Identify the key
roles that you take on in life, and make time for each of them.
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial. In cases where a
"win/win" deal cannot be achieved, accept the fact that agreeing to make "no
deal" may be the best alternative. In developing an organizational culture, be
sure to reward win/win behavior among employees and avoid inadvertantly
rewarding win/lose behavior.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
First seek to understand the other person, and only then try to be understood.
Stephen Covey presents this habit as the most important principle of
interpersonal relations. Effective listening is not simply echoing what the
other person has said through the lens of one's own experience. Rather, it is
putting oneself in the perspective of the other person, listening empathically
for both feeling and meaning.
Habit 6: Synergize
Through trustful communication, find ways to leverage individual differences to
create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Through mutual trust
and understanding, one often can solve conflicts and find a better solution than
would have been obtained through either person's own solution.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
Take time out from production to build production capacity through personal
renewal of the physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual dimensions.
Maintain a balance among these dimensions.
effectiveness. The following is a summary of the first part of his book,
concluding with a list of the seven habits.
Inside-Out: The Change Starts from Within
While working on his doctorate in the 1970's, Stephen R. Covey reviewed 200
years of literature on success. He noticed that since the 1920's, success
writings have focused on solutions to specific problems. In some cases such
tactical advice may have been effective, but only for immediate issues and not
for the long-term, underlying ones. The success literature of the last half of
the 20th century largely attributed success to personality traits, skills,
techniques, maintaining a positive attitude, etc. This philosophy can be
referred to as the Personality Ethic.
However, during the 150 years or so that preceded that period, the literature on
success was more character oriented. It emphasized the deeper principles and
foundations of success. This philosophy is known as the Character Ethic, under
which success is attributed more to underlying characteristics such as
integrity, courage, justice, patience, etc.
The elements of the Character Ethic are primary traits while those of the
Personality Ethic are secondary. While secondary traits may help one to play the
game to succeed in some specific circumstances, for long-term success both are
necessary. One's character is what is most visible in long-term relationships.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I
cannot hear what you say."
To illustrate the difference between primary and secondary traits, Covey offers
the following example. Suppose you are in Chicago and are using a map to find a
particular destination in the city. You may have excellent secondary skills in
map reading and navigation, but will never find your destination if you are
using a map of Detroit. In this example, getting the right map is a necessary
primary element before your secondary skills can be used effectively.
The problem with relying on the Personality Ethic is that unless the basic
underlying paradigms are right, simply changing outward behavior is not
effective. We see the world based on our perspective, which can have a dramatic
impact on the way we perceive things. For example, many experiments have been
conducted in which two groups of people are shown two different drawings. One
group is shown, for instance, a drawing of a young, beautiful woman and the
other group is shown a drawing of an old, frail woman. After the initial
exposure to the pictures, both groups are shown one picture of a more abstract
drawing. This drawing actually contains the elements of both the young and the
old woman. Almost invariably, everybody in the group that was first shown the
young woman sees a young woman in the abstract drawing, and those who were shown
the old woman see an old woman. Each group was convinced that it had objectively
evaluated the drawing. The point is that we see things not as they are, but as
we are conditioned to see them. Once we understand the importance of our past
conditioning, we can experience a paradigm shift in the way we see things. To
make large changes in our lives, we must work on the basic paradigms through
which we see the world.
The Character Ethic assumes that there are some absolute principles that exist
in all human beings. Some examples of such principles are fairness, honesty,
integrity, human dignity, quality, potential, and growth. Principles contrast
with practices in that practices are for specific situations whereas principles
have universal application.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People presents an "inside-out" approach to
effectiveness that is centered on principles and character. Inside-out means
that the change starts within oneself. For many people, this approach represents
a paradigm shift away from the Personality Ethic and toward the Character Ethic.
The Seven Habits - An Overview
Our character is a collection of our habits, and habits have a powerful role in
our lives. Habits consist of knowledge, skill, and desire. Knowledge allows us
to know what to do, skill gives us the ability to know how to do it, and desire
is the motivation to do it.
The Seven Habits move us through the following stages:
Dependence: the paradigm under which we are born, relying upon others to take
care of us.
Independence: the paradigm under which we can make our own decisions and take
care of ourselves.
Interdependence: the paradigm under which we cooperate to achieve something
that cannot be achieved independently.
Much of the success literature today tends to value independence, encouraging
people to become liberated and do their own thing. The reality is that we are
interdependent, and the independent model is not optimal for use in an
interdependent environment that requires leaders and team players.
To make the choice to become interdependent, one first must be independent,
since dependent people have not yet developed the character for interdependence.
Therefore, the first three habits focus on self-mastery, that is, achieving the
private victories required to move from dependence to independence. The first
three habits are:
Habit 1: Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Habits 4, 5, and 6 then address interdependence:
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Habit 6: Synergize
Finally, the seventh habit is one of renewal and continual improvement, that is,
of building one's personal production capability. To be effective, one must find
the proper balance between actually producing and improving one's capability to
produce. Covey illustrates this point with the fable of the goose and the golden
egg.
In the fable, a poor farmer's goose began laying a solid gold egg every day, and
the farmer soon became rich. He also became greedy and figured that the goose
must have many golden eggs within her. In order to obtain all of the eggs
immediately, he killed the goose. Upon cutting it open he discovered that it was
not full of golden eggs. The lesson is that if one attempts to maximize
immediate production with no regard to the production capability, the capability
will be lost. Effectiveness is a function of both production and the capacity to
produce.
The need for balance between production and production capability applies to
physical, financial, and human assets. For example, in an organization the
person in charge of a particular machine may increase the machine's immediate
production by postponing scheduled maintenance. As a result of the increased
output, this person may be rewarded with a promotion. However, the increased
immediate output comes at the expense of future production since more
maintenance will have to be performed on the machine later. The person who
inherits the mess may even be blamed for the inevitable downtime and high
maintenance expense.
Customer loyalty also is an asset to which the production and production
capability balance applies. A restaurant may have a reputation for serving great
food, but the owner may decide to cut costs and lower the quality of the food.
Immediately, profits will soar, but soon the restaurant's reputation will be
tarnished, the customer's trust will be lost, and profits will decline.
This does not mean that only production capacity is important. If one builds
capacity but never uses it, there will be no production. There is a balance
between building production capacity and actually producing. Finding the right
tradeoff is central to one's effectiveness.
The above has been an introduction and overview of the 7 Habits. The following
introduces the first habit in Covey's framework.
FROM DEPENDENCE TO INDEPENDENCE
Habit 1: Be Proactive
A unique ability that sets humans apart from animals is self-awareness and the
ability to choose how we respond to any stimulus. While conditioning can have a
strong impact on our lives, we are not determined by it. There are three widely
accepted theories of determinism: genetic, psychic, and environmental. Genetic
determinism says that our nature is coded into our DNA, and that our personality
traits are inherited from our grandparents. Psychic determinism says that our
upbringing determines our personal tendencies, and that emotional pain that we
felt at a young age is remembered and affects the way we behave today.
Environmental determinism states that factors in our present environment are
responsible for our situation, such as relatives, the national economy, etc.
These theories of determinism each assume a model in which the stimulus
determines the response.
Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who survived the death camps of Nazi
Germany. While in the death camps, Frankl realized that he alone had the power
to determine his response to the horror of the situation. He exercised the only
freedom he had in that environment by envisioning himself teaching students
after his release. He became an inspiration for others around him. He realized
that in the middle of the stimulus-response model, humans have the freedom to
choose.
Animals do not have this independent will. They respond to a stimulus like a
computer responds to its program. They are not aware of their programming and do
not have the ability to change it. The model of determinism was developed based
on experiments with animals and neurotic people. Such a model neglects our
ability to choose how we will respond to stimuli.
We can choose to be reactive to our environment. For example, if the weather is
good, we will be happy. If the weather is bad, we will be unhappy. If people
treat us well, we will feel well; if they don't, we will feel bad and become
defensive. We also can choose to be proactive and not let our situation
determine how we will feel. Reactive behavior can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
By accepting that there is nothing we can do about our situation, we in fact
become passive and do nothing.
The first habit of highly effective people is proactivity. Proactive people are
driven by values that are independent of the weather or how people treat them.
Ghandi said, "They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to
them." Our response to what happened to us affects us more than what actually
happened. We can choose to use difficult situations to build our character and
develop the ability to better handle such situations in the future.
Proactive people use their resourcefulness and initiative to find solutions
rather than just reporting problems and waiting for other people to solve them.
Being proactive means assessing the situation and developing a positive response
for it. Organizations can be proactive rather than be at the mercy of their
environment. For example, a company operating in an industry that is
experiencing a downturn can develop a plan to cut costs and actually use the
downturn to increase market share.
Once we decide to be proactive, exactly where we focus our efforts becomes
important. There are many concerns in our lives, but we do not always have
control over them. One can draw a circle that represents areas of concern, and a
smaller circle within the first that represents areas of control. Proactive
people focus their efforts on the things over which they have influence, and in
the process often expand their area of influence. Reactive people often focus
their efforts on areas of concern over which they have no control. Their
complaining and negative energy tend to shrink their circle of influence.
In our area of concern, we may have direct control, indirect control, or no
control at all. We have direct control over problems caused by our own behavior.
We can solve these problems by changing our habits. We have indirect control
over problems related to other people's behavior. We can solve these problems by
using various methods of human influence, such as empathy, confrontation,
example, and persuasion. Many people have only a few basic methods such as fight
or flight. For problems over which we have no control, first we must recognize
that we have no control, and then gracefully accept that fact and make the best
of the situation.
SUMMARY OF THE SEVEN HABITS
Habit 1: Be Proactive
Change starts from within, and highly effective people make the decision to
improve their lives through the things that they can influence rather than by
simply reacting to external forces.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Develop a principle-centered personal mission statement. Extend the mission
statement into long-term goals based on personal principles.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission, observing the proper
balance between production and building production capacity. Identify the key
roles that you take on in life, and make time for each of them.
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial. In cases where a
"win/win" deal cannot be achieved, accept the fact that agreeing to make "no
deal" may be the best alternative. In developing an organizational culture, be
sure to reward win/win behavior among employees and avoid inadvertantly
rewarding win/lose behavior.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
First seek to understand the other person, and only then try to be understood.
Stephen Covey presents this habit as the most important principle of
interpersonal relations. Effective listening is not simply echoing what the
other person has said through the lens of one's own experience. Rather, it is
putting oneself in the perspective of the other person, listening empathically
for both feeling and meaning.
Habit 6: Synergize
Through trustful communication, find ways to leverage individual differences to
create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Through mutual trust
and understanding, one often can solve conflicts and find a better solution than
would have been obtained through either person's own solution.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
Take time out from production to build production capacity through personal
renewal of the physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual dimensions.
Maintain a balance among these dimensions.
