Description
The genre of success literature made its modern appearance in the eighteenth century, and has been widely explored to the present day. Stephen R. Covey, a professor of organizational behavior and business management, is intimately acquainted with the subject of success literature, which he studied for his Ph.D. dissertation.
Published in 1989, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People draws on a vast amount of literature and study. For the magnitude, and complexity of his task, Covey writes in a clear, straightforward and informative manner.
Covey’s point of view of success, and the reason for The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, being such a success, is because he does not revolve his principles around the weight of your wallett, or Saturday night’s guest list. He founds them instead upon the development of personal character and integrity, which leads to effectiveness, as opposed to being founded on personality and superficial achievement. These characteristics are explored in the first three habits, as he explains personal proactivity, and the way an individual perceives and approaches personal and situational circumstances. This ‘inner mastery’, as he calls it, encompassing the first three habits, is what precedes and forms a foundation for the last four, that concern ‘public victory’. In the public sphere co-operation, communication, and leadership are explored in the light of interpersonal victory.
Rejecting determinism he holds that an individuals effectiveness is the result of choices that they are free to make. These choices are based on a person’s paradigm, or personal reference point of the world, and their knowledge, skills and desire, which equip them to make choices.
The Seven Habits is written with a fair amount of business terminology, yet it is no less about personal victory than it is about business leadership. Covey’s writing is animated with analogies that are personal, everyday and business orientated, and conveys a deep store of knowledge about personal and interpersonal purpose and behaviour.
