If you hadn’t already heard, Stephen Covey, author of the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” passed away earlier this week. I was always a huge fan of his work. He was 79.
For many of you, like me, “7 Habits” came out just about the time we were making our great ascent into the business world. When it was published in 1989, it quickly became a bestseller and the management bible for many companies.
Covey was the first author to introduce the idea of a “paradigm shift” to help readers understand that there exists a different perspective, a different viewpoint from one’s own and asserted that two people could see the same thing, differ with each other, but seek “win-win” solutions. Language we still hear today across American businesses.
His company, an executive training center, merged with Franklin Quest Co. to form FranklinCovey, a leading provider of time-management seminars and publications. Time management was a central piece of Covey’s strategy for successful business management.
Today, walk into any conference room and you’ll see a dozen laptops whip open at the start of a meeting. In 1989 there were no laptops, but everyone proudly unveiled their Franklin Planner with every 15 minutes dutifully penciled in. (For anyone under 40, we used to manage our daily schedules in a paper notebook… they did have sweet covers though!) The Franklin Planner was today’s Outlook.
Covey was recognized as one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans, and was named among the world’s top 50 business thinkers even as late as 2011. ”7 Habits” has sold more than 20 million books in 38 languages worldwide, and the audio version has sold over 2 million copies, more than any nonfiction book ever released on tape, according to publisher Simon & Schuster.
By all accounts Mr. Covey lived up to the principles he espoused and has indeed left a positive, lasting mark on the world.
What occurred to me is that, just like idea of a Franklin Planner to ensure good time management, the “7 Habits” approach to effectiveness has become quaint in today’s business environment. After all, in 1989 Covey could never have predicted the speed at which we must now operate, or the number disruptions and amount of multi-tasking that have become routine.
If they made the Franklin Planner today, they would have to put time slots for every 30 seconds! Every 15 minutes… How great would it be to get 15 minutes of completely uninterrupted time during your day?
The other thing that occurred to me is how the “7 Habits” not only still hold up today, but what an incredible influence the ideas and concepts had, and continue to have on how we help folks in HR to become highly effective. Check this out…
Covey also wrote a book called, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness that you don’t hear about as much. The 8th habit is to “Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.”
20 years from now, I hope I was inspired by the 8th habit, as much as I appear to have been by the other 7. As a CEO, I could think of no better measure of success.
Another infusion of knowledge…
Tags: effective HR, Stephen Covey