Remembering Stephen Covey

This week I learned of the passing of Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of  The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People plus numerous other books and articles. Covey was one of the great thinkers of our day. I read the 7 habits over 25 years ago and it has had an immense impact on my life and my work.

I have always admired Covey's work because he understood that life is seamless. That it was worthless to become a better business person if doing so costs us our humanity. Dr. Covey's 7 habits offers lessons on being not just a better business person, but how to get the most from every aspect of our lives. He does not teach how to "beat the other guy" but rather how to foster communication and cooperation to develop solutions that benefits all parties involved in any interaction.

Dr. Covey's teaching affirmed the possibility of change and growth as a human being. He encouraged his readers to decide what they wanted from life and to evaluate every action against this yardstick. He believed that we differ from the animals because of our ability to respond rather than react to our environments. He believed in living mindfully. My favorite Stephen Covey quote is that "we should live out of our imagination rather than our history." He believed that we can recreate ourselves and that we can transcend our past and our current situation.

Finally, I commend Dr. Covey for his honesty. His book has remained on the business/self help books bestseller lists for decades while many other books which offered a quick fix have come and gone. He doesn't tell us that we can "double our income over night" or "become a business genius in a week." Covey's book are deep with meaning and require multiple reading to fully grasp their message. He tells the reader that becoming a better person requires hard work and constant effort. Covey tells us that we must achieve a private victory before we deserve to win victories in the world at large. He acknowledges that anything worthwhile must be earned.

I have tried to apply Dr. Covey's principles to my life and to my work. I believe that they have helped me to achieve professional success, but I am absolutely confident that his ideas have enriched my life. Stephen Covey maintained that the best way to absorb his ideas was to teach them. Over the years I have given away dozens of copies of the 7 habits to co-workers and friends. I have taught his ideas in my training classes and coaching sessions. I highly recommend that you read, or reread, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as the information it offers is truly timeless.

Several years ago i wrote a series of Link and Learn articles on applying Dr. Covey's Seven habits to selling advertising. If you would like to read these, you'll find them in the Link and Learn archive at PaperChain.org

In the 7 habits Stephen Covey tells us that we should "begin with the end in mind." He recommended that as an exercise we should imagine our own deaths, He told us to think about what our families, our friends and our co-workers would say about us. He suggested we keep this in mind and to live our lives so that we will be pleased  with what they say at our graveside. Well Dr. Covey, thank you for all you've given to the world, you will be missed.