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Interview with Stephen Covey

Written by: Sharif Khan

Article Overview: “The call and need of a new era is for greatness. It’s for fulfillment, passionate execution and significant contribution.” - Stephen R. Covey, from The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

Interview with Stephen Covey

“The call and need of a new era is for greatness.
It’s for fulfillment, passionate execution and
significant contribution.”
- Stephen R. Covey, from The 8th Habit: From
Effectiveness to Greatness

Making a rare public appearance in Toronto at the
Mississauga Living Arts Centre, world-respected
leadership authority and author of the international
bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,
named the #1 Most Influential Business Book of
the Twentieth Century, Dr. Stephen R. Covey
spoke on his latest book, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness to a packed
audience.

Having taught principle-centered leadership for over four decades, this living
legend and world icon, with his quiet energy and grace, epitomized a call to greatness and
earned the respect of the audience -- standing as a grandfather figure for unleashing
human potential in many generations.

A hero to millions, Dr. Covey is known the world over for his landmark work
around helping people take profound ideas, philosophies, and principles and distilling
them into easy-to-use daily habits that anyone can apply. In his inspirational presentation
at the Living Arts Centre, he conveyed simple yet very powerful gems of wisdom that I
found practical and useful. For example, if you want your children to develop a love of
learning and never have to rag on them again for not doing their homework and not
getting better grades, simply ask them when they return from school, “Teach me what
you’ve learned today.” By using this one simple habit, Covey claims he’s never had a
problem encouraging his children to learn because teaching is the best way to learn.
Another gem he talked about is the habit of seeking to understand before being
understood through empathic listening. In the audience of over 800 people, he asked how
many people had any formal training on listening; only 13 hands went up revealing just
how ego-centric of a me-me-me culture we live in. Covey related how many Native
Indian tribes use what’s called the Talking Stick which is used in all meetings where the
person holding the Talking Stick is the only person allowed to speak until he or she feels
understood; when the possessor of the Talking Stick feels completely understood, then,
and only then, is the Talking Stick passed on to the next person. This creates an
incredible understanding and synergy among the team. Every business would do well to
have a Talking Stick!

Covey then went on to the crux of his message which is the 8th Habit of becoming
an island of excellence in a sea of mediocrity by finding one’s voice and helping others to
find theirs. According to Covey, the main problem is that businesses are still trapped in
the old paradigm of Industrial Age thinking even though we’re well into the Knowledge

Worker Age. What’s required is a new paradigm he calls the “whole body paradigm” of
integrating body, mind, heart, and spirit which he respectively equates to the principles of
discipline, vision, passion, and conscience. The Industrial Age is still very much focused
on the body (things, systems, structures, procedures, efficiency, bottom-line). But Covey
estimates that approximately 80 percent of all the value added to goods and services now
comes from knowledge work versus things. Twenty years ago that number was the
inverse: only 20 percent.

So the key is not behavior – it’s the map. The key is the accuracy of the map.
Once paradigm shifts the behavior will also shift. Covey clearly illustrated this point by
asking everyone to close their eyes and point “North.” When he asked us to open our
eyes and look around, I noticed everyone was pointing in different directions! In a similar
vein, the majority of organizations have their people pointing in different directions;
sighting a recent Harris Poll, Covey states that “only 37 percent of workers say they have
a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why.” No one
knows where true “North” is. There is no moral compass, no conscience, no guiding
spirit.

Part of the solution, according to Covey, is to have a transcendent goal, what he
calls a WIG or Wildly Important Goal, that serves a greater purpose. Only once this goal
is clearly communicated to everyone in an organization can quantum improvements
begin to happen in the workplace.

Here is my interview with Dr. Covey revealing his latest insights from his most
recent book, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness:

What sacrifices have you made to be where you are today?

I have worked very hard to dedicate my personal and professional life to principlecentered
living. I am driven by a passion and conscience to spread understanding for
principles and how to apply them to reach greatness. To that extent, there is no sacrifice
– only a passionate, relentless commitment to my work, family, community and church to
make a lasting difference.

What in your opinion is the most important attribute of a leader and why?
I believe the most important attribute for a leader is being principle-centered. Centering
on principles that are universal and timeless provides a foundation and compass to guide
every decision and every act. I’ve based my life’s work on promoting principles and
teaching the power that resides in principle-centered leadership. Principles are not my
invention; they are self-evident and are found throughout the world. If you look at all
enduring philosophies, religions and thoughts, you will find principles such as integrity,
compassion, trust, honesty, accountability and others at their core. I simply translated
these principles into a framework of habits, which when followed with consistency and
frequency transforms one’s character and allows one to earn the moral authority
necessary for enduring leadership.

I must also clarify the definition of leadership, which is sadly and narrowly
defined as position, title, status or rank. This is formal authority and not necessarily
leadership. Through years of study, teaching and working with people all over the world,
from all walks of life, I have determined that leadership is: Communicating to people
their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves. It is the
influence we have with others to help them discover their own voice, to find their own
purpose, to make their unique contribution, and to release their potential, that truly
defines leadership. Thus, leadership extends to the many personal and professional roles
we play – as workers, parents, children, teachers, students, swamis, you name it – and the
choice we make to live by principles to help others find their voice.

In your book, 8th Habit, you talk about finding one’s voice and developing one’s
“unique personal significance.” How does one begin doing that?

To achieve greater heights each person must be challenged to find their voice – their
unique personal significance and purposeful meaning – and help others to find theirs.
Voice lies at the nexus of talent, passion, need and conscience. When anyone engages in
work that taps into their talent and fuels their passion – that rises out of a great need in
the world that they feel drawn by conscience to meet – therein lies their voice in life. The
8th Habit is all about how to find your voice and help others to find theirs.
What leader do you really admire and why?

One immediate leader who comes to mind is Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen
Bank. His story is one that illustrates the path to finding one’s voice and helping others
find theirs. Muhammad saw a need, felt his conscience move him to try and fill that need
and applied his talents and passion to fill it. In the process, he found his voice and helped
others to find theirs.

Muhammad wanted to help his impoverished fellow citizens in Bangladesh. He
met a woman who made bamboo stools only to make two U.S. pennies each day. He
inquired about her work and found that the woman had no money to buy the necessary
bamboo, so she was forced to borrow money from a trader on condition that she sell him
her finished product at a price he dictated. This poor woman in essence was held hostage
by this trader.

This woman was not alone, there was an entire village of 42 hard working people
working in unbearable circumstances and Muhammad calculated that it only required $27
U.S. dollars to help them out. He immediately gave the money to the people and told
them it was a loan to be re-paid when they were able.

Muhammad even went further to ask the local bank to loan these villagers
additional money and offered himself as a guarantor. Much to the skepticism and
surprise of the bankers, the villagers paid every penny back on several loans.
Muhammad eventually expanded this loan program by creating his own microcredit
lending institution called the Grameen Bank, so he could help numerous villages.
Grameen Bank now works with more than 46,000 villages giving micro-loans,
lending approximately half a billion dollars a year to empower the poor (96% of whom
are women) to produce and sell their goods and build housing. So far, the bank has
assisted 3.7 million people. The micro-credit movement has now spread throughout the
world.

What advice would you give youth who will become future leaders of tomorrow?
In my 8th Habit book I share the idea that everyone chooses one of two roads in life,
whether you’re older or younger, man or woman, rich or poor. The most traveled road is
the one that takes us to mediocrity and the other less traveled road takes us to greatness
and meaning. The first road limits us and prevents us from realizing our full potential.
This road is often the quick-fix or short-cut approach to life. It often lures us to it when
we don’t take accountability for ourselves or see ourselves as victims. My advice to the
youth is to avoid the road of mediocrity. It’s probably hard for them to see into the longterm,
but if they will try to see themselves as human beings with vast potential, and see
that next to life itself their greatest gift is choice – they can choose their responses to
whatever comes to them in life, and take responsibility for their choices, their behaviors,
their feelings and choose to create their future.

My son, Sean, wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens to help [young
people] become their best selves. He speaks wonderfully to the youth (much better than
I), and I would recommend his book to anyone wanting to start good habits at a young
age.

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Related Forum Posts
Re: Money Does Not Guarantee Happiness - Thanks for singling this point out, Chris. One book that comes to mind that covers it in an overall approach is "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey. He addresses our inner life and the way it can change our effectiveness home and at work. There are corporations who have taken this model and effectively molded their business around it.
Re: An 18 minute plan of managing your day - Hi Yinka, Thanks for the article. I write out a daily To Do List (I've never successfully managed a Stephen Covey-style weekly plan), and cross off the tasks as I go. However, I can definitely see the value of adding the specific time and place that tasks will be done, writing an IGNORE list and also stopping and checking throughout the day plus reviewing at the end. Very useful article. Cheers! DH
Re: What works for you? - Hi Yinka, I work better under pressure of deadlines when I am doing something for other people. However, I like to have the leisure to develop my own projects. The first case is what Stephen Covey calls a "Quadrant 1" activity ("Important and urgent") whereas the second case is a "Quadrant 2" activity ("Important, not urgent"). We should aim to make as much time as possible for Q2 activities so that we can develop our own projects. Easier said than done!
Relevancy of books through the ages - I am posting this to let us know that books through the ages had shapen the world we live in. The Bible breeds millions of Christians. Lenin got his ideas from reading book by Karl Max. Bill Clinton read 300 books in his university days. Anthony Robbins read 700 books to become a guru in his field Stephen Covey got his ideas through reading books published 500 years ago. A lot of internet marketers read Hopkins and Robert Colliers' book for inspiration. The Secret was inspired by The science of Getting Rich. So fellow entrepreneur you need to read books to expand your horizon
Re: My 3 best business books - 1. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey 3. Permission Marketing - Seth Godin Think and Grow Rich seems more powerful each time I read it or dip into it. The 7 Habits not only offers some very effective ways to organize your life (which I have yet to master!), but also some great quotations and thought provoking statements including this by Nazi concentration camp survivor, Viktor Frankl: [i:2naxzsom]Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.[/i:2naxzsom] Seth Godin's Permission Marketing is a good read for anybody seeking to understand how to approach doing business on the Internet in the right way with regard to winning people's trust.


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