Seven Habits of Highly Effective People



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Paperback
368 pages
ISBN 9780671708634 Published Sept. 1990
Free Press
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Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
By Stephen R Covey 

Related Blog Posts
The Wall Street Journal Business Gurus List
Posted May 6, 2008 7:38 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Lists - 800 CEO Read Blog

The Wall Street Journal yesterday had a major feature titled "New Breed of Business Gurus Rises." The article provides a ranking of the thought leaders in business today. The ranking system is based on the 2003 book What's the Big Idea? : Creating and Capitalizing on the Best New Management Thinking by Thomas Davenport. Davenport compiled the rankings using data from Google mentions, Lexus-Nexus media hits, and academic citations.

The methodology creates a systematic way of measuring popularity, but it seems problematic. Take the case of Bill Gates at #3 on the list. For the man who created Microsoft, people are constantly talking about him in the media, online, and in academia. It seems a stretch that business people look to Gates for advice.

Outside of Gates, the folks at the top are no huge surprise to folks who follow business books. Gary Hamel, Tom Friedman, Gates, Malcolm Galdwell, and Howard Gardner round out the top five. Below is a list of the gurus with their 2008 rankings and one of their noteworthy books:

|Name |2008 Ranking |Book
Gary Hamel1 Competing for The Future
Thomas Friedman 2 The World is Flat
Bill Gates 3 Business @ The Speed of Thought
Malcolm Galdwell 4 Tipping Point
Howard Gardner 5 Frames of Mind
Phillip Kotler 6 Marketing Management
Robert Reich 7 Supercapitalism
Daniel Goleman 8 Emotional Intelligence
Henry Mintzberg 9 Mintzberg On Management
Stephen Covey 10 Seven Habits For Highly Effective People
Jeffrey Pfeffer 11 The Knowing Doing Gap
Peter Senge 12 The Fifth Discipline
Richard Branson 13 Losing My Virginity
Michael Porter 14 Competitive Strategy
Michael Dell 15 Direct From Dell
Geert Hofstede 16 Culture's Consequences
Clayton Christensen 17 The Innovator's Dilemma
Jack Welch 18 Winning
Tom Peters 19 In Search of Excellence
Myron Scholes 20 ---
Ikujiro Nonako 20 The Knowledge Creating Company

There are some gurus listed here who we have not given much attention to. Anybody read much on Hofstede or Nonaka? We will do some research as well.

P.S. Rebecca also has a post on the side conversation going on at wsj.com about the lack of women on the list.



Forbes' 20 Most Influential Business Books
Posted April 21, 2006 3:52 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Lists - 800 CEO Read Blog

In the Forbes' article that Tom referred to yesterday, the writer Dan Ackman pointed to a list of business books the magazine put together in 2002. Forbes calls these The 20 Most Influential Business Books. As you look down the panel experts, you'll notice our own Jack Covert was among those called to contribute. Since this was put together before the blog was born, I thought we should get it put up here.

They also organized the books and you will find some good commentary under the topics of management, narrative, biography and investing.



Good and Bad Habits
Posted June 3, 2005 5:41 a.m. by tom-ehrenfeld
In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog

Steven Coveys The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Peopleis an excellent book, a great guide for personal effectiveness that draws from a careful and thorough reading of many books in this field. Coveys classic is accessible, sensible, and extremely useful. Its little surprise that so many people cite his habits as tools that help them be more productive in their lives.

Thats why Coveys new book, The Eighth Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, comes as a bit of a shock. Its poorly written, confusing, and comes with a bonus CD that promises to add value but merely distracts. How bad is the writing? Try this passage on for size:

"The solution to the problem is like most significant breakthroughs in human history--it comes from a fundamental break with old ways of thinking. The promise of this book is that if you will be patient and pay the price of understanding the root problem and then set a course of living the timeless, universal principles embodied in the solution outlined in this book, your influence will steadily grow from the inside-out; you will find your voice and will inspire your team and organization to find theirs in a dramatically changed world."

Or in other wordshuh?

I hate to bash Covey, especially, since, as the saying goes, 50 million fans cant be wrong, and especially more, cause I consider him a smart guy with a great deal of integrity. The self-help field certainly has its share of charlatans, which he isnt. So rather, let me point out something new from him thats really good. As part of the release of 8th, the Free Press has released a new version of 7 Habits, which we can call, um the 7.1 Habits. An excellent new foreword and afterword from Covey address a number of issues he has discovered in the process of helping individuals use the book.

Refreshingly, Covey reveals his integrity by reflecting on the human challenge of practicing what he preaches. He admits, for example, that he finds the habit of Seek first to understand, then to be understood the hardest for him to follow. When Im really tired and already convinced that Im right, I really dont want to listen, he says. Such material adds a nice touch to an established classic.

There are other useful new books in this genre. I tip my hat to The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield, the guy who sold eight and a half trillion copies of his Chicken Soup for the universe series. Im cynical about most self-improvement books, which often come across as cheesy or unctuous, and even a bit sad: stuffed with grand promises and gaudy stories, they often have a thinly veiled tone of desperation. Not so this book, which feels honest and candid. And indeed, dont we all seek improvement? Is business not about creating value, about the act of solving a need, making it better?

Canfield shares many small, thoughtful, helpful suggestions for dealing with your demons. In everything from time management to goal setting to financial planning, he blends his ideas with concrete ways to realize them. He breaks down his thinking into 64 principles such as taking responsibility for your life and building a success team. And he defines success in a broad manner that touches upon all the key areas of your life. Granted, some of this is old, and some of it corny; but its also largely true, and so I guarantee that any patient reader will find much of value in the book. Generous in spirit and content, this book can help any reader take a new approach to the areas of life that comprise their definition of success.

And okay, one more recent title thats worthy in this field: TurboCoach by Brian Tracy. I admit that of the three, this one feels like the one most likely to be hawked on QVC. TurboCoachs essential argument is to conceive of your career as a business and then develop the systematic principles and methods to max it out. He starts with useful material helping the reader define their business and mission, moves on to smart lessons on improving productivity, and expands the advice to growing the business. Worthy. Nothing stunningly original, but, hey, this stuff works.



80 Books Every Manager Should Read - 1980-1989
Posted Jan. 13, 2005 1:37 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Lists - 800 CEO Read Blog

1980-89

1980 Alvin Toffler: The Third Wave


1980 Michael Porter: Competitive Strategy


1981 Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos: The Art of Japanese Management


1982 John Naisbitt: Megatrends


1982 Kenichi Ohmae: The Mind of the Strategist


1982 Tom Peters and Robert Waterman: In Search of Excellence


1982 W. Edwards Deming: Out of the Crisis


1983 Rosabeth Moss Kanter: Change Masters


1984 Meredith Belbin: Management Teams


1985 Edgar Schein: Organizational Culture and Leadership


1985 Harold Geneen: Managing


1985 Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus: Leaders


1986 Akio Morita: Made in Japan


1987 Jan Carlzon: Moments of Truth


1988 Joseph M. Juran: Planning for Quality


1988 Konosuke Matsushita: Quest for Prosperity


1989 Charles Handy: The Age of Unreason


1989 Christopher Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal: Managing Across Borders


1989 Stephen Covey: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

This is from Financial Times Handbook of Management 3rd Edition.



The 8th Habit
Posted June 29, 2004 4:02 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Personal Development - 800 CEO Read Blog

On November 9th, Stephen Covey is releasing a follow-up to his mega-bestseller 7 Habits to Highly Effective People. The book will be called "The 8th Habit". Here is a couple of paragraphs from the press release issued by Free Press this morning:

Covey's new book comes at a profoundly different time in history than when THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE was originally published. The challenges and complexity we face in our personal lives and relationships, in our families, in our professions, and in our organizations are of a different order of magnitude. We are struggling to feel engaged, fulfilled, and passionate across all areas of our lives. Tapping into the higher reaches of human genius and motivation-to find what Stephen R. Covey calls our voice - requires a new mindset, a new skill-set, a new tool-set...a new habit. THE 8th HABIT is the path to finding that voice and one's passion.

"I've not felt such passion, such conviction or excitement since my work on THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE," shares author Stephen R. Covey. "I believe the reason the response to the new ideas in THE 8th HABIT has been so strong is that people feel a void in their lives. This same emptiness is felt in organizations across the world, most of which struggle to achieve their top priorities. People don't feel their unique talents are tapped or appreciated. Bottom line- there is a profound yearning in both people and organizations to find their true "voice," to matter, to make a difference, to find greatness."




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