Stephen Covey's Seven Habits

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On Monday 16th July 2012, popular American expert on leadership, lecturer and author of motivational books Stephen R. Covey died aged 79 from injuries sustained in a cycling accident at the end of April. His books and seminars on personal development and achieving success are very popular also in the Czech Republic.

Stephen Covey's best-known book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,  published in 1989, has been translated into 40 languages, including Czech. It became one of the most influential books on management in the 20th century with over 20 million copies sold.

The seven habits we need to acquire in order to act in the most efficient way were summarised by Covey as follows:

  1. Be proactive.

  2. Start with the end in mind.

  3. Put the most important things in first place.

  4. Think the "win-win" way.

  5. First try to understand, then to be understood.

  6. Create synergy.

  7. Sharpen the saw.

Covey then formulated the unique human capabilities associated with these seven habits in an article entitled Seven Habits Revisited: Seven Unique Human Endowments. You can read it on this site.


Book

COVEY, Stephen R.: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Anniversary Edition. New York: Simon & Schuster 2013.
 

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Article source HR Communication - American website focused on HR and internal communication
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