Book Review Answer

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30 April 2017

Book Review: Covey, Stephen. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Simon

and Schuster, 1989.

In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey gives a prescription for

becoming an effective person through an incisive analysis of the habits that highly effective

people display. These habits include: being proactive, beginning with an end in mind, putting

first things first, thinking win-win, seeking first to be understood rather than to be understood,

synergizing, and sharpening the saw. A person’s character is a function of habit where good

habits lead to effectiveness and poor habits to ineffectiveness. The book is a great resource not

only for leaders but also for everyone determined to achieve success in all aspects of life as it

roots for character ethic as well as the habits of highly effective people.

The book in summary focuses on the importance of character in our lives where character is

a composite of our habits. Highly effective people demonstrate certain remarkable habits and

these include: being proactive, beginning with an end in mind, putting first things first, thinking

win-win, seeking first to be understood rather than to be understood, synergizing, and

sharpening the saw. Further, the author says that character ethic paradigm whose core elements

is virtues like humility, integrity,fidelity,temperance,courage,patience,justice,industry,and the

Golden Rule is the foundation and catalyst of success in life, and not the superficial personality

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ethic paradigm that seems popular today. The “character ethic taught that there are basic

principles of effective living and that people can only experience true success and enduring

happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character”(8).

Personality ethic paradigm is superficial and it is characterized by social image

consciousness, techniques and quick-fixes-with social band-aids” (8) that merely scrape the

surface and do not touch the root. It is a function of personality, public appearance, attitudes,

behaviors and skills and techniques. It lays emphasis on such aspects as improving one’s mental

attitude and public relation with such philosophies as ‘smiling wins more friends than frowning’

and ‘whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe it can achieve’. Further, the author

says that contrary to what conventional experts claim, habits can be changed even though it will

be an arduous undertaking that calls for discipline on the person changing their habits. Changing

habits must be driven by a higher purpose and a will to postpone what one thinks to be their

present wants in favor of what they know they will want tomorrow., but all in all change in

habits is a gradual process but well worth it.

The seven habits of highly effective people that the author explores in the book are:

proactivity, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, seeking to understand then

be understood, thinking win/win, synergizing, and sharpening the saw.Proactivity refers to the

aspect of a human being taking responsibility of their own life, beginning with the end in life

means to know where you are going before taking the steps. Putting first things first refers to the

prioritization of things while seeking to understand then be understood refers to being an

empathetic listener, “listening with intent to understand”(122) and seeing things from the other

person’s perspective. Thinking win/win refers to finding a way in which the other person can

also benefit from your interaction. This paradigm requires integrity, maturity and abundance

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mentality. Synergy refers to the highest activity of life where we create new untapped

alternatives. It is “the essence of Principle-Centered leadership… and it catalyses, unifies and

unleashes the greatest powers within people” (134).Finally, sharpening the saw refers to the

personal renewal in the physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional dimensions.

The last main message in this text is that the seven habits are not a separate psyche-up

formulas but provide an incremental, highly integrated approach to the development of personal

effectiveness in tandem with the natural laws of growth. The seven habits propel us

progressively on a” maturity continuum”(23) from a state of dependence to interdependence just

like an infant grows gradually into an adult who knows the higher plane of life depends on

interdependence on others.

The author is trying to teach people how to be effective and successful leaders in their

various facets of life, and generally to cause a paradigm shift in society from focus on

personality ethic to character ethic as the basis of people’s actions and motives. The author has

achieved his motive for he has clearly developed his case that the character ethic is more

important and more enduring than the personality ethic by drawing from the natural laws, the

biblical viewpoint and the familiar American history. The real life anecdotes at the beginning of

the book also help to show that outward success (which is advocated for by personality ethic) is

not as important as character ethic as we are presented with cases of different people who have

had success in virtually every other aspect of temporal life, yet they are unsatisfied convincingly

show that personality ethic paradigm is not as important as character ethic paradigm.

Except for one typographical error where the author writes, “First your growth with (sic) be

evolutionary…” (30), instead of ‘growth will’, the book is a masterpiece in the realm of

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leadership and personal development scholarship. The author presents the information in simple

English which makes it possible for everyone to understand the message. The book also anchors

its teachings on the Biblical laws and human laws that are timeless and tested to explain the

various concepts. For example, the mention of the Golden Rule as one of the foundations of

success in life means is in reference to the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Bible in Luke

6:31.The author has also infused in the teachings of other great leaders, scholars, and thinkers

like Aristotle, Henry Thoreau, and Winston Churchill among others which makes the book much

more insightful.

The book is an interesting read for it provides insights that are of curiosity to any person. It

presents the author’s argument in such a seductive and convincing manner complete with apt

examples that any person beholden to personality ethic will be persuaded to adopt the character

ethic which the author advocates for. Some of the personal experience narrations are enthralling

and captive for they touch the heart of the reader. For example, in part one the author says that in

more than 25 years of working with people in different settings such as business,university,and

marriage and family, he has “ come in contact with many individuals who have achieved an

incredible degree of outward success, but have found themselves struggling with an inner

hunger, a deep need for personal congruency…”(6).

In conclusion, the book is a great resource not only for leaders but also for everyone

determined to achieve success in all aspects of their life as it roots for character ethic as well as

the habits of the highly effective people. It also focuses on the importance of character, explores

the seven habits of highly effective people, personality ethics, and how the seven habits propel us

into the maturity continuum. The purpose of the author in the book is to teach people to be

effective and successful leaders in the various facets of their lives as well as to cause a paradigm

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shift from personality ethic to character ethic. Except for one typographical error, the book is a

masterpiece in the realm of leadership and personal development scholarship. It is also an

interesting read which provides insights of curiosity to anyone; hence it is a book I would highly

recommend to anyone out to enhance their personal development.

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Work Cited

Covey, Stephen. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Simon and Schuster,

1989.

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