The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in
1989, is a business and self-help book written by Stephen Covey.
Covey presents an approach to being effective in
attaining goals by
aligning oneself to what he calls "true north" principles based on
a character ethic that he presents as
universal and timeless.
Covey
defines effectiveness as the balance of obtaining desirable results with caring
for that, which produces those results. He illustrates this by referring to the
fable of the goose that laid the
golden eggs. He further claims that effectiveness can be
expressed in terms of the P/PC ratio, where P refers to
getting desired results and PC is caring for that which
produces the results.
Covey's
best-known book has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide since its first
publication. The audio version became the first non-fiction audio-book in U.S.
publishing history to sell more than one million copies. Covey argues
against what he calls "the personality ethic", that he sees as
prevalent in many modern self-help books. He promotes what he labels "the
character ethic": aligning one's values with so-called universal and
timeless principles. In doing this, Covey is deliberately and mindfully
separating principles and values. He sees principles as
external natural laws, while values remain internal
and subjective. Our values govern our behavior, while principles ultimately
determine the consequences. Covey presents his teachings in a series of habits,
manifesting as a progression from dependence through independence on
to interdependence.
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