What are the seven habits that distinguish highly effective people?
Introduction The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey, is the title of one of the best selling books of the last few years. It is about personal leadership, from which can follow leadership of others. Covey’s work on the seven habits began with a review of success literature going back over 200 years. He identified a shift over the last fifty years away from a concentration on character and core values, what he calls the Character Ethic, towards a concentration on behaviour and actions, what he calls the Personality Ethic. Coveys research led him to propose an approach to successful management called Principle-Centred Leadership and to successful life called Principle-Centred Living. His belief is that we cannot become more successful or better people just by changing our outward behaviour or attitudes. We first have to address our principles, the way we see things in the world around us, our perceptions of others. We will then start behaving towards others in a wa
