The Wisdom and Teachings of Stephen R. Covey

The Wisdom and Teachings of Stephen R. Covey, Free Press 2012  

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. Psalms 37:37

I have to admit that I never liked Stephen Covey’s books  (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, etc.) when they first came out – too prosaic, or systematic  or prescriptive or unreal for me -  but now that I’ve read every word of this little collection, I am stunned.  Stephen Covey must have been an upright man because his disciplined concern for family and personal integrity and growth shone through.  Having spent time reflecting on my favorites, I may revisit his earlier works.

But fans of business and life guru Covey, who passed away in July, will appreciate this little gift book collection of his best and most memorable teachings drawn from his eleven published books.  There is an inherent assumption that if one follows the “big picture” advice he offers, the little daily decisions and questions will resolve themselves easily.  This book covers his most impactful topics:  time management, success, leadership, including principle-centered leadership – all of the 7 Habits, plus love and family.  What a great tribute to a life well and consciously lived.

Let me share some of my favorite passages:

Page 18:  On the rudder of a huge ship there is another mini-rudder called the trim-tab.  By moving the trim-tab ever so slightly, the rudder is slowly moved, which eventually change the whole direction of a huge ship.  See yourself as a trim-tab.  By making small changes, you begin to have reverberations on the organization and possibly change the whole culture.

I am reminded of a post-election disagreement I had with a church friend when I proclaimed my disbelief and disavowal of grass-roots movements.  My friend reminded me of how we forced Lyndon Johnson to not run for re-election, how we forced Washington to end the Vietnam War, how so many brave people sat in at lunch counters in the South to end segregation, how the Tea Party did whatever it was the Tea Party did.  I had to agree that in the long-view we were making small changes which at the time may have seemed ineffective in changing the direction of so many bigger, overwhelming institutions:  McNamara and his gang, the economics of pre-Civil Rights South, even Scott Brown’s surprising election to Congress. 

But here is Covey’s advice for getting through a different kind of challenge, one over which we have no control:

Page 35:  Where we have no control over a problem, our responsibility is to change the bottom line on our face – to smile, to genuinely and peacefully accept the problem and learn to live with it, even though we don’t like it  In this way, we do not empower the problem to control us.

The book does seem to be all about change, doesn’t it?  Hmmm.

Here’s my last and most hard-hitting favorite:

Page 44:  You can be a transition person – a change for the better between the past and the future.  A negative tendency that’s run through your family for generations can stop with you. And your own change can affect many, many lives downstream.

Thank you Stephen Covey, thank you.