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FranklinCovey Blog | Stephen Covey
How to Change Your Paradigms
I was passing through the family room when a horse jockey on TV shared with a new co-worker that the photo on his clipboard was of his 18 year old daughter. I have a 17-year-old daughter so I stopped to listen. His daughter had died nine months ago. At the end of the show, the race track at which he worked named the spring racing series in honor of the jockey’s daughter. I was sobbing, at a reality show. And I finally understood: this is why people love reality shows. They love the story—success, failure, villainy, and redemption.
Reality show stories may stretch the truth or overemphasize some facts over others, but no more than the stories we tell about ourselves to ourselves. Stephen Covey calls this our paradigms, the way we see the world. Jim Loehr, the author of The Power of Full Engagement, the best Habit 7/Sharpen the Saw book out there, says that we have stories about our work, our families, our health; about what we’re capable of achieving. In his book, The Power of Story, Dr. Loehr says that editing our dysfunctional stories can transform our business and personal lives. › Continue reading
FranklinCovey and The Center for Advancement of Jewish Education-Miami Announce Partnership
FranklinCovey and The Center for Advancement of Jewish Education-Miami today announced they are embarking upon a ten-year partnership to bring The Leader in Me, FranklinCovey’s education process for teaching leadership at the elementary school level, to South Florida Jewish day schools and throughout the United States and Canada.
Together, FranklinCovey and CAJE-Miami will design, develop and disseminate a customized solution for Jewish day schools that integrates existing school curricula and Jewish principles with the world-renowned The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The partnership links Jewish texts and teachings with FranklinCovey’s leadership training to create a Jewish day school culture imbued with Jewish values, character development and leadership skills. › Continue reading
Stephen R. Covey joins the School of Business at Utah State University
The Jon M. Huntsman School of Business announced this week that Stephen R. Covey, has agreed to join its faculty as a tenured, full professor at Utah State University and the first incumbent of the Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Chair in Leadership.
Dr. Covey is best known for his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” His books have sold more than 20 million copies in 38 languages and “Forbes” named the 7 Habits book one of the top 10 most influential management books ever written.
“Dr. Covey’s life’s work has been to teach principle-centered leadership and that is a key part of what we do here at the Huntsman School of Business,” Anderson said. “We know the work we will do with him will leave a legacy in the lives of our students.” › Continue reading
How Good Are You at Getting Along with Others?
USA Weekend just published my article “7 Highly Effective Ways to Help Americans Get Along” on January 17. This article is very timely. We seem to be at an all-time low for civility and discourse. Time and time again we hear of people having outbursts and dialogue is missing, even at the highest levels of government. What can we do to change that? How can we find ways to get along and build respect and understanding? How good are you at getting along?
To read my article, please go to www.stephencovey.com. By becoming a member of my free online social community, you will be able to access my article and the self-quiz “How Good Are You at Getting Along?” › Continue reading
Find Career Fulfillment in Tough Times with new iPhone App
With the national unemployment rate in double digits and talk about layoffs and the economic crisis dominating newscasts and dinner tables everywhere, it’s no secret that today’s employees and job-seekers are more stressed, discouraged, and drained than ever.
To help people find work and career fulfillment in these tough economic times, Stephen Covey, author of the best-seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and Jennifer Colosimo, chief learning officer at FranklinCovey, have launched the Great Career iPhone application, which was developed in partnership by FranklinCovey and Signal Patterns based on their new book Great Work, Great Career.
Get the Great Career iPhone application at iTunes at: http://bit.ly/GreatCareer
The Great Career iPhone app can be used in conjunction with the content in Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimo’s book or independently. Its specific activities and functionality include:
- Know Your Strengths – Research-based assessments help users to discover personality, strengths and career interests
- Define Your Contribution – A contribution statement builder helps users specifically define how they can match their strengths, talents and passions to an opportunity that matters to an employer.
- Build Your Village – A unique network-building and -nurturing tool; enables users to take specific actions and track them to build and maintain their most important career relationships
- Find Resources – Helps users identify “hidden resources” that can assist them to overcome specific challenges, or take advantage of promising opportunities, in building their career
- Action Center – Tracks, prioritizes and accomplishes all the necessary tasks to build and maintain a great career
- Ask an Expert – Allows users to submit questions to Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimo as well as get answers to frequently asked career questions.
Get the Great Career iPhone application at iTunes http://bit.ly/GreatCareer
Click here to get the Great Work, Great Career book.
New Book: Great Work, Great Career
I totally have an unfair advantage and read all the FranklinCovey new book titles well before you do. And I try not to hold that over you but I got to tell you about a great new book I just read today: Great Work, Great Career by Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimo.
This book re-inspired me and reignited my passion for what I do. I tell people I love my job but after reading this and going through the exercises I have come to realize that I really do LOVE my job. I have my dream job working and plus I work best people in the world. Well of course you do, you might say. You work at FranklinCovey where the people are highly effective, right? › Continue reading
Q&A with Stephen R. Covey
Q: With every working generation, there are changes in what is motivational (e.g., Boomers vs. Gen Xers). As the mix of the generations (and cultures) continues to increase, and new cohorts enter the workforce, what approaches can we use to take advantage of this diversity to build organizational performance?
A: Synergy is celebrating diversity. So, involve people in the question you are asking and let them come up with their recommendations. Initially, start with small groups of three or four people so they are authentic and genuine in their communication and not “politically correct.” Then, let each small group share analyses and recommendations and begin to synergize at a higher level the question you are asking.
The key to this generational question is to be synergistically resolved through deep cooperation and authentic communication. Employ a great deal of empathic listening and restating another person’s point until that person feels understood. This takes a different mind-set and skill set.
How do you use diversity (the mix of generations, cultures etc…) to build organizational performance? I would love to hear from you.
This question and answer with Dr. Covey was featured in the January 2009 issue of Training Magazine.
Join Stephen R. Covey’s free social learning community at www.stephencovey.com
Press Release: The 7 Habits Inspire Teachers & Students Worldwide
FranklinCovey Co. (NYSE: FC) announced today that The Leader in Me, FranklinCovey’s Education process for teaching leadership at the elementary school level, is being used by more than 150 elementary schools in the U.S., Canada, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Hungary and the Philippines. The process, of which The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a foundational piece, inspires young students to develop the skills and self-confidence to lead their lives and succeed in the 21st Century. › Continue reading
What are you avoiding?
As I have been contemplating the struggles that all of us go through in life, I am reminded of this powerful quote by Albert E. N. Gray:
“The successful person has the habit of doing things failures don’t like to do. They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.”
I invite you to ponder on this idea in your own life. What are the things you know you have to do but are avoiding? If you were to discipline yourself and create a plan for doing those things, would you find positive, even breakthrough rewards?
For me, I know when I have avoided doing something, I have eventually seen that I’ve paid an even higher price by avoidance. For example, when I neglect my health by not eating right, exercising, or getting enough sleep, because I find it hard to stick to a disciplined regiment, I find myself feeling sluggish and not doing my best work. When I finally subordinate my dislikes to the strength of my purpose, things turn around.
I challenge you to contemplate your life and identify something you are avoiding and make a promise to yourself that you will do it. Make a promise and keep it. Subordinate the things you dislike doing to your greater purpose. I am confident that you the more you do this, the more strength you will build-and the more success you will find. What have you been avoiding? What is the end result you would like to see in your life?
Join my free social learning community at www.stephencovey.com
Simplification Reduces Uncertainty
On July 11, Apple celebrated the first anniversary of the App Store. One year and more than 1 billion downloads later, the App Store has revolutionized the software market and chalked up a wildly successful year in the middle of one of the deepest downturns in business history.
They did this by applying a key principle from Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times: focusing simply on the job real customers want done. Clearly, the App Store is successful because it allows customers to get exactly what they want immediately and in a simple and inexpensive way. As we said in the book, “Simplification reduces uncertainty. You can get more predictable results if you focus on simple, high-value offerings for the customer.”
Is the App Store simple? Absolutely. Search the catalog for what you want, and buy with one click.
Is the App Store “high-value”? Absolutely. You get low-cost applications that solve such pesky everyday problems as remembering your schedule, counting calories, and checking the weather, as well as giving you instant access to your favorite music.
We agree with the comment from Domonic on our previous post, who contributed this insight: “One of the biggest challenges I see is that people are focused more on what they have to offer than really identifying the needs of the market. They are telling the market what it needs instead of listening to clients and letting them identify what the true need is.” So true.
So many organizations just don’t get it. They are, as Domonic says, focused inwardly on what they have to offer while deluding themselves that they are customer focused. In crazy, unpredictable times, customers are very careful, but they do know a good deal when they see it.
If the App Store can solve one of my problems right now and for 99 cents, I’ll buy. And, it so happens, so will a billion other people.
So what are you doing to focus more on your customers in these wild times? Is it paying off for you? We’d love to hear.
Check out videos and tools from the book Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times