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7 Habits Of Highly Effective People

Stephen R. Covey’s self-help book is an influential communication for personal change. He advises building from the inside-out and offers a plan for moving from dependence to independence and then to interdependence. The inside-out approach starts first with one self, which includes paradigms, characters, and motivations. To improve relationships with others, we have to first improve ourselves by putting character ahead of personality.
Covey prefaces the book by explaining paradigms and principles. Paradigms are maps that guide us and affect the way we interact with people. He states, “We see the world not as it is, but as we are or as we are conditioned to see it” (page 28). Paradigms have a greater impact over effectiveness than any amount of effort to change our attitudes and behavior. “The power of a paradigm shift is the essential power of quantum change, whether the shift is and instantaneous or a slow deliberate process” (page 2).
Principles are natural laws to follow, ethical behaviors for social acceptance. Principles include fairness, integrity, honesty, human dignity, service and quality. The principles have universal application; they apply to all aspects of life. They are a guideline for human conduct.
The two dominant theories of achieving success are the Character Ethic and the Personality Ethic. Character Ethic includes integrity, humility, fidelity, courage, justice, patience, simplicity, modesty and the golden rule. People experience true success and happiness as they learn to integrate these principles into their basic character. Personality Ethic came into being after WWI. It involves human and public relations technique and a positive mental attitude. Success became a function of personality: public image, attitudes, behaviors, skills and techniques for human interaction. A flaw of the Personality Ethic is that changing outward attitudes and behaviors is not effective if we do not examine the basic paradigms form which the attitudes...