The 7 Habits of a Highly Effective Individual by Stephen Covey - Book Report/Review Example

?Book Review Introduction The character of a person is constructed based on the innate nature or the natural attributes possessed by the individual. Such innate features of one’s inborn nature in turn feature the different types of habits reflected by the person during the course of social or group interactions. The person must focus on developing his or her traits to thereby inculcate potential habits in accomplishing set goals. Absence of effective and proper attributes fails to draw the potential of the skill sets present in a person and thereby act as hindrances to growth. Stephen Covey in the light of the aforesaid point tends to highlight seven main Habitual Features in his book ‘The 7 Habits of a Highly Effective Individual’ that should be ingrained in a person to thereby help in the construction of the Effective Individual. Habit1 The first habit relates to suggesting an individual to be Proactive and not Reactive to the events or occurrences in the surrounding environment. This behavioral change can be developed by the individual in endeavoring to build one’s own ‘circle of influence’ through focusing on enhancing the accessibility to people and resources. Enhancing focus on ‘circle of influence’ assists in reduction of dependence on the outer periphery the ‘circle of concern’ from where consequences of actions emanate from. Stephen Covey herein renders an example of a recessionary situation where persons involved in the Home-Improvement Business to counter its impacts needs to work on strategies to reduce cost and enhance market share. Finally Covey mentions that one should not evade from mistakes but rather must focus on gaining learning from such (Covey 65-91). Habit 2 The second habit relating to being an effective individual initiates with identification of the end goals. Herein, the author wants the individual to understand the basic purpose of one’s life or actions and thereby to devise or plan the steps accordingly. Stephen Covey also mentions herein the understanding of the dual creation pertaining to one’s character or what the person ought to be and also on the parameter of achievements or what the person tends to achieve in the long run. The individual is further required to construct his or her personal mission where objectives related to ethical behavior, self-motivational principles and attitudinal changes are noted. Covey also asks the individual to evaluate the different impacts one’s behavioral attributes would have on the different individuals with whom he or she would tend to interact in the course of accomplishing stated ends (Covey 95-142). Habit 3 The third habit as identified by Stephen Covey that would help in the creation of an effective individual relates to prioritizing on the actions. This habit also works on the existence of dual creation of both ‘Leadership’ and ‘Management’ parameters such that leadership helps in rightly identifying between the urgent and important activities and management relates to the way of dealing such to achieve end goals. Stephen Covey relates that urgent activities are such that create pressure and thereby demand attraction while important activities are such that gain effective relation to the larger organizational goals pertaining to growth and profitability. Covey also illustrates an example of store managers of retail corners whose urgent activity relates to summoning meetings and forecasting sales and revenue targets and allocating such. However the most important activity identified by them is enhancing liaison activities with the tenants. It is observed that enhancement of liaison activities with tenants would help them gain on profitability and growth and also in reducing the costs relating to lease (Covey 145-179). Habit 4 The fourth habit put by Stephen Covey in charactering an effective individual relates to creation of a ‘Win-Win’ situation for both parties to a contract, business or otherwise. Honesty, integrity, trust are some of the key words that an effective individual would like to enhance upon to help build on the parameter of dependency linked to fulfillment of commitments made. The effective individual would always like to empathize on the other’s situation and thereby work in the enhancement of mutual goodwill and trust. Herein, Stephen Covey focuses on an example of two Presidents pertaining to a software company and a bank where the former contributes in rendering software for the latter depending on a contract signed earlier. However in the light of an allegation rendered by the bank’s President that software rendered did not serve the purpose the former agreed without subjecting to any form of coercion and rendered financial compensation. This habit of the Software Company President rekindled the trust element thereby renewing the offer with a higher amount in the future and thus helped in transforming the problem into an opportunity (Covey 204-232). Habit 5 The fifth habit as reflected by Stephen Covey focuses on the parameter of empathizing. Herein an individual requires understanding the situation or wants of others in-depth before endeavoring to make them understand about what he or she wants. One needs to become an avid listener of other’s feelings and needs not with the objective of manipulating or convincing but in endeavoring to fully understand and gauge the other’s emotional construct. This strategy helps the former in ideally formulating and placing the proposal and thereby gaining on in the lost opportunity (Covey 235-259). Habit 6 The seventh habit reflected by Stephen Covey relates on the development of ‘Synergies’ between the decisions and ideas rendered by different people in relation to a discussion framed on issues observed. Synergizing on the decisions and ideas rendered contributes in the generation of new mission and vision objectives for the concern. Thus disagreement between different people like the officials of the insurance company led to the creation of new policies and business ideas (Covey 261-280). Habit 7 Finally the seventh habit reflected by Stephen Covey in designing a ‘Highly Effective Individual’ signifies on rejuvenating one-physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually to help achieve the goals set in a further developed fashion. Herein an individual needs to proactively set time and space for ideally rejuvenating one’s position in accomplishing set tasks (Covey 287-307). Conclusion Stephen Covey thus in the book authored ‘The 7 Habits of a Highly Effective Individual’ ideally puts in front of the reader seven different habits or behavioral constructs as would be identified pertaining to an effective individual. Covey elucidates the different habitual conceptions underlined through specific illustrations of situations related to real-world experiences. This fact thus contributes in augmenting the parameter of understanding in how one should behave to become an ‘Effective Individual’ in future. Works Cited Covey, Stephen. The 7 Habits of a Highly Effective Individual. New York: Free Press. Print. Read More