COMMENTARY

Effective leadership begins with Seven Habits:An interview with Stephen R. Covey

on't dismiss Stephen R. Covey, PhD, MBA, as justanother self-appointed management guru. He may be oneof the most successful management consultants in the

world, but the message Covey repeats in hundreds of lectureseach year is that the key to achieving true effectiveness andsuccess has little to do with Stephen Covey and everything todo with principles. Covey's concept of principle-centeredleadership is based on the idea that both the success of anycorporate, nonprofit, or family organization and the happinessof any individual begin with an awareness of timeless prin-ciples - such as integrity, courage, accountability, compas-sion, and fidelity - that give meaning and direction to life.

Covey's teachings have gained an enthusiastic following incorporate boardrooms, university halls, government agencies,and manufacturing facilities across the country. His Utah-basedinternational consulting and training firm, Covey LeadershipCenter, generates more than $50 million in annual revenue.Clients, which range from Fortune 500 companies to entrepre-neurial firms, have included IBM, Federal Express, GeneralMotors' Saturn, and AT&T. Covey's book, The Seven Habits ofHighly Effective People (Simon and Schuster/Fireside; 1989),has hovered near the top of best-seller lists for 4 years and soldmore than 3.5 million copies.

As described in Covey's book, practicing the Seven Habitsbecomes a journey of self-discovery in which an individualprogresses from emotional dependence to independence and,ultimately, to interdependence. Interdependence, a level ofmaturity essential to individual and interpersonal effectiveness,is defined as the recognition that all life is intricately interwo-ven and that two persons working together in a spirit of mutualrespect and understanding can achieve far more than eitherperson could accomplish alone.

Covey explains that it is only as we achieve emotionalindependence that we are able to share ourselves meaningfullywith others, whether in marriage, friendships, or the work-place. Hence, the first three Habits, which involve takingresponsibility for one's life and identifying and working towarda life mission, must precede Habits 4, 5, and 6, which fosterinterpersonal growth through teamwork, cooperation, andcommunication. "Private victories precede public victories,"writes Covey. Achieving personal growth, leadership, and trueeffectiveness is an inside-out process that begins with recogni-tion of the essentiality of character.

Belief in the character ethic, the idea that enduring prin-ciples govern human effectiveness and happiness, is fundamen-tal to Covey's principle-centered approach to leadership. Coveynotes that most management and self-improvement literaturewritten since World War I portrays success as a function ofpersonality and technique. According to Covey, such ap-proaches, which emphasize image, attitude, skills, andbehaviors rather than character traits, provide only temporalresponses to situations and even degenerate into manipulativestrategies for influencing or intimidating others. Covey teachesthat skillful technique without the bedrock of personalcharacter is illusory and deceptive; those who depend on the

quick-fix solutions offered by technique alone find that, like abuilding constructed on swampy ground, their "achievements"eventually crumble.

An essential stage in the evolution of self and successmarked by the Seven Habits is development of a personalmission statement, the central activity of Habit 2. A missionstatement that clarifies a person's essential character, valuesystem, and life aspirations acts as an internal compass thathelps one stay on course even when challenged by life'sstormy seas.

Setting goals and managing life's activities, the lessons ofHabit 3, proceed naturally from the personal awareness gainedin Habit 2. To Covey, effective time management means givingpriority to important activities. An activity is important if itcontributes to a person's mission statement and values. Coveydiagrams his concept of time management using a four-quadrant matrix. All activities can be placed into one of thefour quadrants on the basis of two dimensions: their urgencyand their importance. Activities that fall into quadrant I areboth urgent and important. These are the crises and problemsthat require immediate attention. Although many peoplemistakenly think that effective management means dealingwith crises, Covey teaches that truly effective persons focus onquadrant II activities, which are important but not urgent andwhich prevent crises. These include working on relationships,reading, exercising, and long-range planning. Minimal timeshould be devoted to activities that fall into quadrant III(urgent but not important) and quadrant IV (not urgent andnot important).'

In an interview with Journal associate managing editorNancy I. Hahn, Covey discusses the central ideas of hisprinciple-centered approach to leadership.

Can you explain the difference between the SevenHabits and other management theories?

Covey: It's common for people to approach the Seven Habitsas if they were techniques for success rather than developmen-tal stages in personal growth. I don't believe in the techniqueapproach. True leadership and success are founded on thepersonal growth and inner strength that come when peopleseek their inner self and the fundamental values that directtheir lives. The Seven Habits are a personal journey, andindividuals must find and develop their inner character (byworking on Habits 1, 2, and 3) before they can expect tosucceed in interpersonal relationships (Habits 4, 5, and 6).Sometimes at lectures, I'll teach this concept by asking some-one from the audience to come to the front of the room and do

' For a more detailed explanation of thefour quadrants oftime management, see For Your Information on page 377.This month's FYI article examines whether the daily livesand careers offive successful dietitians mirror Covey'sSeven Habitsfor effectiveness.

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20 push-ups. Few people can manage such an assignmentwithout a struggle. I use this experience as a physical metaphorfor the idea that you can't fake emotional independence. Youmust be able to do 20 emotional push-ups before you can beginto practice the Habits of interpersonal leadership.

That's why it's so important that people cultivate a personalmission statement and live by it. Then their security comesfrom their own integrity and value system rather than fromsome external hierarchy. Only then will they have the emo-tional confidence to seek the win-win agreements and synergis-tic relationships embodied by Habits 4, 5, and 6. Without trueemotional security, a person will go through life feeling fearful,harassed, and out of control. Unexpressed negative feelingsnever die; they eventually are manifested in unpleasant ways.Such a frustrated and unhappy person will continue to searchfor the next success technique, but it's not out there to befound. Success and happiness are not based on technique.They are based on character growth.

Why does Habit 2, "the leadership habit, "focus ondeveloping a personal mission statement?

Covey: Defining a personal mission statement is central topersonal leadership because a mission statement is thefoundation on which one builds goals and strategies, whetherfor personal or professional life. Writing a mission statementenables a person to get an internal sense of the central purposeof his or her life and to discover the core values that underlieand shape all the roles that one assumes in life, whethermother or father, wife or husband, or registered dietitian ordietetic technician. The mission statement creates a personalvision that is based on true and universal principles, such asservice, integrity, courage, and fairness. When individuals beginto live by a personal vision based on character values, little bylittle they find that their security and strength come from with-in themselves rather than being based on external matters suchas credentials or positional status in a hierarchy. It is only whenthey achieve this inner strength of character that they are ableto assume a leadership role in relationships with other people.

What techniques do you use to guide someone who istrying to write a mission statement?

Covey: First, it's important that individuals remove themselvesfrom their regular environment and its pressures. They need anenvironment in which they don't feel threatened and wherethey are not saying or writing something to impress someoneelse. They need to find a place where they can think philo-sophically and go deep inside themselves.

I ask individuals to think about the people they admire whohave had a profound influence on their lives. Then I ask themto think about the kind of person they'd like to be in theirvarious life roles, for example, as a mother or father or as aclinical dietitian or director of foodservice. I ask them toenvision an ideal situation for living each of their life roles.Then I ask them to write down the principles and beliefs bywhich they want to live their lives. At this stage, a person is notthinking about specific goals, only of his or her identity andultimate roles in life and about what is truly important in eachof those roles so that a balance in life roles can be found.

What is always interesting to me is the similarity in people'scharacter values. When persons go deep inside themselves tosearch out their core value system, they always come up withvariations on the same themes. They want to live a life ofintegrity and service and balance. They want to avoid a life inwhich they continually feel frazzled and intimidated.

I encourage persons to visualize themselves in differentpressure situations and to think about their values in thecontext of these high-pressure situations to help them fullycomprehend their identity and values. Typically, parts of theirnature will fight against this idealism - this is a difficult, oftenagonizing, process. Developing a mission statement takesweeks, even months, of self-examination. It's not somethingthat can be forced or dashed off quickly because writing amission statement involves coming to terms with the deepestpart of one's nature.

In a sense we each live three lives: our public life (where weperform our duties at work or in our comnnunities), our privatelife (where we spend time alone or with friends and lovedones), and our inner life. The innmer life is where we exerciseour endowments of self-awareness, imagination, conscience,and independent will to examine the other two lives. We delveinto the inner life to discern our mission statement.

As individuals become aware of their inner self, they begin toreshape their public and private lives to reflect the valuesystem of their inner life. The mission statement gives a senseof direction to life and, as individuals build their life rolesaround their values, they develop a sense of wholeness,integrity, and balance. It's a thrilling and reaffirming experi-ence. When people are living a life in balance with their values,they have more courage, more capacity to listen with empathy,and more compassion for other people. Their inner strengthgives them the courage to be open with other people, to beaccepting and forgiving, and to approach difficult people withcompassion rather than accusation. For example, rather thanbecoming stressed or intimidated by a dictatorial boss, one isable to see that person not simply as a mean-spirited bully, butas someone who has not yet paid the price for inner strengthand who must borrow strength from credentials or positionalpower to compensate for a lack of strength inside.

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A Seven Hits primerHabit 1: Be proactive. Take responsibility for your ownlife. Choose behavior on the basis of your value system.Don't blame other people or external events for problems.

Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind. Visualize the endof your life to determine what is essential to your life. Liveeach day concentrating on what is most important.

Habit 3: Put first things first. Focus on activities thatsupport your values and personal mission. Understandwhat is urgent and important in your life. Balance today'sproduction with long-term development.

Habit 4: Think win-win. Seek solutions that benefit allparties. Personal success does not exclude the successof others. Be cooperative, not competitive.

Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be under-stood. Listen with the intent to understand anotherperson's frame of reference.

Habit 6: Synergize. Find a better solution together.Creative cooperation recognizes that the whole is greaterthan the sum of its parts.

Habit 7: Sharpen the saw. Take time for personalrenewal. Nurture the physical, spiritual, mental, andsocial/emotional dimensions of your nature.

COMMWIARY

As this inner transformation continues, it enables a person toachieve successful and synergistic results in interpersonalrelationships because, over time, others recognize that thisperson is different and they respond to that difference. Theythink, "This is a person of integrity and balance and I'm goingto respect her feelings and convictions." In this way, personsdirected by their value system can literally shape theirenvironment. This is how true personal, and organizational,change occurs.

Does a personal mission statement change over time?

Covey: You write a mission statement with the intention ofnever changing it. As you mature, your deepened awareness ofyour inner self will lead you to adjust parts of it, but when youset out to write your mission statement, you must write as ifyou will never change it. Goals are something different. Goalsmay change frequently, but the mission statement is funda-mentally changeless. I often compare a personal missionstatement to the US Constitution. In more than 200 years,we've added 26 amendments, but the essential truths of theConstitution have endured despite such national tumults as theCivil War, Vietnam, and Watergate. The Constitution is thefoundation and center of our society; it is the written standardby which all laws and conduct are measured. In the same way,a personal mission statement based on true principles becomesthe changeless standard for an individual. All life-directingdecisions, and even small daily decisions, can be made inreference to the timeless standard expressed in the missionstatement. People have difficulty facing change in their liveswhen they don't possess a changeless core. The key to beingable to adapt to life's challenges is having a changeless vision ofwho you are and what you value.

Habit 3 teaches personal management. How does onelearn to "putfirst thingsfirst"?

Covey: Most people literally live a life of crises, moving fromone problem to the next. It's like being in the pounding surf. Abig wave slaps them into the sand, they stagger up, only to behit by a second wave, and then another, and another. One bigproblem, followed by someone's demand, followed by anotherfire to put out! Eventually, a life focused on crisis managementtakes its toll, extracting a tremendous price from a person'shealth and personal serenity. This is a person who feels that hisor her life is out of control.

The key to achieving a balanced life and managing stressfulsituations is learning to discipline yourself to spend the bulk ofyour time in a quadrant of life that I call "important but noturgent." When you do this, the other quadrants, and especiallythe quadrant of "urgent and important" (the source of all thoseraging fires), get smaller. You will always have to face someproblems and crises, especially working in the health care field,but by learning to focus your time and energy on projects thatare important but not urgent, you can reduce, at least by onethird, the number of crises that you must subdue. Problemsthat do occur will not likely affect you as personally becauseyou will have established an inner sense of balance andserenity. Spending time in quadrant II (on activities that areimportant but not urgent) is living in a prevention mode.

The current "crisis" in health care is a good example on alarge scale of what happens when focus is misplaced on short-term fixes rather than long-term maintenance. The health careindustry must move into quadrant II and focus on diseaseprevention and health maintenance. Otherwise, the costs - inboth financial and human terms - of maintaining the current

emphasis on crisis intervention will bankrupt this country.Unfortunately, as a society, we are preoccupied with speed

and efficiency and quick solutions to problems. Both organiza-tions and individuals must learn to focus on quadrant IIactivities, but this is a difficult transition for many people.They've become addicted to urgency and literally go throughwithdrawal pains when they get into quadrant II. Such peoplehave no leadership in their lives, only management skills. Mostindividuals, families, and organizations are over-managed andunder-led. When leadership is provided, there is less need formanagement because people learn to manage themselves.

How does one identify andfocus on quadrant IIactivities?

Covey: All Seven Habits are quadrant II activities. Habit 1, "Beproactive," is the essence of quadrant II because you must acton quadrant II; here there are no crises to act on you. Develop-ing your mission statement, the central activity of Habit 2, iscrucial to quadrant II because the importance of an activity isdetermined by deciding whether it contributes to your missionstatement. If you don't have a clear idea of what is important inyour life, it's easy to get sidetracked into responding to urgent(and often unimportant) matters.

All of the interpersonal Habits that focus on building rela-tionships are quadrant II activities. For example, setting up awin-win performance plan with other colleagues on a healthcare team initially means taking time away from more urgentmatters, such as dealing with patients. A harried dietitian mightsay, "I don't have time to talk to my colleagues. Look at allthose patients waiting for me!" That's like saying you are toobusy driving your car to stop for gasoline. If you have 3minutes, use the first minute to plan the other two; you'll bemore productive than if you simply start working for all three.

The "extra" time for quadrant II activities is found by limitingthe amount of time spent on the unimportant activities that fillup quadrants III and V. Most people think they spend littletime on unimportant matters until they are forced to examinetheir life from a time-management perspective. Then they areamazed at how much time is spent on urgent issues that arenot important. For example, time spent at meetings can usuallybe cut in half, or cut altogether, because many meetings arenot really important. We often work on projects that areproximate, rather than important. We waste time rehashing oldproblems or "gossiping around the water cooler." We watch toomuch television rather than spending time on personal orprofessional development.

Can you give some advice to dietitians whoface timepressures every day as they try to balance quality carewith an often unwieldy number of patient cases?

Covey: I'd like to offer advice on two levels. First, pay the pricefor emotional independence by practicing Habits 1, 2, and 3.Then the dietitian's emotional life is no longer buffeted by thevagaries of a physician's approval or a patient's behavior. Innerstrength will come from living a life of balance and integrity,and the dietitian will find the wisdom and courage to face thedemands of his or her patients and professional colleagues. Onthe next level, the dietitian who has achieved this indepen-dence is ready to seek out other health professionals and beginthe process of building a complementary team that can worktogether to solve problems involving patients or workplaceprocedures.

For example, a dietitian might create a case scenario thatillustrates typical problems encountered while trying to

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balance good patient care with burdensome case loads andpresent it at a team meeting. Perhaps by discussing the case,the group could come up with ways to relieve the dietitian ofsome less important duties so that he or she might spend moretime with a patient who needs extra attention.

Principle-centered leadership demands that a whole frame ofmind be developed. As a teacher, it's more important for me tohelp persons develop internal integrity and independence andlearn how to seek win-win relationships and complementaryteams than to provide them with specific solutions to theirproblems. Individuals empowered with self-knowledge, solidvalues, and the synergy of complementary relationships willfind the answers they need.

Traditionally, medical decision making has followed ahierarchical model with physicians at the top. We arebeginning to see a shift toward team management ofhealth care. How can dietitians and dietetic techni-cians exercise their leadership potential within thisemerging structure?

Covey: They must learn to become active partners in decisionmaking and to cultivate an equality relationship, even thoughvertically on a functional scale physicians may continue tomake the final decisions regarding medical treatment. Regard-less of their places on an organizational chart, as human beings,physicians and dietitians are equal. There may be times whenthe dietitian has better ideas and more knowledge than thephysician, and other times the physician will have greaterexpertise. But both professionals have value as human beingsand as members of the health care team.

The essence of a complementary team is the trust, respect,and communication that is established and fostered among itsmembers. The team approach must be transformational ratherthan transactional. A simple example of a transactionalrelationship would be going to buy gasoline. A person pays theattendant money and puts the gasoline in the car. It's atransaction that exchanges a good, service, or information (inthis case, the gasoline) but leaves the two persons involved inthe transaction unchanged in relation to each other. In thepast, relationships among health professionals have tended tobe transactional: physicians gave the diet orders and dietitianscarried them out. But as we move into the world of teamwork,all of us have to be altered and changed in the most fundamen-tal sense. Our relationships must begin with respect for eachother as equal human beings and as persons who haveknowledge and skills to share and different functions toperform as members of the team. If the traditional transac-tional relationship has been for the physician to give orders andthe dietitian to follow orders, the transformational relationshipwould ask the physician to adapt his or her style to an egalitar-ian approach that involves listening and understanding ratherthan simply deciding and directing. Equally important, thedietitian would need to adapt his or her style to a morecourageous approach that involves being assertive andspeaking out about treatment options in a way that is pleasantand nonconfrontational.

Remember, too, that the leader isn't necessarily the personat the top of a hierarchy - the person at the top is usually amanager. A leader provides the vision and inspiration forchange and builds team support for the vision. (In contrast, amanager deals with operational logistics related to the vision.)The more leadership there is, the less management is neces-sary. Dietitians could easily emerge as leaders on health careteams. One of their challenges would be to develop enoughinternal security to provide leadership that encourages the

win-win spirit of a complementary team even if physicians orother health professionals serve as managers for the team.

How would dietitians initiate a complementary team?

Covey: I can offer some suggestions for one approach. Thefirst step would be to seek out the person who currently hasthe power to influence the group. This may well be thephysician. Talk to this person about the concept of thecomplementary team and ask whether your group could setaside some time to work on building the team. The bestscenario would be for the group to go off-site to get away fromthe environment and pressures of the workplace. If this isn'tpossible, the next best situation would be for the group toschedule a long lunch together once each week over 3 weeks.By meeting over lunch you will create a pleasant environmentfor discussion and by scheduling the sessions over 3 weeks youwill provide time for reflection between meetings.

At the first meeting, the group should concentrate onlearning about each other's role on the team. This is puttinginto practice Habit 5, "Seek first to understand, then to beunderstood." In turn, team members should talk about theirroles and goals and the challenges and problems they encoun-ter in their jobs. Don't even attempt to begin problem solvingthe first week, however. Simply take time to listen and tounderstand each other.

At the second meeting, the group can start generatingalternative approaches for dealing with some of the issuesraised in the first meeting. This process inevitably leads tomore listening because once the group begins examiningspecific alternatives that will affect another person's style ofliving and working, group members will realize that they needgreater understanding of each other's roles and needs.

Ideally, by the third meeting, there should be enough trustand cooperation to provide an environment for synergisticproblem solving. Group members should be starting to practicethis approach on the job and, gradually, this cooperativepattern of problem resolution will be adopted as the groupnorm. The old pattern of dominant boss and subservientemployees will be replaced by a team of peers whose skills andknowledge complement each other to provide the mosteffective and efficient care for patients or clients.

What advice do you havefor the dietetics professionalwho approaches colleagues with a win-winframe ofmind but meets nothing but resistance?

Covey: Smile. Don't capitulate. Realize that, unfortunately,your colleagues need to mature to a level of personal securitythat enables them to respond to you. Accept that you may bein a situation in which there is not much you can do to changethe external environment. Concentrate on yourself and yourcircle of influence. Practice Habits 1, 2, and 3. Keep your ownlife balanced and focused. Eventually the influence of yourinner strength and serenity may have an effect on yourcolleagues' attitudes. Whatever happens, don't take it person-ally and never throw up your hands in despair thinking, "What'sthe use of all this idealistic mumbo jumbo! I can't changeanything." Once you do that, you've given away your power tothe weakness of other people. We can't build our emotionallives on another person's weakness. When we do, we disem-power ourselves and empower the other person's weakness towreak unhappiness and frustration in our lives. Remember, thefuture lies with the complementary team approach, especiallyfor health care, so you've got a historical force on your side.Prepare yourself for leadership, and be patient.

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