Stephen Covey and World Development Information Day – a coincidence?

Surely not a coincidence – World Development Information Day coincides with Stephen Covey’s birthday.

On May 17, 1972, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (1)(UNCTAD) proposed measures for information dissemination and for the mobilization of public opinion relative to trade and development problems.  This resolution called for introducing World Development Information Day to help draw the attention of people worldwide to development problems. A further aim of the event is to explain to the general public why it is necessary to strengthen international cooperation to find ways to solve these problems.

Stephen Covey born 24/10/1932 – died 16/7/2012

To quote Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of highly effective people” (2)solving problems in action!

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life’s principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the consequences that follow.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life. Create a mission statement.

Habit 3: Put First Things First
Prioritize, plan, and execute your week’s tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win
Genuinely strive for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Value and respect people by understanding a “win” for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
Use empathic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, respect, and positive problem solving.

Habit 6: Synergize
Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. Get the best performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. It primarily emphasizes on exercise for physical renewal, prayer (meditation, yoga, etc.) and good reading for mental renewal. It also mentions service to the society for spiritual renewal.

My thoughts

The similarities are quite apparent – imagine a country adopting the 7 Habits – imagine a number of countries adopting the 7 Habits.

We can see in a microcosm what can happen when individuals adopt them – things start happening – solutions become apparent, challenges can be overcome and everyone wins.  The adoption and use of technology should only help to speed this up, building relationships, sharing information and to quote Covey “synergize”.  

Notes

1. These became known as resolution 3038 (XXVII), which the UN General Assembly passed on December 19, 1972.

2. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey’s best-known book, has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide since its first publication in 1989. The audio version became the first non-fiction audio-book in U.S. publishing history to sell more than one million copies.^[3] Covey argues against what he calls “The Personality Ethic”, something he sees as prevalent in many modern self-help books. He promotes what he labels “The Character Ethic”: aligning one’s values with so-called “universal and timeless” principles. Covey adamantly refuses to conflate principles and values; he sees principles as external natural laws, while values remain internal and subjective. Covey proclaims that values govern people’s behavior, but principles ultimately determine the consequences. Covey presents his teachings in a series of habits, manifesting as a progression from dependence via independence to interdependence.