If you’re like me, you probably have incorporated one or more of Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” into your personal life. Perhaps they’ve become so common place that now they seem just like common sense:
*** Be proactive
*** Begin with the end in mind
*** Put first things first
*** Think win/win
*** Seek first to understand, then to be understood
*** Synergize
*** Sharpen the saw
Well now Covey has a new book out entitled “The 8th Habit.” To steal only a little of his thunder, we’ll reveal, at least, that the 8th habit, in Covey’s understanding, is, “Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.” In short, Covey is encouraging today’s workers to discover their unique personal significance. He maintains that this “calling” resides at the nexus of
*** talent
*** passion
*** need
*** conscience
He writes, “There is a deep, innate, almost inexpressible yearning within each of us to find out voice in life.” He clarifies this assertion by pointing out that all humankind have an inner need “to learn, to love, to live, and to leave a legacy.” He says in this new age, it’s not quite enough to pay fairly, or merely treat kindly — though these are basics. He even says we need to step beyond the level of “using creatively.” What he concludes is that people want to serve human needs in principled ways.
I’ll have to admit, I’ve seen this come to pass in both of my sons, aged 22 and 19. The 22-year-old just landed an internship with a first-rate Nashville (TN) law firm. Seeing as how he wants to go to a top-flight law school in the next 18 months, that job seemed so strategic to Dad. But for him, not so much. The truth is, he’s talking about letting it go so he can help get goats to Ghana, or stoves to Mongolia, or heifers to Haiti. He’s living proof: this new generation is searching for *meaning*, not material.
The 19-year-old is cut from the same mold. He’s shopping for colleges right now and, although he’s factoring in scholarships and dorms, he’s much more concerned with each school’s study abroad program and how it factors into changing lives.
All of which has sent me back to basics. Today I made the obligatory trip to Barnes & Noble, picking up a new copy of “7 Habits” (mine is long-since loaned, never to be returned), along with a new copy of “8th Habit.” Let’s find that compass as we head into 2009… and let’s walk toward True North. Some of the above principles “will preach.” What do you say?
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