“7+1 Habits”: My Summary

By on June 10th, 2009

This incomplete summary was done over my recent trip to Inner Mongolia. I extracted the points that I felt were most relevant. In all, a great read I recommend to anyone. Overlook the dated analogies, retain what is useful.

In brief, the Seven are:

1. Personal Vision: Be Proactive
2. Personal Leadership: Begin with the end in mind
3. Personal Management: Put First Things First
4. Interpersonal Leadership: Think Win/Win
5. Empathetic Communication: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
6. Creative Cooperation: Synergize
7. Balanced Self-Renewal: Sharpen the Saw

The 8th Habit: Find Your Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs

SUMMARY

Paradigms and Principles

  • -The Way we see the problem IS the problem
  • -Inside-out approach: start with the self
  • -Habits: Knowledge + Skill + Desire
  • -Maturity Continuum: Dependence – Independence – Interdependence
  • -Production/Production Capacity, or P/PC Balance: The principles of effectiveness that are in harmony with natural laws
  • -Three kinds of assets: Physical, Financial, Human

Private Victory
1. Personal Vision: Be Proactive

  • 3 explanations of human nature: genetic, environmental, psychic
  • Man has independent will as well as freedom to choose
  • Proactiveness is defined as having the freedom to choose your response to a stimulus
    • after filtering through self-awareness, independent will, imagination, and conscience
    • use your R and I – resourcefulness and initiative
      • careful of language that draws you into reactiveness
      • also, focus on character not environment – if that had gone better vs. i can be more resourceful
  • Reactiveness – your emotional state is determined by your surroundings
    • Eleanor Roosevelt: “No one can hurt you without your consent.”
  • draw a Circle of Concern around things you care about, and circ of influence around things you can change
    • reactiveness -> spending your time in Concern; proactiveness -> in influence
    • on influence: there is direct, indirect, and no control
  • Application:
    • for 30 days – work only in circle of influence: make only small commitments and keep them
    • review language around you
    • pick a reactive situation you face and see how to be proactive

2. Personal Leadership: Begin with the end in mind

  • How do you want your friends, family, colleagues, and community to remember you?
  • All things are created twice – mental creation -> physical creation
  • Leadership vs Mgmt: Drucker – Mgmt is doing things right, Leadership is doing the right things
  • Personal mission statement – what you want to be, what contribs and achievements you want to do, and the principles you live by
  • Whatever is at the center of your circle is source of Security, Guidance, Wisdom and Power
    • eg spouse, family, money, work, possession, pleasure, friend/enemy, religious, self centerdness
    • or principle-centered paradigm
  • use whole brain
    • techniques for right brain:
      • expand perspective (envision your retirement)
      • visualization & affirmation (personal, positive, present tense, visual, emotional)
  • identify the roles you play and the goals you want to achieve

3. Personal Management: Put First Things First

Public Victory
4. Interpersonal Leadership: Think Win/Win

  • his 6 paradigms of interaction:
    • win/lose, lose/win, win (only caring abt yourself), lose/lose, win/win, and win/win or no deal
    • WWOND is making clear you both will walk away if WW cannot be reached
  • 5 dimensions of winwin
    • character -> relationships -> agreements
    • + supportive systems and processes
    • character
      • integrity: the value we place on ourselves
      • maturity: the balance btw courage and consideration (2×2 matrix: 1,1 is loselose 2,2 is winwin)
      • abundance mentality: vs scarcity mentality
    • relationships – building trust
      • agreement means little without the relationship to underpin it
    • agreements
      • make explicit the desired results, guidelines, resources, accountability, consequences
      • winwin management training/performance agreements
        • anecdote about 6 month training compressed to weeks
        • focus on results, not methods
        • to achieve shared understanding – “manager’s letter”: explain issue as clearly as manager
        • 4 kinds of consequences to control: psychic, financial, opportunity, responsibility
    • systems
      • you get what you reward – incentive systems must support the winwin idea
    • processes
      • winwin methods – the essence of principled negotiation is to separte the person from the problem, to focus on interests and not on positions, to invent options for mutual gain, and to insist on objective criteria both parties can buy into
  • covey’s 4 step process:
    • see problem from other pt of view
    • identif key issues and concerns, not positions, involved
    • determine what results woul constitute a fully acceptable solution
    • identify possible new options to achieve those results

5. Empathetic Communication: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
6. Creative Cooperation: Synergize

Renewal
7. Balanced Self-Renewal: Sharpen the Saw

Afterword

7 Habits

7 Habits

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