Principle-Centered Leadership

Author Stephen R. Covey’s ground-breaking book, Principle-Centered Leadership, is the higher-octave bookend of his earlier foundation book, the #1 International Best-Seller: The 7 Habits of Highly-Effective People. In fact, 7 Habits is the foundation upon which we all should learn how to problem-solve and relate to others.Dr. Covey (a devout Mormon), who has his MBA from Harvard and a Doctor of Religious Education degree from BYU, practiced what he taught because both books are a distillation of Mormon values.Dr. Covey was professionally influenced by Peter Drucker’s work – how people are organized across the spectra of business, government, and non-government sections of society. Drucker was a life-long proponent of ‘the knowledge/ life-long learner’, which Covey also espoused.Stephen Covey was a professor at the Marriott School of Management at BYU and was also an assistant to the President of the university. Later, he went back to full-time academic duties as a professor of the Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University in Logan.My main copy of this book (I have several) has many dog-eared, red-pen marked passages that are meaningful to me; it also has many mini Post-It note pages that I use as marked tabs of important main topics, arranged both at the top and side of the book that I use for fast reference look-ups.The front inside book cover lists 10 main themes in question format for all readers to consider. These deal with organizing and solving problems in behavioral leadership. The book has useful graphics to explain main ideas, but the amount of graphics is much less than those used in his 7 Habits book. As such, I would suggest having this book, too, for easy reference and a plethora of graphics, which also highlight leadership themes in managing change.What is so ground-breaking about this book is that it casts a net of personal values ownership over the workplace environment, especially during tremendous change in the workforce. Principle-Centered Leadership stresses the value of strong, interpersonal work relationships, resting on a main saw in his 7 Habits book: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”Problem-solving with members of any group is key. All members want to be valued, respected, and part of a winning team that produces good work, especially in business, because profit is the main driver for having the team working together and gainfully employed in the first place. This book gives concise examples that Dr. Covey uses from his personal experience in leading seminars in ‘Big Business’ environments, but he also uses personal anecdotes to describe how he deals with his own personal, organized unit: the family unit with his wife and family. He describes how his family unit encounters, deals with, and resolves problems. As head of his family, he respectfully utilizes a co-leadership role with his wife and engages his children, as team members, in the process, too.Unlike the workforce environment, in which much time and effort has first been spent to map out what needs to be done and in a given time-frame, family problems can crop up out-of-the-blue and need to be resolved, many times, on the spot. He discusses this, too.Note that the process of principle-centered leadership is time-consuming at first when team members are first learning the tools of the organizational behavior trade and utilizing them in meaningful ways. However, after these tools become automatic, they are some of the best ways to interact with others – at home, at work, during involvement with team sports or other endeavors. These interactions will allow members to sail through rough waters and ensure that all members come out safely at the other side after having mastered how to set up a major saw: “Start with the end in mind.”This saw is exactly what educators learn to do to write lesson plans and academic curricula: 1. listing the specific behavioral outcomes of learning (the desired behavior at the end) first and then 2. listing the specific instructional objectives for students to be able to exhibit this behavior (the ‘how to get to the desired behavior’ at the beginning and throughout the plan). Both of these concepts are created before a full lesson plan is written to ensure that the outcomes are attained. In other words, the outcome and the objectives drive the plan. This process is also a way for educators and others to pre-think possible problems that could crop up along the way and be ready for them if and when they do.Those of us educators who are professionally licensed with state teaching certificates, who have graduated from an accredited university College of Education, have been taught how to do this and have done student teaching in classes under the wing of a master teacher/ mentor before we could even step one foot into a classroom.This book will become a well-utilized staple in your own personal library. Read it, buy copies for others, and have discussions with them about being principled in dealing with others. Note that most of us as adults are like Covey: leaders/ co-leaders of the family and leaders/ non-leaders at work.I thoroughly recommend this book for all people to learn how to be principled in their dealings with others at work, at home, and at play. Covey’s earlier book, the 7 Habits is a pre-cursor for this book, and I recommend that people buy that, too and read it before they read this book or at least use it as a reference to this one. This book is one of the books that I buy in bulk and pass out to teams of people in many of the groups of which I am a member, so that we all have a common framework for getting work done, in time to make corrections/ edits (before publication), and in a mutually-respectful and professional way, so that all team members benefit from the combined work output. It is especially valuable for whomever is in a leadership position in the group.

One of my classes for my Bachelor's degree had us read this entire book. All in class really liked it and thought it would be great if everyone read this book. It gives good advice even if you don't see yourself as a business leader. Very practical and insightful.Highly Recommend.

This book is a fabulous follow up to "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ". If you study the principles and implement the processes into your work, you and your team will excell.

I listened to the abridged audiocassette version of the book. Covey is a master in providing a framework for trust based, employee empowerment. The premise of the book/cassette program is that be developing a set of principles and paragigms that are valid and applicable across a large series of situations and events. Rather than focusing on management - which is performance and situation specific - the focus needs to be on the development and training of a principles based culture where the employee/family member/ etc can apply the principles in any situation. Starting with being trustworthy, then building to trust based relationships, Covey emphasizes trust and the underpinning principle upon which the entire paradigm is based.The abridged version is a solid and interesting listen and can be completed in just a couple of hours. Worth buying.

Some reviewers bemoan each and every Covey release, complaining that it is re-hashed material. These critics obviously are missing the whole "principles" point. Principles won't change from publication to publication.If you want to feel rooted and comfortable making organizational decisions, the author points out that this must be done in the context of human needs at the fore. Be prepared to re-invent yourself, and use this book as your guide. I use the word "organizational" so that readers of this review don't misconstrue it as a business book. An organization is described in the text as a group of two or more with a common purpose: read - family, marriage, friendship, school, etc. Be prepared to review and reflect iteratively, as many of the points made are difficult to grasp on the first pass. This difficulty is likely caused by trying to relate to the material from a faulty and deep-rooted paradigm - I was guilty - , but persevere - it it well worth it in the end. If you are looking for a "7-Habits" and "Principle-Centered Leadership" rolled into one book, "The Eighth Habit' may be your best bet. I strongly recommend all three in sequence.Covey is simply the best, if you are prepared to do the hard work... on yourself.Dave Day

This book gives you practical advice that you can use in everyday situations. It is easy to read and easy to understand. For ordinary people and professionals. I wish more people will take the time to sit down and read the seven habits and Principle Centered Leadership. It will give you the advantage of knowing and understanding your norms and values and stick to it without feeling "left out".

For anyone seeking an engaged leadership system based on a meaningful foundation, this book will provide sound guidance. I especially appreciated the 7 Habits and other processes review for context. Definitely worth the investment of time and resources to read.

Mais um livro com excelente conteúdo escrito por Covey. Os temos que trata em seus livros são de fácil compreensão e de suma importância. Recomendo.

Love everything Stephen Covey writes. This is another excellent book.

Some readers of the Seven Habits have bemoaned the lack of practices that Covey could have described in that classic, but here they are! Half the book is about individual leadership, the second half is about organisational management/leadership. I can't say I've read all management books but this one seems (to me) to be about different levels of leadership, is complete, and hits the reader right where it matters - in the conscience. Or, if that's a bit over-philosophical, right smack bang in the 'common-sense-I-haven't -applied' muscle.

Todo perfecto. Lo que esperaba.

This book has a wisdom that is unsurmountable,as far as paper quality is concerned ,it seems that Amazon is trying to pay off its debt by inflicting losses upon buyers.