The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

A cynic toward sequels would note that Steven Covey took only a little more than 300 pages to explain his first seven habits, but 409 pages and an accompanying CD to expound on the eighth. Cynicism aside, however, this book - this 8th Habit - is worth every page. Give Covey credit. He could rest on his laurels and just write bland, non-threatening "how to lead" books and they would all be bestsellers. Covey eschews mediocrity, however, and tells it straight. Most employees experience considerable emotional pain working in their organizations, he says, because they are treated as objects, not full human beings. Covey adds his prestige to the notion that the knowledge worker is a new model for change in the unspoken, unwritten contract between employer and worker. He bases this fresh paradigm on respect for the complete person - mind, body, heart and soul - not just the part that works from nine to five. Covey's voice is powerful and unique. He is committed to helping others find their unique voices as well. We recommend this highly for anyone in the workplace.

Sometimes follow up efforts by authors are better than their first book and sometimes they're worse; author Stephan Covey's book titled - "The 8th Habit" - falls somewhere in between those two extremes. His seminal work "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" was a truly revolutionary work that significantly advanced the school of thought around personal development. Unfortunately, it's difficult to duplicate that success and 8th Habit falls short. The book centers on the premise that today's "Knowledge Worker" (not sure why the author gravitates toward such Orwellian descriptors) needs to find their own voice while helping others find theirs as well. Soundview likes that concept but wishes there was a stronger quantitative link to its claim that this 8th Habit is the catalyst for anyone or any organization seeking to jump from being effective to great. Additionally, there is a lot of discussion of the previous 7 habits to set the appropriate context of the 8th habit - which makes it a decent read if this is the first time you've been exposed to Covey's concepts, but a bit slow for those of us who read it the first time.

Stephen Covey is not your typical 'glam' self-help guru, ala Zig Ziglar or Tony Robbins. He is a lifetime student with a vast understanding of what motivates people to act and make a success of their life. I have found, pertaining to my own life; if I use the techniques he offers in any of his many works--whether in my business, family or personal life. I see results.

Yes, at many times his books seem wordy and tedious, but Covey is a master of the English language, as well as a possessor of great leadership qualities. I find it unfortunate that many reviewers of this book, (especially highly educated readers) give it such low marks. This is a book which must be savored, as there is a large quantity of quality information.

As an example: Covey uses an "indian talking stick", a token required to voice ones opinion when dealing with a difficult individual. The speaker holds the stick and the other person must understand and repeat back (to the speakers satisfaction) the message the speaker is trying to convey before the stick may exchange hands.

The 8th Habit just picks up where the 7 Habits ended. There is just so much to absorb that it cannot all be done in one reading. I know that I read his book, "Principle Centered Leadership" twice, and still am in awe. I thoroughly encourage you to read and re-read this great book.

Heard THE 8TH HABIT, read and written

by Stephen R. Covey . . . I liked the overall message; i.e., we

need to find our voice and inspire others to find theirs . . . however,

it was presented in an overly complex fashion that could have easily

been shortened . . . or even better, incorporated into a revised edition

of THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE--Covey's

earlier classic.

This latter book has always been one of my all-time favorites . . . his

latest one was a bit too jargon-oriented for my taste? . . . I also

thought it was redundant, in that it repeated much of the information

from 7 HABITS.

Yet that said, I did like how he stressed the need to engage people

in the workplace by establishing trust and developing a shared

vision . . . and perhaps most importantly, he noted that we must

continually search for third alternatives (not a compromise between

your way and my way, a completely separate better way).

In addition, I got this one great idea from it: The best way to learn

something is to teach it from others . . . so if that be the case, we

should ask our children to teach us what they've learned that day

in class . . . what a terrific way to help both children and their parents

learn new material, as well as to improve communication skills!

As with most of the Covey books, there are nuggets of wisdom hidden within this book, the challenge is to find them. The 8th Habit, (defined as `Find Your Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs'), attempts to teach one basic paradigm: That people are whole people - body, mind, heart and spirit. But its focus is on the voice. When this `voice' is defined (on page 5) by Covey as the nexus of talent, passion, need, and conscience, it is easy to relate to this foundation element of human nature - our calling or individual identity - from which our contribution to relationships (work or personal) flows.

After getting this identity piece, what may not be so easy to relate to are the next 323 pages of Covey speak, although there is an interesting discussion on the 4 intelligences - Physical, Mental, Emotional, & Spiritual - woven thru the chapters, and Appendix 2, which contains a literature review of leadership theories, was interesting! This book is recommended for those with the time and patience to pan for gold nuggets in a meandering and slow moving stream.

The 8th Habit is an awesome book.
It is about finding your mission, your purpose and about helping others find theirs.
The trip it took me on helped me become a better leader and a better person.

I learnt about myself and how I should act to help others find their way. It shared the importance of team work, of integrity and of caring.

It was a great follow up to the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and truly lives up to its subtitle from effectiveness to greatness.

Finding Your Purpose
The part about finding your own purpose is very short and I had to read it twice to really get the meaning of it and be able to put it into practice.
Stephen Covey never shares very actionable advice; instead he talks more about principles.

What I finally realized is that his definition of purpose is a lot like the hedgehog concept developed by Jim Collins in "From Good to Great".

Your purpose is where the four parts of success meet:
1. What you could be great at, where your strengths lie or as Jim Collins says, what you can be the best in the world at.
2. What you have a passion for.
3. What the world is willing to pay you for.
4. What your conscience agrees with.

If you can find out where these four coincide you will have found your purpose.
This doesn't have to be so hard though. For most their passion and their skills naturally coincide, often the things we are good at are the things we think are fun.

So start with your passion; what do you love to do?
How can you use this interest to make money? Can you start a company that works with it? Can you get employed working with it?
Then think, what are your natural strengths, how can you put them to use in the company/job you chose to do?
Is this something you can live with in a social sense? Will this help people or will you be tricking them?
If you don't feel good about what you are doing sooner or later it will start eating you up inside. It is important that you can feel proud of your job.

If you can find this meeting point you will be working with what you were meant for and with the optimum chances of success.

Helping Others Find Their Purpose
2 thirds of the book were about helping others. It was about being a leader which is great since you cannot become truly great yourself if you don't have the ability to motivate others to help you work on a common goal.

When you are going to help others it is important to see them as they can be. Don't see their faults see them as whole people with a lot of potential. If you keep seeing their potential eventually so will they and their results will come.

In addition seeing the best in someone makes them incredibly loyal to you, they feel as though they can trust you and that you care.
By first and foremost being a servant leader, trying to as much as possible help your employees to do their job as well as possible and then getting out of their way so they can do it, you create a creative atmosphere of people working towards a common goal taking responsibility for their own job and actions.

To be a good boss it takes that you do some things right
Start by "modeling" in other words by doing the job well yourself, by showing that you are willing to work and that you don't just "dump" everything on everyone else.

Be trustworthy - before they can become loyal to you and before they will want to help you with your goals they must know you can trust them. Follow the rule "Seek first to understand, then to be understood" and people will know you care and listen.

Put your faith in people - By trusting others and not micromanaging or double checking their results you build their self esteem and their strength of character. This is a powerful part of being a leader.

Empower your employees - Give them a chance to grow, a chance to be a part of the company, a chance to shape their own future.

Aligning - Align yourself and your company with correct principles. Make sure you are working towards the same goals and that you all believe in the same things. Make it clear what you think is important in both results and behavior.
Make sure the company reward system rewards the behavior and results you are trying to get everyone to produce.

When you do this it lets everyone know they are part of a whole, that their contribution means something and that you will be there for them to back them up, that you are in it together.

Short movies for each chapter
One thing that really impressed me was that with the book came a set of movies. Movies that helped deepen your understanding for the principles and give you practical real life examples of their implementation.

They were wonderfully made; they were all between 5 and 30 minutes and were of just as high a quality as when you see a movie.

These extra movies came free with the book and really deepened the experience.
Like I said, I was very impressed.

I do want to add though that sometimes it was annoying to have to stop reading, start my computer and watch a movie. When I had access to a computer quickly it really added to the experience but at times it was kind of annoying.

My recommendation
As you probably realized, I liked this book, I liked it a lot. It taught me a lot and I think it can help you as well. It will give you the chance to look at yourself and think about what you would like to become and what you want to leave behind you when it is your time to go.

It was a very powerful book to me and forced me to stop and think many times to absorb the advice.

I have read many of Steven Covey's book, and I enjoy his style and the subjects he talks about. This book starts out great - identifying the problems many workers feel in their jobs and lives. And the DVD portions are pretty good too - though some are better than others. But then we get to the solutions part of the book and it just kind of drifts into vague, abstract musings on how we can be better people (i.e. have integrity, listen to people, be good), that are just to broad to be helpful. So while I found some of his charts, quotes and stories helpful, most of the book is not that great. I would recommend the 7 Habits book or "Spiritual Roots of Human Relations" - both have much better practical applications than this book.

In my professional life, I have had the pleasure of facilitating a number of FranklinCovey seminars (7 Habits, 4 Roles of Leadership, and What Matters Most). I find the material to be uniquely useful and practical. I was enthusiastically awaiting the release of "The 8th Habit" and hoped it to be another breakthrough offering from Dr. Covey.

What "The 8th Habit " represents is a book that should be titled "Covey's Greatest Hits". The book is a compilation of all of his previous works with much of the same language and, sadly, anecdotes and stories as previously told. To be sure, the book has been "re-mastered" or updated in many places but the basic themes and threads of the past are noticeably present.

This is not to say that this is not an offering worth reading, but if you are intimately familiar with Covey's previous works, this will be a generalized overview with a few new notes sprinkled in. If you have never read or been exposed to his previous works, this is an excellent way to "listen for the first time" 25 years of Covey's greatest hits. For those, it is a book worth getting.

Covey's one-man publishing industry stresses the application of common sense to your pathetic, meaningless life, most importantly in the service of the company/corporation/entity/thing you work for.

The 'substance' of this book can be condensed in a magazine article, or a good web article, but that would negate the reason to publish yet another book chock full 'o stories about personal success, vision, leadership, success, enhancement, empowerment, blah, blah, blah, vision, moral integrity, data integrity, success, effectiveness, and other important things.

Covey is a thinking man, hence the tweaked model with the 'discovery' of the 8th habit. No doubt a 9th, and 10th habit do exist. Perhaps penning another rehash of previously published material? A true success story.

The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness: Miniature Edition

Covey generally writes well, and his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (which is a much better and more useful read) remains one of the better personal development books on the market today.

In short, this 8th Habit book...any strong synonym for "bad" will do. Only read it if you can buy it for less than $3, and will not spend more than 20 minutes on it.

With the 8th Habit he capitalized on the success of his previous books to generate more cash. He does try to make this book as useful to a reader as possible, albeit with little success. The book is more tedious than his previous ones. Covey reiterates the same points (I almost feel like he copy and pastes paragraphs) and fills space with many inspirational stories and quotes which, and one can disagree, should be really limited to specific examples and supporting points in order to be effective.

In this text, yet again, he goes over different types of intelligence. If you never did particularly well academically, you can think that you are "intelligent in other ways." He spends a good chunk of the book persuading you that great leaders develop their physical, emotional and spiritual intelligence into higher sense of right and wrong (among other things). Creative genius perhaps? Just one look at the creative accounting by senior executives at Lehman and AIG suggests they really found a creative outlet for their physical and emotional intelligence :) Sorry, Covey explained away all modern-day corrupt leadership with Hitler and "mad ego" example.

The voice and the speed of trust was a good section, and probably a useful one for most people. Is it worth reading the entire book though..? I think there are far better texts(including his own 7 Habits), that are less theoretical/philosophical, and are packed with real-life concrete ideas that can be put into action today. Brian Tracy tends to be good with that and his books/programs on Maximum Achievement and How to Master Your Time are worth a look as a substitute to the 8th Habit.

This book is an encyclopedia of the self help literature from the past centuries. The author has summarized the main teachings about the topic into seven basic tenats. The stress is on self improvement and principle change - supported by not just vague or ambigous, open to interpretation ways to improve one self, he teaches specific examples in daily life, touch points in our work/life where we can start making changes and see expected results. The best part of the book - this does not teach you to be pretentious, or one of the 'How to manage your perception' prescriptions, it states that to achieve harmony and as a result being effective, one needs to make fundamental changes to one's guiding principles and the rest follows. The author cites great examples and suggestions.

Stephen Covey is one of the most prominent self help gurus with international best selling books, seminars and training programs. I am a particular fan of Covey because his books are usually grounded in established principles of human behavior.

While this book is listed in category of self help and business, I would consider it as a welcome addition to the area of psychology and Positive Psychology in particular.

The 8th habit is an inspirational attempt to get everyone to connect with their inner voice. Voice for Covey is that special place that you are able to connect your mental, physical, social/emotional and spiritual talents. It is those areas that express your and harness your vision, passion, discipline and conscience. In some ways it is the spex of Maslowe's theory of motivation and self actualization. It is a message that resonates in the field of Positive Psychology to discover your strengths and passion. It is aligned with Marty Seligman's Authentic Happiness.

Covey has divided the book into section of: finding and developing your own voice; inspiring others to find their voices; and aligning organizations to support systems which empower and develop these qualities.
This book is rich with anecdotes, exercises and even references to videos on Covey's website.

It is a little cumbersome to read and not meant for a casual view.

If you read it and take notes on relevant sections, it is well worth having and keeping as a reference.

This is one of the most articulate compendiums on human/business relationships on the market today. Not the sugary feel-good hype but luminescent truths peppered with examples on how to achieve success in today's world by applying age-old human relationship laws with new laws born of the paradigm shift. Incomparable stuff - something for everyone. LOTS of info here - and with 13 CDs, it's not to be absorbed overnight.

BONUS! This set also comes with a DVD full of GREAT relevant "mini-movies"! Each movie set is wonderfully produced and qualifies as a top-notch corporate level teaching tool! In addition the family can enjoy it! This bonus DVD alone is worth the price of the 13 CD + 1 DVD set!

Highly recommended!

I found The 8th Habit to be an informative and insightful read. Dr. Covey captured my attention immediately with his message about finding our voice and inspiring others to find their voice. I have a passion to help others reach their potential, and The 8th Habit offered invaluable guidance to steer me in the "leadership" direction. My desire is for people to know that their dreams can be realized. Dr. Covey's words, "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality," will help guide me to greatness. The 8th Habit is an excellent tool for personal development. People have "choices," but I question if people truly realize the power of choice in our lives. Our choices pave our way, short-term and long-term. As Dr. Covey stated, "We all have the power to decide to live a great life, to have not only a good day but a great day." This is plain and simple advice yet highly effective. Dr. Covey noted, "Memory is past. It is finite. Vision is future. It is infinite. Vision is greater than history, greater than baggage, greater than the emotional scars of the past." I embrace Dr. Covey's description of vision. Vision will bring me out of the past. Dr. Covey stated it well. "Your past holds your future hostage." The information in The 8th Habit confirmed that my vision is clear, my passion is unrelenting, and my voice is within reach to "greatness."

If you haven't read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I suggest you read that one before this book.

Dr. Covey obviously pulled out all of the stops in trying to make this book as helpful as possible to his readers. The book contains summaries of the material in his other books, repeats many stories from those books, reconciles the material with most of the business book best sellers in recent years, contains a DVD full of inspiring videos, provides references to many free materials on his web site, has extensive appendices and contains many thoughtful sections on questions and answers. As a result, the book comes across like an encyclopedia of his teachings . . . rather than as the simple communication that is so delightful in his other books. I suspect that Dr. Covey changed ghostwriters for this one (at least I assume that the other books were ghostwritten because they avoid the ponderous communications style that Dr. Covey uses in person).

So what is the 8th habit? Allow me to paraphrase. It'll be quicker that way. You act with integrity as an individual and help others to do the same.

In Covey-speak, it's the overlap of personal greatness (applying the 7 habits in the forms of vision, discipline, passion and conscience), leadership greatness (applying the 4 roles of leadership (modeling the 7 habits, path finding, aligning and Empowering), and organizational greatness (turned into a vision, mission and values that bring clarity, commitment, translation, synergy, enabling and accountability). See Figure 14.3 on page 280 for the simplest expression of the 8th habit in Covey-speak.

Can you make a book out of that point? Well, if you put in lots of examples, you can . . . which Dr. Covey did. But the basic point is about a magazine article's worth. Most people will come to that realization when they see the entire book's concepts summarized in chapters 14 and 15. If you want to check this book out, read those two chapters and see if you need more at that point.

Why do millions of people read his books? Well, the earlier ones were beautifully written. This one isn't. All of his books show unadulterated respect for the reader and a belief in the reader's unlimited potential to improve. So it's inspiring to read someone's high opinion of you. Dr. Covey obviously cares that we live moral and positive lives. He's a sort of secular priest expressing moral values that most will agree with. Would we all like to work for Dr. Covey? Sure!

How well will this book translate in the workplace? It'll be a tough row. You can have a company that's good at the 8th habit, but doesn't build the necessary skills to succeed with using the 8th habit. That's because this book is heavy on concepts . . . and light on the practical details. Dr. Covey starts up at about 100,000 feet in the air with his abstract thinking and discussions, and rarely gets any closer. So think of the 8th habit book as helpful . . . but not sufficient in and of itself . . . for creating superior performance. Perhaps it will work better if you employ Dr. Covey's firm to help you (which is abundantly pitched in the book).

Dr. Covey humbly points out that his conclusions are aimed at dealing with the problems of poor communication, lousy alignment, misunderstandings about what to do next, lacks of tools and training, and dumbed-down workplaces . . . but is not supported by research (other than anecdotes from his clients) to support that this actually works better. But you'll agree, I'm sure, that even failure would feel a lot better in such an organization. So it's very humanistic, which is a good thing.

Few will disagree with the point of this book, and most wonder what this adds to Dr. Covey's work on Principle-Centered Leadership. "Not very much" is my impression.

I suspect that this book would have worked a lot better if the material had been simplified and added to the 7 habits book . . . and renamed as "The 8 Habits of Highly Effective People."

May God bless you, Dr. Covey! Keep inspiring us to be our best!

A Zen master once said:"You go to University and spend time studying hundreds of books, we prefer to spend all our time studying one book to get all the essence out of it". If I had to choose one book that I would like to study again and again it would be this one.

If you have read and applied Stephen Covey's previous books, then don't expect the 8th Habit to be similar as it is very dense, so not as easy to apply. However I think it is the best success book I have ever read. Whilst First Things First and 7 habits are applicable to your daily life, this book is applicable to the world surrounding you: your community, your organization and your planet. It gives strategies for turning things around to success in a much more holistic way and it works!!
This book could be the subject of a PHD on changing the world and making organizations and communities successful.

Here is one area and example I chose where this book applies (and there are many others): Managing and Leading Corporations.
Today we are suffering either through lay offs or the dwindling of our savings from corporations run by CEOs bad at their jobs. Millions of people are suffering, including the CEOs and board members. Corporations over a hundred years old are disappearing. People are demotivated in the workplace, only 5% of their capacities is used and no amount of top down initiatives can motivate them. Nobody really wants this. So why is it happening? It could be that capitalism is made of creation and destruction. But what is key to survival then? Steven Covey's book in my opinion answers these questions. He gives the key to turning around corporations to success in a more effective way than 6 Sigma processes, big 5 consulting reorganizations and all the hypes that come and go. As I said the book is very dense, but here are some highlights:

- S. Covey explains the context: we have moved from an industrial era to a knowledge era. This changes the rules of how success is achieved.
- What is key now is people and leading them to get the best of them. We can no longer be lead by specialists in Finance and PR jobs who play lip service to employees. "Employees are on the forefront of our minds";
- S. Covey explains how to motivate people;
- S. Covey explains the importance of devising synergistic solutions. So many companies are run through silos. The objective of one department is defeating the objective of another.
- S. Covey outlines the importance of focus by limiting goals to 3 wildly important goals;
- S. Covey explains how you cannot change the laws of nature. Ethics is a cornerstone of his principles and again this is an area where too many companies just play lip service to. Ultimately whether Ethics is not applied or is just a PR job the company pays the price.

And so on...extremely powerful concepts. No amount of financial restructuring and marketing can make up for all these basic concepts.

This book is to be put in the hands of all CEOs (and those who hire them :)), Presidents and Leaders (and we are all leaders). More organizations should employ S. Covey's consulting services. S. Covey should create a research community that brings the edge to these corporations and devises of simple ways of rolling them out. The proof is in the pudding old tricks no longer work and in my opinion S. Covey has the secret.

Ok I'll admit, I didn't read the first 7 Habits but when I found the 8th at the library, I figured I'd get right to the point. I can imagine copies of this book have logged many frequent flyer miles, with middle-upper management types studying earnestly while sitting in seat 29B, on their way to Corporate Headquarters.

As I'm not in the a corporate/business world, I really lost interest in the book. There could be one or two brilliant points per chapter that could be applied to personal life, but I don't think I'm very keen on paddling through to find them. If you can get through the overhead projector/PowerPoint-style illustrations (very dry, very dull) then you might find parts of this book to be of use. I think Covey is banking on his name, rather than the content, to move copies.

When I first picked up Covey's book, I was excited. I could tell that it was packed with lots of wisdom,and what seemed like a lot of practical advice. Though I was correct that the book contains an abundance of wisdom, it was the practical part that I had wrong.

In Covey's first chapter, he discusses the information age, and how it is going to lead to the "age of wisdom". It seemed like a stretch to me..like he had read it somewhere and just expected the reader to take it as a fair postulate. I figured this abstract talk would make more sense after I got into the book. Unfortunatley, that's the way I felt after every chapter.

Although this book has many exteremly valuable insights, it seems to strip ideas to their bare bones, taking whole books worth of information and cramming it into each chapter. This means not clearly describing what it is he is trying to say to the reader, not giving any support for the ideas, and failing to give all of the practical advice needed to follow them up.

Covey does make a desperate attempt to rope all of his ideas together, so that they look coherent. He plays on a subject he picked up from a fabulous book, "The power of full engagement" (Of course, he tried to cram most everything he learned from that book into one chapter). However, he takes the ideas of the "4 dimensions" of humans (mind, body, spirit and emotions) to an extreme, and suggests that every aspect of life, including organizations, have a mind, heart, body and spirit. This, apparently, was his idea of connecting all of his chapters.

This book was packed with wisdom, but it was waaay too much for anyone to handle. Not only that, but Covey's determination to make life a big puzzle that he himself had solved, sadly fails (but how i wish it were true). By trying to oversimplify everything he knows into one gigantic (yet "simple") system, he ends up not being able to expand on anything. This makes all of his admittedly good insights extremely abstract and impossible to apply. This book may be good as a business encyclopedia, but i believet that in order to get any practical use out of it, the reader must look into Covey's resources and try and hammer out just what it was he was trying to communicate.

As a Senior People and Technology Management Consultant, I too have been frustrated by my voice, and the voice of others, not being heard.

I have also advocated that old Industerial Management techniques can not be applied to an Information/Knowledge Worker Based Management Era with emphessis on Empowerment, Teamwork, and Communal Efforts.

With 25+ years of management in startups and major corporations, I have realized that Mr. Covey's 8th habit, is the foundation to manage and lead greatness, innovation, empwerment, and super effectivity.

Ideas and concepts presented here, including the "Indian Talking Stick" are in agreement with some of the best management and leadership best practices such as the "HP Way", Dale Carnegie, and others.

There are also outstanding examples and suggestions to solve leadership problems.

A must reading!

Bruce Razban,
President/Founder, Razban Internet International,
Silicon VAlley, CA, USA

Asaad A. Abduljawad
The 8th habit book Summary

To achieve interdependence from a path of dependence to independence; one must find their voice first, and express that voice. Then they must inspire others to find theirs by focus and execution.

In order to understand ones personal pain and overcome it and to reach a level of satisfaction, one must understand the causation of the problem. With that said, they will be able to reach a solution to forget about the pain, and become more effective, productive, and contribute to his or her organization. The development of technology has not only changed the world, but it has also changed the way people think and operate where managers are programmed to function under the mindset of the industrial age. These managers control the employees of their organizations in a centralized fashion with lack of trust and anathematize the generality and especially the lower in chain of command personnel, their right of empowerment. These workers begin to loose their voice and identity, and feel they are not adding to the organization.

People rarely find their voice and do not realize the ability to contribute, and instead they spend their careers giving at a lower level. The first solution as the author states is "Discover your voice". Simply stated, each individual is born with traits of greatness gifted by God almighty. It is that individual's call to either use those unopened gifts or to loose them. A person could discover these traits and improve them by indulging deeply and hard dedicated work. These magnificent privileges include "The power and freedom of choice", which is explained in detail fourteen centuries ago. God almighty in the holy Qur'an revealed in the ninetieth (sura) the chapter of the city, the countryside verses 9-12 says: "We have given man kind and humans the means of knowledge and the faculties of thinking and understanding and opened up before him both the highways of virtue and vice: one way leads down to moral depravity, and it is an easy way pleasing for the self; the other way leads up to moral heights, which is steep like an uphill road, for scaling which man has to exercise self- restraint. It is man's weakness that he prefers slipping down into the abyss to scaling the cliff." Bottom line, no one can blame another for his or her own choices.

"Natural laws or principles", is the second gift. I would consider personally faith of a book (Islam, Christianity and Judaism.) one of the biggest gifts to humanity, which outlines laws, universal principles, and guidelines. These religions have fruitful teachings of fairness, respect, honesty, kindness, charity, contribution, and integrity. These Norms and values should be reposited in our conscience, and used in proper decision and choice making in one's daily life.

The third gift is "The four intelligences/ capacities of our nature". As Mr. Covey mentioned, mankind is made up of four parts of nature "Body, mind, heart, and spirit". Corresponding to these natures are four overlapping capacities that are touched daily listed respectively as following: "The Mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual intelligence." The highest manifestations of these capacities respectively are "discipline, vision, passion, and conscience". In order to express your voice more decisively and distinctively and to become an influential leader; at least the former three manifestations should be placed into actions. Vision the most important of the four manifestations brings upon the imagination, the future, and self-sense. Discipline, which is effectively willpower, which is an important trait to all successful people. It is accepting, implementing that imaginary visionary idea. Passion comes from the heart and it is the thing that excites human beings to reach for their desires. Conscience is the moral sense of what is right or wrong, the set of values that dictates the sense of fairness. Conscience encourages us to sacrifice to get to something valuable. Building our capacities in each of the above-mentioned four dimensions with the application of them makes us find and express our voices displaying personal leadership.

It is the Leaderships responsibility to inspire others, and for an organization to find its voice; leaders must fulfill four sequential and simultaneous roles: "Modeling, path finding, aligning and empowering". These four influential roles are characters of leaders everywhere. Modeling: It inspires trust without expecting it. The leader must be a good example. Leaders must buy into the culture of the corporate aligned within the organizations vision. Path finding: It creates order without asking for it. It is finding a strategy to move to, and a vision of where to be in the future. Aligning: It forms a spontaneous authority. It is the creation of a structure and the system to keep everybody on track. Empowering: Leaders give help and direction only when demanded in empowered organizations. It is all about execution.

The 8th habit is a combination of Knowledge, skill, and attitude. Leadership includes people's guidance becoming better. Path finding is the toughest of all since we have to deal with several personalities, issues, agendas, and levels of trust. Focusing tools that enhance path finding are creating a mission statement and a strategic plan.

Better execution incorporates aligning goals and systems and empowering others, which helps organizations to find their voices and to achieve greatness. Utilizing structures and systems is needed in organizations for reinforcement purposes. Empowerment on the other hand, is a model of trustworthy behavior. Empowered people do not need supervision, which inspires trust. When people are empowered they find their voice by doing the things they want. Their individual voices blend with the voices of the organization. This type of directed autonomy shifts the manager from a controller to an enabler. Empowered mission statements are produced when enough people are fully informed, and interact freely and trustfully.

The ability to work with a team must be achieved in order for a precedence to be set. Models are needed to show how they work and lead in different ways. Striving and encouraging others for personal excellence, while taking initiatives and doing the right thing without waiting for permission to do so. Avoiding criticism, negativity, and blaming others enhances working with others. The ability to be stable and constantly keeping to the same principles all of the time are factors that enhance trust. To be influential without authority, the leader must be trustworthy, which enables that leader to inspire others to find their voice. Building strong relations, understanding others point of views, and openness. I truly believe that loyalty and forgiveness all are tactics that enhances trust thus power to build focus.

This trust allows the leader to find alternatives, which is the best way to find a solution between two conflicts. This solution requires a new mindset, which creates synergy that addresses differences between ideologies. This solution should be better than proposals of other parties, and must be a simple satisfactory rule that is agreed upon. This "third alternative" is based on the Win-Win principle. Miscommunication is a stressful event. Communication on the other hand is the most important skill in dealing with others and to be an excellent leader one must be a good listener.

The other major source of trust is the trust within the organization. Organizational character and organizational competence are both required in building trust in an organization. Character is an important factor of trustworthiness. Character has three aspects "Integrity, maturity, and abundance mentality" Integrity is incorporating principles and natural law when dealing with others. Maturity is dealing with difficult issues with the ability to be compassionate at the same time. Abundance Mentality: is seeing life full of opportunities and not envying others for their success. Another important factor of personal trustworthiness is competence. Competence has three aspects and they are known as "Technical competence, conceptual knowledge, and interdependency." Technical competence is the knowledge and skill needed to finish a given task. Conceptual knowledge is the ability to imagine the macro picture. Interdependency is the thought of interconnectedness of everything in life. These principles are important basis to the design structures, systems, processes and personal values aligned with organizational values.

Aligning structures, systems, and processes and culture gives us the ability to realize our vision. Constant adjustments, and change to systems is a requirement to keep up with times keeping in mind to not change the universal principles. The 360-º or balance feedback system is one of the best alignment tools that can be used. This feedback is an informative tool to know if the organizational strategies are in line with its mission.

Asaad Abduljawad

I am a long time fan of S. Covey's work and a living example of using the 7-Habits as a platform to assist in managing my life. I have seen Covey speak on numerous occassions and have attended many a seminar.

As a Covey fan, that's what makes this review tough. I am positive that there are jewels of wisdom contained in The 8th Habit, but I just can't get to them! The book is really tough to get through. Mixed messages that get off topic, visuals that aren't intuitive....just not very good.

I had recently signed up to attend an 8th Habit Seminar in Denver. After attempting to reconnect with the book, and failing, for the 4th time, I call FranklinCovey today to ask for a refund for my seminar.

If this wasn't a Covey book, I would have given it one star. The three star designation is more out of respect for Mr. Covey and his work vs. how I really felt about his latest effort.

Sorry to leave such an awful review, but, that's the way I see it. Terribly disappointing.

It is understandable to me, why so many readers might find "The 8th Habit": tedious, long, too complicated to follow, having no continuity, too many pages of disjointed concepts, charts, graphs, and quotes. When I started reading the book, "The 8th Habit" , I too found myself in a similar disheartened predicament.

In the past with other books and even during continuing education pursuits , I have had the disappointing experience of not being able to get myself into reading an allegedly really good book that was purported by others to be great and meaningful. Recalling way back in my school days, it always seemed that I would understand concepts better and remembered them better when they were spoken about in class rather than if I just sat down and tried to initiate myself by reading text in a book. Now as adult, I acknowledge to myself that I consider myself a visual / auditory learner rather than a book text reader learner. Upon the recommendation of a colleague early in January 2005, I set out to read the book: "The 8th Habit" As I usually do with books of this sort, I got stuck with all the seemingly complex, disjointed text after reading just a chapter or too. Frustrated, I listened to a voice in my head that told me to stop reading and just put the book down. Then another voice in my "head", a "voice of self-awareness" reminded me of my auditory learning style and the challenges of previous predicaments when faced with books of similar nature. This voice of self awareness repeatedly asked me to look for a way to listen to "The 8th Habit" rather than struggling with just a read of the book.

Quickly, I ran out to see if there was an audio version of the "The 8th Habit". To my amazement there existed an unabridged audio version (no shortcuts) with thirteen audio CD's. It was a reading of the entire book plus a bonus DVD (videos making the material appeal to both sides of my brain!). I found myself listening to the book in my car on the way home from the bookstore! What's more, I could hear the voice of author himself, Stephen Covey, reading aloud to me his own book, with all the commitment, investment, devotion and personal momentum innuendos that lay beneath any writing. It gives me goose bumps to ponder the synergistic effects of me, an adult, experiencing the outstanding "reading aloud" phenomenon as advocated by Jim Trelease and touted in his book: " Hey! Listen to This".

And now it is a few weeks later, after several hours in my car, of listening to chapter after chapter, sometimes over and over again. Once I arrived home or even a few hours later on in the day concepts I had heard were fragmented or incomplete in my memory. I was compelled to pick up the book and search for those meaningful sections which allow pieces to put together. Accessing the book as a reference empowered me to "digest" the vast array of "meat & potato" concepts at my own pace. Concepts such as the "jack-ass" paradigm of worker & employee relationships. The realization that the common sense notion of leadership does not enable the common practice and a useful definition that I could both hear and read was put forth: "leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves". Soon I began to even write down passages that are timely to share and teach with family and the in work place. For example, a continuum regarding our levels of commitment to our activities whether they be family or workplace is spelled out for our awareness: 1) Rebel or Quit 2) Malicious Obedience 3) Willing Compliance 4) Cheerful Cooperation 5) Heartfelt Commitment 6) Creative Excitement. Furthermore, my writings have been transformed into written weekly newsletters/ bulletins.

Yet, with all of this listening, reading, writing, sharing teaching, and learning the book, I am only about one third the way through. I am content to go at a pace that is appropriate to the balance of those in the circle of influence in my life. It may take a year! This duo media of audio and book etc.... has endowed one of the most profound experiences of my life, ultimately to those around me and perhaps to future generations. My deepest gratitude to Stephen Covey, his team and his spirit!

Dr. Covey brought another timely life work to the table with this one. I read it, listened to it (audiobook), then listened to it again. I've recommended it to those in my life who could possibly "get it."

This book clarifies the 7 Habits without requiring their review. His principle-based leadership theme continues. This book will rock your world!

Many Christians have expressed their concern with whether Covey includes themes from his own religious beliefs. The answer is no. This book should be read, and applied, buy believers of all faiths (and even those who say they have none :-).

No book has ever influenced me as this book By Dr. Covey. I think Dr. Covey is the Newton of human behavior.

Apples were falling from the trees but it was Newton who discovered the law of gravity. Similarly the 7 habits are common sense but Dr. Covey has beautifully knitted these habits.

I bet most of us follow most of these habits, reading this book reinforces the existing principals that we have & teaches us about the missing links in our life.

How many times have we been told about the Goose & the golden egg story? Did any body think that even our resources in life & business are like that goose & we have to take care about the well being of our resources.

The best thing about this book is that it redirects your priorities. Often we neglect our Physical health, our family, and our community obligations.

I recommend reading The 8th Habit because it comes with a DVD which is treasure of new thoughts.

These motivational books are worth reading or listening to. If you can be honest with yourself, and prepared to make changes in your life, then this is for you. Unlike others that focus heavily on sales, selling yourself and pack a punch to get things "My way", this about practicing morals and principles that will influence your life on a deeper and more spiritual level. The spin-off will be a better you, and your relationships at home, family, friends,and all those you come into contact with in business. We so desperately need business connections, to be more honest and integrity based. Surely the sting of this recession, should be a wake-up call for all of us.

Margaret B Smith

If you are looking for leadership techniques that address the whole person and are applicable at work or home, Stephen Covey's 8th Habit is the book for you. It adds a great dimension to his previous works and goes out on a limb with the spiritual side of his theory. The book provides a concrete model that walks you through the stages of personal development that enable one to achieve greatness. This is not a "quick fix" leadership book, but mentions discipline and choices as the tools one uses to become a great leader. The final component of helping others become leaders and find their voice as a path to becoming a leader is an inspiring concept. The companion CD-ROM contains many short stories that illustrate Covey's points and provide a nice break in the reading to reflect on what you have learned.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone that not only wants to become an effective leader, but wants to advance their personal and spiritual development through compassion and the achievements of those around you.

This is an incredible piece of work! It is one of the top 5 BEST and most impacting books that I've ever read (and I've read a lot). There are so many thoughts and principles that have stuck with me. This isn't a book you read where you come away wondering what you learned because you can't articulate what you read and/or learned. With this book, there are amazing teachings. It is much better than so many other books on business, leadership, and life balance. As an family man, MBA and non-profit student director, his book and my application of its principles have truly left a great impact on my life and in turn the lives of others.

My name is Mark Corliss. I work for a large Public Utility in Seattle, Wa. When I read this book, I thought it had been written about my company. Then I talked to someone who works for our Public Library System. They had read the book, and told me that it was written about THEIR company! While the book may be long and even tedious for people who have read Covey's previous works, I think it's an excellent introduction to EVERYTHING Covey has said over the last 40 years. I would also like to say that unlike a few other self-help books I've read, my retention of the information in this book continues to amaze me. Covey has a way of communicating that truly is COMMUNICATION. That is the problem; he has a legitimate answer. If you want to have a great life, read this book. It will show you how to address the four most important needs every human being has, and, it will show you how to help others meet those needs for themselves. As Covey says, (we must) find our VOICE, and help OTHERS FIND THEIRS. That has become my moto. It is a legacy I would like others to discover as well. I bought this book at COSTCO for $19. I suggest you buy 2, and give one as a gift. You'll make a friend by doing that. I also think everyone should send GEORGE BUSH a copy of this book. Maybe Dick will read it to him! LOL! Take care.

Mark

The book helps me very well to *see* my problem and my organization's problem. Also it gives a vision of what an ideal person and organization should be. In brief, it gives wisdom.

However I fail to find an effective *solution* to my problems from the book. I wished that the part of finding your voice (chapter 4 and 5) is extended to many more chapters. Instead, the book has the rest of the pages (until chapter 15) discussing how to help others to find their voice.

Without having a negative connotation, the later chapters of the book is becoming more similar to the Holy Bible: It tells wisdom without explaining scientific reason behind it. This is more of a philosophical book rather than psychological or motivational one. I might be one of those ordinary readers (unlike the world-class leaders in most of the examples in the book) who feel too heavy on the semantic of the words. I'd better equip myself first through other easy-to-read books like IDG dummy and other self-motivating ones. Something that you may want to consider before choosing this book, if you were like me.

However, perhaps this book is the best one on defining leadership. I will keep this book and reopen it from time to time, use it as a manual while I'm developing my personality to achieve the whole person as described in the book.

The original book, "7 Habits" was brilliant and a life changer. This book was nearly a distraction and I didn't enjoy it very much. rather spend your time rereading the original a couple times! Loved that book!

This book does have a lot of good stuff, way too much good stuff, way way too many concepts and principles to coalesce into a main idea. I sometimes enjoy the self help genre because they are usually inspiring and fun. Not so here.

Unfortunately, I think Covey has made this too systematic. It lacks the emotional content, inspiration factor. Give me a Tony Robbins CD over this any day!

Covey's 7 Habits was a much more focused and enjoyable.

THis book is a masterful work. It encompasses the way forward - for individuals and organizations - to most effectively produce the fruits of the predecessor 7 Habits. For any leader of experience, Covey's insight will resonate with wisdom. A must read for any leader in business, government and the nonprofit community. One caution: Greatness requires work. Finding your voice requires effort..

[...]

Warning!

This book does take some time to read and comprehend. It is not a quick read. But, if you take the time for self-reflection while you are reading, it will beome a powerful resource for you to not only find your own voice but the voice of your organization and the path to greatness. His introduction provides ideas on how you can use this great resource. You will also find the book to be more effective if you familiarize yourself with his "7 habits of highly effective people" MAke sure you utilize the DVD (provided in the book) as a learning resource as you read through the book.

Covey's pathway to becoming a great leader in what he terms the current "Knowledge Age" may be done by finding ones voice and inspiring others to find theirs. Covey does an excellent job of describing the paradigm of the whole person and how we all need to live, learn, love, and leave a legacy. Covey explains how we can find our voice through our birth rights of choice, natural laws of principles, and the four intelligences of mental, physical, spiritual, and social/emotional. According to Covey, we can then express our voice and inspire others to use their voice through vision, discipline, passion, and conscience. Covey also describes how we can inspire others to find their voice with focus (modeling and pathfinding) and execution (aligning and empowering). Covey's methods are well thought out and comprehensive, although they are quite complex and would be challenging to implement.

In light of Mr. Covey's recent passing, I thought to read this book again. The first time I didn't glean much. It was a requirement for work, so when I read it I applied it corporately instead of personally. This time I read it for ME with my business, goals, vision and family in mind and it was certainly different. We have lost an incredibly encouraging and insightful author in Mr. Covey. My hope is that new and exciting author take the reign and continue in the same vein.

Of all eight habits, without a doubt this is the most powerful. As a speaker and writer on the power of engagement,networking, connecting, I am impressed that Covey zeroed in on the most important habit-- 'find your own voice and empower others to find their voice.' This book was a long time coming, but Covey got it right. People are often shy about stepping out of their comfort zone and speaking up and even more importantly speaking out for others--those who can't speak for themselves. This book tells you that you have permission to do this; that is how you build real leadership.

I like his conclusion to his book. We all have potential greatness and we have the power to realize it, regardless of how difficult our current situation is.

It inspires one to be the best person we can be.

I bought this book after reading a review that suggested that the author may have been inspired in his discovery of his 8th habit when faced with a crisis in his Mormon faith, due to the publication of the book "Losing a Lost Tribe" that was written by a Mormon Bishop who describes how DNA evidence disproves the Book of Mormon. Covey says nothing about such a personal crisis in this book, but instead attributes his discovery of this newly discovered habit to research evidence about human behavior.

"The 8th Habit" describes how to find your own voice and then how to inspire others to do the same. Reading this book was inspirational and did excite me to further find my own voice, so I do feel I got a good return on my investment. It gives many examples of individuals who succeed by effectively individuating and who engage others to do the same. It also gives examples of those who fail to do so and how that failure will ultimately block their greatest potential for success.

The author gives the reader an additional powerful tool to enrich his life with this new book, but I did not feel that "The 8th Habit" was as strong as "7 Habits of Highly Effective People." I found myself loosing interest and skipping to the later chapters that seemed to get more to the point. Some of the conclusions seem overly simplistic. Nevertheless, on the whole, the concept is worthwhile. Unfortunately, this book lacks the punch and conciseness of the former volume. It left me with the impression that it was like a movie sequel written to capitalize on the authors past success.

Rehash of the 7 Habits which was a great book. Covey's application offers impractical solutions to today's complexities, and perhaps in a "Rockwellian," cookie cutter society of yesteryear would be much more EFFECTIVE.

Get down to brass tacks...Gee whiz! the message conveyed in this book could have been fit in few pages. It is almost a thesis and certainly cannot be used to teach( as Steven refers to, in all his books)! Steven's previous best seller, 'The 7 habits of most effective people' still stands tall and this book seems to be a mere repetition of those ideas...almost seemed to me like a fifth wheel!

All in all, an OK book..some good quotes and an interesting question/answer section at the end of each chapter got me going.

DVD is worthless and does not effectively communicate the gist of the book.

The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness is a masterful work. It encompasses the way forward - for individuals and organizations - to most effectively produce the fruits of the predecessor 7 Habits. For any leader of experience, Covey's insight will resonate with wisdom. Buy this book, read it as the author suggests, and you will find yourself meditating on its richness in every relationship, and at every point of decision. A must read for any leader in business, government and the nonprofit community. One caution: Greatness requires work. Finding your voice requires effort. The principles and ideas described in this book - which is worth its weight in gold - require work. There is no quick fix. Read and think, because this book is a great gift for those who are willing to pay the price of living as wide-awake and effective human beings. TMB, La Crescent, MN

Who wrote this book.... or what group of editors? IF there was something valuable in the book, it is lost because the reader can't get through to it. The only "new" concept here is "spiritual intelligence". It is the balancing force between IQ and EQ. I liked it... it made sense to me. So stop reading after chapter 5.

I'd have to agree with many of the reviews here. Loved Seven Habits, read it many years ago. This one... is... just... a bit... slow... and goes on... and on. I glazed over and haven't read the last bit. I also tired of the repetition - the book is over long as it is, so why add in stories from other books? It seemed unnecessary. Anyway, I admire his intent.

Having admired Dr. Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and First Things First (the latter written with the Merrills), I admit to be highly disappointed with the current volume. It's a shoddy piece of work; a real cut-and-paste job.

Here's just one example: There is a lengthy quotation given, which readers of self-help books will recognize as "The Paradoxical Commandments" by Dr. Kent Keith. I can not quote them here for copyright reasons. The point is that Covey has erroneously attributed them to Mother Theresa, who no more wrote them than I did. And that's only one example.

Stay away from this book, and if you've already bought it, see if you can return it. If not, hurl it in the garbage.

You must read the 7 habits of highly effective people first. This is more toward organizations. I was kind of disappointed. I was expecting someone else like an improvement. This just proves the 7 habits are sound principles.

Given the high-expectations most people have for Covey, this book disappoints.

Long-winded: Covey takes way too long to explain what he is trying to say. I found myself saying 'OK!, lets get to the point already'. This book should be a quater of its size.

Scattered: The material and thoughts in the book are scattered.

Unoriginal: Alot of material from other authors were used. Alot of time spent reviewing his ideas from the 7 Habits. Alot of pages wasted mapping his ideas to other authors.

Lack of application: No substantial application for readers to apply.

Overall disappointing. Book has good intentions but message delivered poorly and uneffectively.

Some of the concept is just impractical and don't work in real life especially in an environment with extreme politics. I still hold firm to the concept that people are slow to adapt and exercise resistance when it comes to changes. The flow of the book is messy and I gave up after reading about half the book. I tried hard but just could not appreciate this book.

The 8th Habit will take you from effectiveness to greatness. Stephen R. Covey creates the road map that will expand your mind to a higher level of thinking. Leaders will be challenged to "find their voice and inspire others to find theirs." Covey uses a mix of personal experiences, inspirational quotes, and short stories to get his points across. Sixteen inspirational companion films are included in a DVD for viewing at your leisure.

Covey takes way too long to get to the point of the 8th Habit, mostly repeating material covered in his earlier books. Practical examples were always his weak point, and while he tells a lot of stories, there are really no demonstrations of how this "8th habit" is applied in real life. The DVD has a couple nice bits, but mostly it's just distracting. Check this out from the library if you can, before you spend any money on it.

The 8th Habit is a good book for managers to read if they have a lot of spare time available to them.

This book would be most beneficial if read over a long period of time as Covey suggests. The book can be preachy and overcrowded with repeated information, and it reads similar to a textbook. Overall, the personal stories and information provided do bring a new perspective to the working world and by and large were helpful to me.

As with most of his previous writings, Dr. Covey has a great point to get across and does an excellent job of motivating it and presenting it in a way that makes it easy to apply to yourself. Unfortunately, unlike his other books, this one was a bit tedious to get through. The mixture of inspirational content (quotes and motivational passages), reiteration of concepts, mapping of his concepts onto the presentations of others in the leadership and self-help community, and just general pacing added up to make this far longer than I would've preferred. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who isn't a speed reader.

This book disappointed me for several reasons. The most glaring is that there is nothing in this book I haven't read before. The "natural laws" stuff he obviously took straight from Hyrum Smith's 10 Natural Laws book (although maybe Smith is such a good friend that he won't mind not getting properly credited). The "EQ" stuff from Goleman he at least credits. And so on.

The second thing I found I disliked is that Covey is also more pompous than ever....which is really saying something; he never was exactly humble - though in this book he brags openly about his humility. This actually reaches a sort of comic point for me, when he talks about how embarrassed he allegedly is to include a film singing his praises because the kids at the elementary school call the 7 Habits "Covey habits". As if that isn't exactly what he had in mind when he made such a huge show of trademarking every other phrase in his book and the rather crude way he has been marketing the 7 Habits line (Wouldn't YOUR grandmother be astonished to learn that he now "owns" the phrase "put first things first", if only she was around to see it?)

Only in this book there isn't so much to brag about. He's cruising on his past success.

Finally, one thing outright offended me - his repeated emphasis that nature vs. nuture is a "false dichotomy"; he asserts that the ability to choose somehow stands outside of one's environment. Well, if this were true, books like his would not be necessary, would they? Nobody would need to be taught how to learn the myriad and complex skills involved. (Or, to put it another way, if it is true, don't bother buying this or any other book. Just choose to have control over your life and there ya go.)

According to Covey, it is (apparently universally) true, that all human beings can and should say, "I am where I am because I so choose to be". The problem is that's not only wrong, it's evil. Denying that physical or sexual abuse, crime/violence, war, famine, false arrest/police brutality, poverty, illiteracy, the Holocaust, etc. are "real" problems or that these problems have any real effects is not something I'd expect from a man who claims to be spiritual (ever heard of compassion?), who brags about his humility (ever heard the phrase "there but for the grace of God go I"?). People who are traumatized experience "post traumatic stress disorder", which is a medical condition consisting of a damaged nervous system and a scarred psyche.

It is because of attitudes like this that we haven't addressed the issue of schoolyard bullying; the illusion of "free choice" suggests that all the kids have to do is stop being - well, unlikeable, or whatever it is they are doing to "deserve" getting beaten and ridiculed and hazed and robbed and you name it. Or of course killed. Or just so traumatized that they kill themselves. (Bullying being just one of MANY examples - all of which rely on the fact that most people will blame the victim.)

In prior reviews I see the word tedious used to describe Dr. Covey's most recent work but could not disagree more. Few "sequels" are as profound as the original, in large part because the original is just that...original. It stands is stark contrast to the norm or accepted. That was the case with the 7 Habits. The 7 Habits was and is significant because of the void that stood between what was understood and what Covey expressed as being possible. The 8th Habit is the evolution of the first 7. The 8th Habit is the missing link; it is the "why". The 7 Habits outlined how to be effective the 8th Habit helps us understand the critical "why" that must be at each person's core if they are to make a difference, if they are to grow from Good to Great.

This book disappointed me for several reasons. The most glaring is that there is nothing in this book I haven't read before. The "natural laws" stuff he obviously took straight from Hyrum Smith's 10 Natural Laws book (although maybe Smith is such a good friend that he won't mind not getting properly credited). The "EQ" stuff from Goleman he at least credits. And so on.

The second thing I found I disliked is that Covey is also more pompous than ever....which is really saying something; he never was exactly humble - though in this book he brags openly about his humility. This actually reaches a sort of comic point for me, when he talks about how embarrassed he allegedly is to include a film singing his praises because the kids at the elementary school call the 7 Habits "Covey habits". As if that isn't exactly what he had in mind when he made such a huge show of trademarking every other phrase in his book and the rather crude way he has been marketing the 7 Habits line (Wouldn't YOUR grandmother be astonished to learn that he now "owns" the phrase "put first things first", if only she was around to see it?)

Only in this book there isn't so much to brag about. He's cruising on his past success.

Finally, one thing outright offended me - his repeated emphasis that nature vs. nuture is a "false dichotomy"; he asserts that the ability to choose somehow stands outside of one's environment. Well, if this were true, books like his would not be necessary, would they? Nobody would need to be taught how to learn the myriad and complex skills involved. (Or, to put it another way, if it is true, don't bother buying this or any other book. Just choose to have control over your life and there ya go.)

According to Covey, it is (apparently universally) true, that all human beings can and should say, "I am where I am because I so choose to be". The problem is that's not only wrong, it's evil. Denying that physical or sexual abuse, crime/violence, war, famine, false arrest/police brutality, poverty, illiteracy, the Holocaust, etc. are "real" problems or that these problems have any real effects is not something I'd expect from a man who claims to be spiritual (ever heard of compassion?), who brags about his humility (ever heard the phrase "there but for the grace of God go I"?). People who are traumatized experience "post traumatic stress disorder", which is a medical condition consisting of a damaged nervous system and a scarred psyche.

It is because of attitudes like this that we haven't addressed the issue of schoolyard bullying; the illusion of "free choice" suggests that all the kids have to do is stop being - well, unlikeable, or whatever it is they are doing to "deserve" getting beaten and ridiculed and hazed and robbed and you name it. Or of course killed. Or just so traumatized that they kill themselves. (Bullying being just one of MANY examples - all of which rely on the fact that most people will blame the victim.)

In prior reviews I see the word tedious used to describe Dr. Covey's most recent work but could not disagree more. Few "sequels" are as profound as the original, in large part because the original is just that...original. It stands is stark contrast to the norm or accepted. That was the case with the 7 Habits. The 7 Habits was and is significant because of the void that stood between what was understood and what Covey expressed as being possible. The 8th Habit is the evolution of the first 7. The 8th Habit is the missing link; it is the "why". The 7 Habits outlined how to be effective the 8th Habit helps us understand the critical "why" that must be at each person's core if they are to make a difference, if they are to grow from Good to Great.

I have to work at it in a bit by bit method to digest each of the concepts and practice what I preach is a lot harder and it only works if we do it that way.This is a life time of work list out for me to do.The High quality DVD also help me to understand by example, I have share that with everyone around me and I will show it again and again until we are all align with the basic principle and values.

I am only rating this book 1 because there is no zero rating.

I have read and enjoyed the 7 habits and First Things First; however this book one ways or another is repeat of same concepts and materials in the 7 Habits book.

Way too long, badly written and too many irrelevant details. In brief I think it's a new many making attempt by S. Covey.

This is a heads up regarding the DVD. The DVD that was in my copy appears to be formated for region 2 (Asia, Japan). That makes it unplayable in the U.S.A. I know others are having the same problem.

Once again, Stephen Covey has written a book that gets to the heart of the human side of management. I have always appreciated Covey's work. It's inspirational and motivating. I especially appreciate having the complimentary DVD that comes with the 8th. Habit.

Well if this is the 8th habit I guess it has 1/7th substance of the book "the 7 habits...". One seventh is maybe a fair judgment - then I should be rating it 0,71 stars since I gave "the 7 ..." 5 stars. I finished it and was not totally bored, but I was far from impressed either. Save the money - you will not miss out on anything new.

Very disappointed. The book starts off with the assumption that every working person feels under paid, resents the boss, hates the job and thinks the company they work for sucks.

I would think that most people interested in this book would be optomists by nature and therefore tend to surround themselves with (can do) people. Self starters who know what they are worth, earn it, enjoy the work and like the people they work with.

It took me five minutes to scan to page 42 and another five minutes to get to page 100 at which point I gave up. The book, comments and writing are all basis run of the mill stuff we've all heard before.

Donating my copy to the library.

All the best

Marek

I really enjoyed the 7 Habits, and was excited when I heard that there was an 8th habit. What a disappointment... This book did not engage me intellectually or emotionally. Dr. Covey seemed to have run out of original information.

I love the 7 habits, and eagerly snapped up the 8th Habit when I saw it in the store. It turned out to be *very* tedious reading, and I ended up returning it. Like others here, I'm amazed how the same author could produce works that very so greatly.

When I got my hands on a pre-release copy of this book, I expected to enjoy it, simply because his classic, THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE, has had such a powerful impact on my personal and professional life. But in no way was I prepared for this new book to be so inspiring and riviting, and to speak so clearly and insightfully to my present challenges and desires for my life.

With THE 8TH HABIT, Covey not only acknowledges the on-going need to be effective in today's world, but puts his finger on the human hunger for meaning, contribution, and significance--what he calls "greatness"--and then provides a roadmap for individuals and organizations to achieve it.

You know it's one thing to identify, as his research does, just how disengaged, frustrated, disempowered and straitjacketed most people are in the organizations they work for, but it's another to give insight into how we can actually realize the kind of positive change we desire in our lives, our homes, and in the teams and organizations we are part of.

I love and was moved by the personal examples and experiences Covey shares. It's another great blend of principles and practical, inspiring stories. I also love how the focus is not just centered on oneself. Yes, we can and need to "find our voice," but the equal and perhaps greater key to life lies in "inspiring others to find their voice." That's the leadership challenge--whether it be with your children or with those you work with.

I believe this may very well be Covey's most important and significant work--an idea whose time has come.

I can't recommend this book to anyone.
I was completely disappointed with it.
After "The 7 Habits" and "First Things First" this was a real let down.
I feel the publishers probably goaded the author to finish this and put it out so they could make money on his reputation.

This book is in an exalted category of self-help works:
the collection of materials which focus on bringing people up to
tremendous heights of excellence and success.

It is on par with seminal works which focus on the same goal in their respective
categories such as the dvd NEW SEX NOW
Tony Robbins' AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN
Laura Day's THE CIRCLE
and THE ARTIST's WAY...
all of which enable one to accomplish HUGE transformations towards outstanding
living in one's personal life.

I am indebted to all of these authors for their dedication to awesomeness.

TRULY INSPIRING

The key to Covey's new dimension, or The 8th Habit, is finding your way or your "voice" and enabling others to find theirs. This process requires a "whole person paradigm" shift and results in a new defintion of leadership. We need to elevate our own thinking in order to establish trust and motivate others. If we are all seeking greatness...and we must to survive...we need to adopt Covey's mindset.

In order to understand this work, I found the FAQ section to be invaluable.

Seven Habits - gave me some terrific idea's however the 8th habit was as fun and interesting to read as the manual to set up my Tivo. Seems line Covey didn't spend enough time sharpening his saw, this book feels like an attempt to cash in and out.

I just read several of the other reviews of this book on the the store site and they were obviously written, in my opinion, by people who either haven't read the book or have some interest in selling the book. I have loved Covey's other books and I think his software and paper products are terrific, but this book is the ultimate in taking something simple and making it complex (and very tedious to read). Way too long. Tedious reading. I have a feeling many of the other reviews originated from areas near Provo, Utah.

This is basically a rehash of previous material with a few bits and pieces thrown in from other authors like Jim Collins et al.

Stephen Covey has had one great idea, the 7 Habits, which he has capitalised on for some time this book adds a bit of substance to that idea but it is poorly written, repetitious and makes some sweeping statements with little evidence to back them up. Covey is fond of saying things like, "the research shows..." but he rarely ever lets you know which research. Stephen Covey has continually advocated principle centred leadership, however his material is vague on how, specifically, one should put this into practice the eight habit adds little by way of clarification.

My recommendation is that if you want a good book on leadership try The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner, Good To Great by Jim Collins or Situational Leadership by Ken Blanchard.

One can't help but wonder if Stephen Covey lived for another twenty years would we see a ninth and a tenth habit. Just when I thought I was doing well with seven he comes along and introduces and eighth, bummer, its like learning to drive all over again - help someone, I need a programme to help me kick these crazy habits