Mostly, his detractors charged him with offering nothing new. Overarching societal ills such as racism and poverty, they argued, could scarcely be overcome simply by putting first things first. Covey was capitalizing on the anxieties created by a fast-changing global economy and that he erred in placing all responsibility on the individual.

Covey emphasized the differences between tasks that are urgent but unimportant, important but not urgent, and every other permutation of the two.Ĭritics charged that Dr. In 2004, as self-help books occupied ever more real estate in bookstores, he amended his 1989 book with “The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness.”Īs Americans found their lives increasingly busy and cluttered, Dr. Sharpen the saw - a Benjamin Franklin-esque injunction to seek constantly to improve oneself. Seek first to understand, then to be understood.ħ. Covey had articulated a philosophy that - however platitudinous it seemed to detractors - transcended business and spoke to the centuries-old American values of self-improvement and self-reliance.ĥ. Covey was treated like a rock star, and President Bill Clinton once summoned him to Camp David, but not because Dr. Covey’s books, whose titles included “First Things First,” “The Leader In Me” and “Everyday Greatness.” Fortune 500 executives lined up for top-dollar seminars where Dr. Before them came Dale Carnegie, author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (1936). Waterman Jr., the McKinsey consultants who wrote “In Search of Excellence” (1982). He was preceded in self-help business literature by Thomas J. Covey was quick to admit that few new ideas could be found in his landmark book and the publishing and motivational-speaking empire he built around it. The death was announced by FranklinCovey, the multimillion-dollar business and leadership consulting firm he co-founded in his home state of Utah.ĭr. He died of complications from injuries he sustained in a bicycle accident three months ago. Covey, a former business professor whose 1989 leadership manifesto “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” sold more than 20 million copies on the way to becoming one of the most highly effective volumes in the history of self-help publishing, died July 16 at a hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Who is stephen covey