Coveys shows us how to implement these techniques in the home and elsewhere and the result is we will be rewarded with happiness and a fulfilling future.
Prior to reading Principle Centered Leadership, I didn't think it was possible to successfully balance my personal, family and professional life.
Principle Centered Leadership is a great addition to Coveys classic 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.
Can we lead better individual lives and have our corporations apply principles that will take those individuals to higher levels of accomplishment? America applies these principles in most of the best companies, these are enduring principles.
This is a book to read for leaders and teachers in business.
A second conclusion is that we need more of the Mother Teresa style of leadership. She spoke very little, rolled up her sleeves and just waded into the slums of the poorest of the poor, while my leadership style has been to keep at a safe distance and say "Hey, someone should do something about this." The big difference between Mother Teresa and me is that she lived the Golden Rule while I just mouth it. Principle-Centered Leadership is the book I was seeking to help me change from a talker to a doer.
Principle-Centered Leadership will help us resolve dilemmas that cannot be resolved using conventional approaches. Our social conditioning leads us to quick-fix solutions such as cramming; we may get away with it for an exam or two but such an approach would be disastrous on a farm where natural laws operate. There are no quick-fix solutions for a marriage breakdown or for a teenager in crisis where only principle-centered solutions work. Manipulative strategies might work for a while but will eventually result in a loss of trust. We usually think in terms of learning new skills rather than showing more integrity to basic principles. Principle-Centered Leadership introduces a new paradigm - that we center our lives and our leadership of organizations and people on inviolate principles very much like gravity is an inviolate law of nature. These principles constitute the roots of every civilized society, family or institution that has endured and prospered. Changing habits, developing virtues, keeping promises and living in harmony with principles of fairness, equity, justice, integrity, honesty, and trust is what this book is all about. Subordinating oneself to higher purposes and principles is the essence of highest humanity and the foundation of effective leadership. Adherence to these principles uplift, ennoble, fulfill, empower and inspire. Covey believes that violations of these principles cause societal decline. Principle-Centered Leadership is based on the reality that natural laws cannot be violated with impunity.
We tend to live our lives in compartments, each with its own value system and expectations. We wear our Sunday hat but take it off the other six days of the week. Centering life on correct principles is the key to developing the internal power we require to realize many of our dreams because we are more balanced, unified, organized, and rooted. Principle-Centered Leadership and living cultivates four sources of strength - security, guidance, wisdom and power, giving a foundation to all relationships and decisions and a sense of stewardship over time, talents, money, relationships, family and ourselves. Because we feel secure we are not threatened by change and criticism. Because we are guided we discover our mission and can write the script for our lives. Because we have wisdom we learn from mistakes and seek continuous improvement. Because we have power we can communicate and cooperate even under stress and fatigue.
People on the low end of the guidance continuum lead selfish, sensual or social lifestyles while those at the high end have lives centered on true principles from inspired and inspiring sources. People at the low end of the security continuum show extreme insecurity while those at the high end have a high sense of worth, self-esteem and personal strength. People at the low end of the wisdom continuum base their thinking on distorted, discordant principles while those at the high end show good judgement, discernment and comprehension. People at the low end of the power continuum appear powerless, insecure, and react to circumstances while those at the high end are proactive, make things happen, and take responsibility for their feelings, thoughts and actions.
It is difficult to imagine who would not profit from this book because Principle-Centered Leadership affects all aspects of our life and brings back harmony to the different compartments in which we live. If your marriage needs attention this book will help. If you want to improve your business performance, you will learn some useful lessons. If you want to be a better employee this book will give you plenty of ideas. If you just want to become a better person, there is no better place to start than absorbing the lessons in Principle-Centered Leadership.
dwillis@afs.edu.gr
Dr Covey delivers his message so effectively that I would suggest that anyone with an interest in leadership would find themselves thinking and acting differently after reading this book. Reading this book will not simply give you new ideas, it will cause you to experience a "paradigm shift" in the way you look at people, problems and leadership.
I "read" this book in audio format and had to stop the tape regularly as I filled my journal with pages of powerful tools and new distinctions.
That said, I must say that Reviewjim hit the nail on the head with his comments. As I read PCL I struggled with how to apply it. I am not a CEO or even a VP, so how do I start? My span of control is too limited to effectively apply PCL with maximum results. Even Covey teaches that it must exist throughout the organization. If top executives do not embrace PCL, how effective can I be in my own area?
The maintenance of order and stability is of primary importance in any society. The smooth operation of virtually all American businesses is achieved through the exercise of the unilateral authority and power of a management hierarchy that views employees as commodities or economic units, not social actors. In such firms, social interaction is limited to financial exchanges or to some form of coercion. In the "human relations paradigm," authority may be somewhat more benevolent, recognizing or manipulating emotional needs, but is not weakened. In the "human relations paradigm," the creativity and talent of employees are better utilized, though still in a utilitarian sense. In all of these paradigms, employees are only a means to the ends of the company. Their initiative is often not appreciated, if not prohibited. In other words, employees are not regarded as social and political equals in typical companies.
So what is wrong with this state of affairs? These managerial outlooks have generally worked for American businesses. But according to the author the intense competition of an infinitely more complex and dynamic economic landscape requires firms to empower and use all of the talents of their employees. He suggests that a new principle-centered leadership paradigm is needed that focuses on the social and political "principles" of "fairness, equity, justice, integrity, honesty, and trust." It is supposedly a paradigm that extends full citizenship within a firm to all employees.
What are some of the characteristics of a firm operating under the aegis of a PCL paradigm? The empowered employee, as the base of the company, is trustworthy, which is to say that he or she is competent and possesses the character traits of integrity and maturity. Such individual trustworthiness raises trusting relationships among all members of the firm to the level as being the basis of the firm's success. Trust also facilitates highly effective communications throughout the company. The company is governed according to win-win performance agreements with negotiated accountability and consequences stipulations. With such agreements in place, explicit managerial control is replaced by self-supervision. The author maintains that companies that have adopted PCL are no longer autocratic, but have created a form of democracy.
But how does a PCL paradigm come to exist within an organization? And is it democratic? Well, as it turns out, the establishment of a PCL organization is very much top-down driven. It is for wise, top-level leaders to transform their organizations by "communicating vision, clarifying purposes," and establishing an overriding, governing mission. A mission statement is used to "heighten" the sense of contribution of employees. The author devotes considerable space to suggesting behavior to increase an executive's honor and power with others or to achieve influence. The focus on top leaders is continued with a repackaging of the author's "Seven Habits of Effective People," and an outline of observable characteristics of principle-centered leaders. It is clear that the PCL paradigm seems to be based on charismatic leadership, which usually relies on appeals to emotion and not careful deliberation or extensive participation.
In virtually any democracy, the rights of citizens to secure equal participation and due process is based on legislation or a constitution that concretely defines those rights and stipulates the manner to achieve those rights. The health of a democracy is never left to the good intentions of leaders. Yet that is exactly what the author suggests, regarding a twelve-word mission statement as a constitution, "a framework for governing." The fact that a mission statement is consented to, in some sense, does not give it legitimacy as a constitution. The author makes the classic business claim that formal rules and regulations that ensure that employees can obtain equal voice and impartial adjudication of disputes are impediments to a principle-focused firm. For the author, security is an internal attitude and is not based on a bundle of rights found in a real constitution. The author's definitive statement concerning democracy within firms is that employees interested in politics (who exercises power within the firm) need to shape up (abandon their quest for formal rights) or ship out (leave or be fired without formal due process).
The author bases much of his concept of principle-centered leadership on his contention that principles of human interaction are "self-evident, objective, and external," much like natural processes. That is profoundly incorrect. Equity, fairness, and justice are all contentious issues that are often subjected to vigorous debate among all parties. The all-wise leader does not have a hold on the definition of those ideals.
Like most books of this genre, this author makes virtually no reference to other authorities or scholars in such fields as sociology, political science, or psychology. The reader is left to wonder about the bases of the author's forays into topics of motivation, social and political theory, and organizational behavior. For example, the author acknowledges that systems and environments greatly influence us, yet his answer to the problem of establishing quality is to create principle-oriented persons who simply overcome organizational impediments to quality. That is questionable sociology.
PCL adopts the façade of employee empowerment, but in reality it is far more a paradigm in motivation. The goal in PCL is to subtly convince employees that the firm is being run in a benevolent, equitable manner by all-knowing, high-minded leaders towards lofty goals. Conflicts are downplayed as insignificant in comparison with the widespread, unmitigated devotion to a transcendent mission.
This book does not make its case for PCL. It is at best a vague concept with little grounding in social science and at worst simply another form of managerial manipulation. Undoubtedly, the patina of empowerment will persuade some.
I thought I would find something similar in this book but to my disappointmnet this book is very different from from "7 Habits". I find the book diffcult to read and and not inspiring at all.
Had this book had more examples, I think it could have been as big an eye-opener for me. I do still find parts of it useful, but it didn't have the power with me that it might have.
The book does not have any unifying message. There is no central theme. Every now and then there are invocations of the Seven Habits.
The number of product and service pitches Covey makes is absolutely amazing. His very overt salesmanship puts off the reader.
The original Seven Habits book was a masterpiece. Since then, Covey has been stuck in a hackneyed paradigm that he repeats time and time again. Each succeeding book after 7H sells less and less.
Time to let go, Mr. Covey. Focus on things other than the Seven Habits. The Seven Habits is a marvelous work. Do not compromise it with mediocre follow-ons.
Also recommend a highly rated and well-received companion book with this at Amazon: "The Leader's Guide: 15 Essential Skills."
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