I just finished my sisters penultimate paper for her MBA degree with UofP. It is based on Stephen R. Covey's Principle-Centered Leadership and I thought I'd share it with you. The notation of the book isn't in the ABA style they require and, as she put it, there are some run-on sentences, which isn't bad for a first draft for me. I just love the metaphor I used to weave the information through to create a complete vision. My final statement feels more like a personal mission statement after reading the book. A book which I highly recommend.
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Ask any person in your organization who they truly think the center of the universe is, and they will tell you they consider themselves to be its center. They’re right! To bring into harmony all these stellar bodies into harmony, one must look to the stars to gain guidance. Copernicus said in his book Derevolutionizeu Orbium Caolestium the following; "To ascribe movement to the earth must seem absurd to those who for centuries have consented that the earth is placed immovably as the central point of the universe. But I shrink not from any man’s criticism. By long and frequent observations and by following a set of fixed principles, I have discovered not only that the earth moves but also that the orders and magnitudes of all the stars an spheres, nay, the heavens themselves, are so bound together that nothing in any part thereof could be moved from it’s place without producing confusion in all the parts of the Universe as a whole." What Copernicus sought and achieved in science Steven R. Covey seeks to achieve in his highly effective Principle-Centered Leadership for managerial leadership. Through is "true north", "inside-out" approaches he is making the leap that the problem in the organization isn’t with ‘them’ but with ‘us’ and in order to bridge the gap between theory and practice we must discard the outdated and useless maps of the past, start at the top of the organization re-aligning values to basic and true principles starting from the inside of each individual in the management team and then working outward. Then, when the big bang of a paradigm shift happens all members of the organization will dance in harmony like the celestial bodies – even down to the Pluto’s of the group – and your organization will be ready, willing and able to chart new courses and follow new and exciting horizons into the future.
Covey has proposed that instead of having a value driven organization which can range from the basic "Carrot-and-Stick" approach of managing employees and customers to out and out intimidation tactics for production and control will work for a short period of time with, at times, devastation consequences on the organization, employees and customers. By shifting our organizational centers (see fig. 1) from flawed values such as profit, supplier, employee, owner, customer, program, policy, competition, image and technology, principles that develop security, guidance power and wisdom we un-moor the potential in ourselves as well as our group and organizations.
Figure 1. (pg. 24)
Covey is fond of his "Six Days of Creation" (pg. 79) concept where just as the world was created in six days, each day needing completion before the next could be started, so are we on an emotional maturation process. Just as you canÂ’t have oceans before you have land, you canÂ’t expect to achieve emotional maturity without going through each of these steps more completely explained in his renowned book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He makes five simple suggestions to put us squarely on the path for emotional maturity, propelling us from whatever "Day" weÂ’re at into the continuum of where we need to be to start garnering the traction needed to make the shift necessary for success. "If we will do the following five things, we will have the strength to be strong in hard moments, in testing time.
* Never make a promise we will not keep
* Make meaningful promises, resolution, and commitments to do better and to be better – and share these with a loved one.
* Use self-knowledge and be very selective about the promises we make
* Consider promises as a measure of our integrity and faith in ourselves
* Remember that our personal integrity or self-mastery is the basis for our success with others." (pg. 77)
It shouldnÂ’t be surprising then that the first section of the book is dedicated to the readers and how he can change his behaviors and re-aligning ourselves to the basic principles. His statement on these principles are; "Natural laws, principles, operate regardless. So get these principles at the center of your life, at the center of your relationships, at the center of your management contracts, at the center of your entire organization" (Pg. 17) Pay close attention to the order in which he lays these out for the reader 1) life 2) relationships 3) work 4) organization. You canÂ’t create a principle centered organization without becoming and staying a principle centered person and practice principle centric values in your life. His axiom on the cover of the book "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Other urban philosophers have expanded on this notion to, "Â…Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime, unless he doesnÂ’t like sushi, then youÂ’ll have to teach him how to cook. (Auren Hoffman, Herald Philosopher). Even better is "Â…Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to sell fish and he eats steak." (Author unknown). But no matter how you bate the hook, you have to know how to catch fish on your own before you can hope to teach others. Some arenÂ’t going to like it and you will have to teach them how to cook it until itÂ’s palatable and some will run with the concepts and eat steak the rest of their lives, to extend the metaphor even further some will reject it all together because they are not ready for this next step in business or their lives and you will need to cut bait and run. This brings us to the first principle in CoveyÂ’s thesis. Through use of natural governing principles that we have all grown up with in life such as practice what you preach and donÂ’t preach as practice, do unto others as you would have them do unto you not do unto others before they do unto you as the hallmarks of most, if not all moderate Judeo/Christian, Islamic and Buddhist sects. Honesty, fairness, integrity and having an "abundance mentality" (pg. 40) but most importantly realizing these changes need to come from the "inside-out", are the guideposts that help us navigate the possibly lethal mistakes of the past.
With all things in life, one must start with the first things first. John Adams, our second president of the United States was fond of saying, "There are only two people of worth in the world. Those that have commitment and those that require the commitment of others." Dictionary.com defines commitment as: 1) the act of committing. 2) the state of being committed. 3) the act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself. 4) a pledge or promise obligation. 5) engagement; involvement. 6) perpetration or commission, as of a crime. 7) consignment, as to prison. 8) confinement to a mental institution or hospital. The first three definitions are commitments centered on correct principles and the last five could be the consequences of not being thusly committed. To gain a commitment from a loved one, friend, co-worker, peer or boss one must first prove themselves capable of making and keeping commitments. As you build your capacity for commitment your cache of trustworthiness will increase. Building and keeping trust among people is essential to healthy and lasting relationships in life and in business. Personal integrity is paramount to human development and positive growth. Rogue stars in history has shown us that people with great commitment centered on unnatural principles have done great things with devastating consequences. Hitler was able to unify a disjointed Germany only to have the repercussions rippled through history and the pain and agony he unleashed is still felt today. Kidder Peabody imploded after 100 years of business due to a paradigm built around employee bonuses and when a rogue broker took advantage of it through bond price manipulation. Correct principles are the endowments of empowerment, the fish, and once we have them we can teach other, if by example alone, how to launch themselves into a greater understanding and a greater fulfillment in their personal and business lives.
In our solar system all the planetary masses and their sub-masses revolve around the sun, so it is in an organization. The problem with introducing this new paradigm into the workforce and not have it treated like the other programs that have flown through the organization like bright and shiny comets. Your staff has worked hard in the past to learn the new-and-improved vocabulary, push the philosophies like intrusive salesmen, even in the extreme create a cult around nothing more then a quick-fix or band-aide for a chronically acute unnatural principles. In the end these comets leave no more effect on the gravitational entropy in the organization than a comet does. The twinkling dust in their wake settled into files and aphorisms that end up being bandied around in a cynical game of verbal hacky-sack by your ever diligent but uninspired employees. Changing an organization to principle centricity isnÂ’t a fly-by-night concept and usually requires an assiduous application of patience and understanding. However, once the management team has successfully changed their direction, the organizational entropy well stem and then stop. Start with the mission statement. Norman Vincent Peal wrote "Change your thoughts and you will change your world." Such with the mission statement, it is the agar in which the Oranizations culture is grown. Once the organization as a whole has an idea of the newly charted course, it is a well prepared field to institute the following guides to help with the cultivation of a principled centered organization. "Security" (pg. 57) for employees through a set of procedures and practices, is the foundation on which to start. Next is "guidance" (pg. 57) by both example and through a compass aligned to the "true north" (pg. 92) principles. All this taught through the auspice of an "abundance mentality" will endow each employee with confidence and empower them to act as an individuals and as an invaluable part of the team naturally quashing any rivalries that might have existed under the old paradigm. Then finally, when these principles are at the core of the driving fore will the true adventure of problem solving through the universe of commerce and the synergism of personal and professional fulfillment of everyone on board will be the fuel that moves the organization to seek out new life and new opportunities. To put it simply, a mission statement for change if you will, commit to be the change you want to see in the world.
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Ask any person in your organization who they truly think the center of the universe is, and they will tell you they consider themselves to be its center. They’re right! To bring into harmony all these stellar bodies into harmony, one must look to the stars to gain guidance. Copernicus said in his book Derevolutionizeu Orbium Caolestium the following; "To ascribe movement to the earth must seem absurd to those who for centuries have consented that the earth is placed immovably as the central point of the universe. But I shrink not from any man’s criticism. By long and frequent observations and by following a set of fixed principles, I have discovered not only that the earth moves but also that the orders and magnitudes of all the stars an spheres, nay, the heavens themselves, are so bound together that nothing in any part thereof could be moved from it’s place without producing confusion in all the parts of the Universe as a whole." What Copernicus sought and achieved in science Steven R. Covey seeks to achieve in his highly effective Principle-Centered Leadership for managerial leadership. Through is "true north", "inside-out" approaches he is making the leap that the problem in the organization isn’t with ‘them’ but with ‘us’ and in order to bridge the gap between theory and practice we must discard the outdated and useless maps of the past, start at the top of the organization re-aligning values to basic and true principles starting from the inside of each individual in the management team and then working outward. Then, when the big bang of a paradigm shift happens all members of the organization will dance in harmony like the celestial bodies – even down to the Pluto’s of the group – and your organization will be ready, willing and able to chart new courses and follow new and exciting horizons into the future.
Covey has proposed that instead of having a value driven organization which can range from the basic "Carrot-and-Stick" approach of managing employees and customers to out and out intimidation tactics for production and control will work for a short period of time with, at times, devastation consequences on the organization, employees and customers. By shifting our organizational centers (see fig. 1) from flawed values such as profit, supplier, employee, owner, customer, program, policy, competition, image and technology, principles that develop security, guidance power and wisdom we un-moor the potential in ourselves as well as our group and organizations.
Figure 1. (pg. 24)
Covey is fond of his "Six Days of Creation" (pg. 79) concept where just as the world was created in six days, each day needing completion before the next could be started, so are we on an emotional maturation process. Just as you canÂ’t have oceans before you have land, you canÂ’t expect to achieve emotional maturity without going through each of these steps more completely explained in his renowned book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He makes five simple suggestions to put us squarely on the path for emotional maturity, propelling us from whatever "Day" weÂ’re at into the continuum of where we need to be to start garnering the traction needed to make the shift necessary for success. "If we will do the following five things, we will have the strength to be strong in hard moments, in testing time.
* Never make a promise we will not keep
* Make meaningful promises, resolution, and commitments to do better and to be better – and share these with a loved one.
* Use self-knowledge and be very selective about the promises we make
* Consider promises as a measure of our integrity and faith in ourselves
* Remember that our personal integrity or self-mastery is the basis for our success with others." (pg. 77)
It shouldnÂ’t be surprising then that the first section of the book is dedicated to the readers and how he can change his behaviors and re-aligning ourselves to the basic principles. His statement on these principles are; "Natural laws, principles, operate regardless. So get these principles at the center of your life, at the center of your relationships, at the center of your management contracts, at the center of your entire organization" (Pg. 17) Pay close attention to the order in which he lays these out for the reader 1) life 2) relationships 3) work 4) organization. You canÂ’t create a principle centered organization without becoming and staying a principle centered person and practice principle centric values in your life. His axiom on the cover of the book "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Other urban philosophers have expanded on this notion to, "Â…Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime, unless he doesnÂ’t like sushi, then youÂ’ll have to teach him how to cook. (Auren Hoffman, Herald Philosopher). Even better is "Â…Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to sell fish and he eats steak." (Author unknown). But no matter how you bate the hook, you have to know how to catch fish on your own before you can hope to teach others. Some arenÂ’t going to like it and you will have to teach them how to cook it until itÂ’s palatable and some will run with the concepts and eat steak the rest of their lives, to extend the metaphor even further some will reject it all together because they are not ready for this next step in business or their lives and you will need to cut bait and run. This brings us to the first principle in CoveyÂ’s thesis. Through use of natural governing principles that we have all grown up with in life such as practice what you preach and donÂ’t preach as practice, do unto others as you would have them do unto you not do unto others before they do unto you as the hallmarks of most, if not all moderate Judeo/Christian, Islamic and Buddhist sects. Honesty, fairness, integrity and having an "abundance mentality" (pg. 40) but most importantly realizing these changes need to come from the "inside-out", are the guideposts that help us navigate the possibly lethal mistakes of the past.
With all things in life, one must start with the first things first. John Adams, our second president of the United States was fond of saying, "There are only two people of worth in the world. Those that have commitment and those that require the commitment of others." Dictionary.com defines commitment as: 1) the act of committing. 2) the state of being committed. 3) the act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself. 4) a pledge or promise obligation. 5) engagement; involvement. 6) perpetration or commission, as of a crime. 7) consignment, as to prison. 8) confinement to a mental institution or hospital. The first three definitions are commitments centered on correct principles and the last five could be the consequences of not being thusly committed. To gain a commitment from a loved one, friend, co-worker, peer or boss one must first prove themselves capable of making and keeping commitments. As you build your capacity for commitment your cache of trustworthiness will increase. Building and keeping trust among people is essential to healthy and lasting relationships in life and in business. Personal integrity is paramount to human development and positive growth. Rogue stars in history has shown us that people with great commitment centered on unnatural principles have done great things with devastating consequences. Hitler was able to unify a disjointed Germany only to have the repercussions rippled through history and the pain and agony he unleashed is still felt today. Kidder Peabody imploded after 100 years of business due to a paradigm built around employee bonuses and when a rogue broker took advantage of it through bond price manipulation. Correct principles are the endowments of empowerment, the fish, and once we have them we can teach other, if by example alone, how to launch themselves into a greater understanding and a greater fulfillment in their personal and business lives.
In our solar system all the planetary masses and their sub-masses revolve around the sun, so it is in an organization. The problem with introducing this new paradigm into the workforce and not have it treated like the other programs that have flown through the organization like bright and shiny comets. Your staff has worked hard in the past to learn the new-and-improved vocabulary, push the philosophies like intrusive salesmen, even in the extreme create a cult around nothing more then a quick-fix or band-aide for a chronically acute unnatural principles. In the end these comets leave no more effect on the gravitational entropy in the organization than a comet does. The twinkling dust in their wake settled into files and aphorisms that end up being bandied around in a cynical game of verbal hacky-sack by your ever diligent but uninspired employees. Changing an organization to principle centricity isnÂ’t a fly-by-night concept and usually requires an assiduous application of patience and understanding. However, once the management team has successfully changed their direction, the organizational entropy well stem and then stop. Start with the mission statement. Norman Vincent Peal wrote "Change your thoughts and you will change your world." Such with the mission statement, it is the agar in which the Oranizations culture is grown. Once the organization as a whole has an idea of the newly charted course, it is a well prepared field to institute the following guides to help with the cultivation of a principled centered organization. "Security" (pg. 57) for employees through a set of procedures and practices, is the foundation on which to start. Next is "guidance" (pg. 57) by both example and through a compass aligned to the "true north" (pg. 92) principles. All this taught through the auspice of an "abundance mentality" will endow each employee with confidence and empower them to act as an individuals and as an invaluable part of the team naturally quashing any rivalries that might have existed under the old paradigm. Then finally, when these principles are at the core of the driving fore will the true adventure of problem solving through the universe of commerce and the synergism of personal and professional fulfillment of everyone on board will be the fuel that moves the organization to seek out new life and new opportunities. To put it simply, a mission statement for change if you will, commit to be the change you want to see in the world.
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