Quotes from Stephen R. Covey

Una máxima de los arquitectos dice que «la forma sigue a la función». De modo análogo, la administración sigue al liderazgo. El modo en que uno pasa el tiempo es la consecuencia del modo en que uno ve su propio tiempo y sus propias prioridades

private victories precede public victories, that making and keeping promises to ourselves precedes making and keeping promises to others.

our son's "socially impressive" accomplishments were more a serendipitous expression of the feelings he had about himself than merely a response to social reward.

Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective. But this is not the case. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are—or, as we are conditioned to see it.

Solo podemos lograr una mejora considerable en nuestra vida cuando dejamos de cortar las hojas de la actitud y la conducta y trabajamos sobre la raíz, sobre los paradigmas de los que fluyen la actitud y la conducta.

build inner character first—private victory before public victory.

The commitments we make to ourselves and to others, and our integrity to those commitments, is the essence and clearest manifestation of our proactivity.

Our unique human endowments lift us above the animal world. The extent to which we exercise and develop these endowments empowers us to fulfill our uniquely human potential. Between stimulus and response is our greatest power—the freedom to choose.

We choose—either to live our lives or to let others live them for us.

The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people.

PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL MANAGEMENT Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. GOETHE

Not facing reality would have been to accept the idea that what's happening in our environment had to determine us.

By working on knowledge, skill, and desire

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

Sandra and I believe that our son's "socially impressive" accomplishments were more a serendipitous expression of the feelings he had about himself than merely a response to social reward.

Independent thinking alone is not suited to interdependent reality. Independent people who do not have the maturity to think and act interdependently may be good individual producers, but they won't be good leaders or team players.

To keep progressing, we must learn, commit, and do—learn, commit, and do—and learn, commit, and do again.

As Alfred North Whitehead once said, "The habit of the active utilization of well-understood principles is the final possession of wisdom."13

If our sense of emotional worth comes primarily from our marriage, then we become highly dependent upon that relationship.

I were independent, physically, I could pretty well make it on my own. Mentally, I could think my own thoughts, I could move from one level of abstraction to another. I could think creatively and analytically and organize and express my thoughts in understandable ways. Emotionally, I would be validated from within. I would be inner directed. My sense of worth would not be a function of being liked or treated well.

But people who end up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves, who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary, consistent with correct principles, to get the job done.

By making and keeping promises to ourselves and others, little by little, our honor becomes greater than our moods.

We seek not to imitate the masters, rather we seek what they sought," we seek not to imitate past creative synergistic experiences, rather we seek new ones around new and different and sometimes higher purposes.

Developing such a Win/Win performance agreement is the central activity of management.