The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Rating:
Summary: STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVENESS
Review: Stephen Covey outlines the best strategies for maximum effectiveness in this great book. The fact that this book has remained a best seller for over 15 years should tell you something about the merits of the informmation that it contains.

Highly recommended book.

Rating:
Summary: The Book That Makes a Difference
Review: This book made a big difference in my life since it challenged me to change the way I thought professionally and emotionally. After reading the book, my relationships with my workers had changed for the better (I reduced turnover in my business dramatically and fostered an incredible team spirit within each of my employees) and I also ended a marriage with a woman who constantly dragged me down instead of lifting me upward. My life is now on track because of this book.

The book also gives you tools (lists, diagrams, and organizer inserts) that aid you in becoming more highly effective. Stephen R. Covey provides deeply personal examples of his effective growth change. The book is inspiring. Everyone else on this site who has given a bad review of this book must not know effectiveness from a hole in the ground and must not have read the book all the way through practicing the end-of-the-chapter "exercises".

Rating:
Summary: One of the best business/success books out there
Review: Unfortunately, during my experience with corporate America I've had several business/success books thrust upon me. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is the only one that was worth reading.

This book, coupled with the First Things First training I received at work has had an enormous impact on me. Five years later, I still organize my life based on my mission statement, roles, and goals. I plan weekly and take time out to Sharpen the Saw. I don't always live up to the seven habits, but at least I'm going in the right direction. Periodically I pull this book out of my bookshelf and flip through it to reinforce the lessons it contains. It's also one of the few books I've ever bought someone as a gift.

My biggest criticism is that Covey has a tendency to beat you over the head with examples. Numerous times as I read the book I thought to myself, I get it, move on. My other big complaint is that this book coined the word "proactive," which is believed to mean the opposite of reactive, but actually means that the person using it is an idiot and needs to resort to using made-up words to appear highly effective.