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Stephen Richards Covey (October 24, 1932 – July 16, 2012) was an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
educator, author, businessman, and keynote speaker. His most popular book is '' of Highly Effective People''. His other books include '' First Things First'', ''Principle-Centered Leadership'', ''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families'', , and ''The Leader In Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time''. In 1996, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people. He was a professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at
Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...
at the time of his death.


Early life and education

Covey was born to Stephen Glenn Covey and Irene Louise Richards Covey in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, Utah, on October 24, 1932. Louise was the daughter of
Stephen L Richards Stephen L RichardsRichards's full middle name was "L". Hence, his name is usually written without a period after the "L". See Gregory Prince and Wm. Robert Wright, ''David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Universi ...
, an apostle and counselor in the first presidency of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
under
David O. McKay David Oman McKay (September 8, 1873 – January 18, 1970) was an American religious leader and educator who served as the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1951 until his death in 1970. Ordain ...
. Covey was the grandson of Stephen Mack Covey who founded the original Little America Wyoming near Granger, Wyoming. He was athletic as a youth but suffered from a
slipped capital femoral epiphysis Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE or skiffy, slipped upper femoral epiphysis, SUFE or , coxa vara adolescentium) is a medical term referring to a fracture through the growth plate (physis), which results in slippage of the overlying end of ...
in junior high school, requiring him to change his focus to academics and a member of the debate team and graduated from high school early. Covey earned a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree in business administration from the
University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
, an
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
from
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, and a Doctor of Religious Education (DRE) from
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
. He was a member of
Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Alpha (), commonly known as PIKE, is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and colonies across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate members over 30 ...
fraternity. He was awarded ten
honorary doctorates An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
.


Philosophical background

Covey was heavily influenced by
Peter Drucker Peter Ferdinand Drucker (; ; November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was an Austrian-American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business co ...
and
Carl Rogers Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (and client-centered approach) in psychology. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of ps ...
. Another key influence on his thinking was his study of American self-help books that he did for his doctoral dissertation. A further influence on Covey was his affiliation with
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
. According to
Clayton Christensen Clayton Magleby Christensen (April 6, 1952January 23, 2020) was an American academic and business consultant who developed the theory of "disruptive innovation", which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. ...
, The Seven Habits was a secular distillation of Latter-day Saint values.


Books

Covey's book ''Spiritual Roots of Human Relations'' was published in 1970 by
Deseret Book Company Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), the ...
. Reading this book will identify how Covey's later works were a secular development of these earlier ideas.


''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People''

''
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People'', first published in 1989, is a business and self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. Covey presents an approach to being effective in attaining goals by aligning oneself to what he calls "true north ...
'', Covey's best-known book, has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide since its first publication in 1989. The audio version became the first non-fiction audio-book in U.S. publishing history to sell more than one million copies. Covey argues against what he calls "The Personality Ethic", something he sees as prevalent in many modern self-help books. He promotes what he labels "The Character Ethic": aligning one's values with so-called "universal and timeless" principles. Covey adamantly refuses to conflate principles and values; he sees principles as external
natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...
s, while values remain internal and subjective. Covey proclaims that values govern people's behavior, but principles ultimately determine the consequences. Covey presents his teachings in a series of habits, manifesting as a progression from dependence via
independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
to
interdependence Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its struc ...
.


''The 8th Habit''

Covey's 2004 book '' The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness'' was published by Free Press, an imprint of
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
. It is the sequel to ''The 7 Habits''. Covey posits that
effectiveness Effectiveness is the capability of producing a desired result or the ability to produce desired output. When something is deemed effective, it means it has an intended or expected outcome, or produces a deep, vivid impression. Etymology The ori ...
does not suffice in what he calls "The
Knowledge Worker Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include programmers, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public accountants, lawyers, editors, and academics, whose job is ...
Age". He says that " e challenges and complexity we face today are of a different order of magnitude." The 8th habit essentially urges: "Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs."


''The Leader in Me''

Covey released ''The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time'' in November 2008. It tells how "some schools, parents and business leaders are preparing the next generation to meet the great challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. It shows how an elementary school in
Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...
, decided to try incorporating ''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People'' and other basic leadership skills into the curriculum in unique and creative ways. Inspired by the success of Principal Muriel Summers and the teachers and staff of A.B. Combs Elementary School in Raleigh, other schools and parents around the world have adopted the approach and have seen remarkable results".


Other projects


Franklin Covey

In 1985 Covey established Stephen R. Covey and Associates which in 1987 became The "Covey Leadership Center" which, in 1997, merged with Franklin Quest to form FranklinCovey, a global professional-services firm and specialty retailer selling both training and productivity tools to individuals and to organizations. Their
mission statement A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation ...
reads: "We enable greatness in people and organizations everywhere". In 2009 Covey launched a career development webinar series to help people struggling in the economic downturn. Its purpose was to offer timely and current topics on a regular basis.


Stephen Covey Online Community

In March 2008, Covey launched the Stephen Covey's Online Community. The site was a collection of online courses, goal management and social networking. Covey used it to teach his thoughts and ideas on current topics and self leadership. The site was withdrawn some time after his death.


Academia

Covey was a professor at the
Marriott School of Management The Marriott School of Business is the business school of Brigham Young University (BYU), a private university owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and located in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1891 and renamed i ...
at
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
for several years, helping to establish the Master of Organizational Behavior program, which has since been merged into the MBA program (OBHR emphasis). Also while at BYU Covey served as an assistant to the university president. During the late part of his life, Covey returned to academia as a professor at the Huntsman School of Business at
Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...
, holding the Huntsman Presidential Chair.


Education Initiatives

Covey developed his 2008 book ''The Leader in Me'' into several education-related projects. On April 20, 2010, he made his first post to an education blog entitle
"Our Children and the Crisis in Education"
which appears on the ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' news and blog-aggregation website. FranklinCovey also established a Web site dedicated exclusively to ''The Leader in Me'' concept, and it holds periodic conferences and workshops to train elementary school administrators who want to integrate ''The Leader in Me'' process into their school's academic culture.


Personal


Family

Covey lived with his wife Sandra and their family in
Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU). Provo lies between the ...
, home to
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
, where Covey taught prior to the publication of his best-selling book. A father of nine and a grandfather of fifty-five, he received the Fatherhood Award from the
National Fatherhood Initiative The National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian organization that aims to improve the well-being of children through the promotion of responsible fatherhood. Headquartered in Germantown, Maryland, United Sta ...
in 2003. Covey's grandson,
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, played college football at his alma mater, University of Utah, and signed as an undrafted free agent to the
Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...
following the
2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...
.


Religion

Covey was a practicing member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
. He served a two-year
mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
in England for the Church. Covey served as the first president of the Irish Mission of the church starting in July 1962. Later starting in 1973 Covey served for a time as a mission representative of the Quorum of the 12, where he oversaw training of missionaries in multiple missions in the eastern United States. When Covey studied as an MBA student at Harvard, he would, on occasion, preach to crowds on
Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beacon ...
. Covey authored several devotional works for
Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
readers, including: *''Spiritual Roots of Human Relations'' (1970) *''The Divine Center'' (1982) *''6 Events: The Restoration Model for Solving Life's Problems'' (2004).


Injuries and death

In April 2012, Covey was riding a bike in Rock Canyon Park in
Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU). Provo lies between the ...
, when he lost control and fell. He was wearing a helmet but according to his daughter, Catherine Sagers, the helmet slipped and his head hit the pavement. Catherine said Covey "went down a hill too fast and flipped forward on the bike. It was a pretty big goose egg on the top of his head." Covey also suffered cracked ribs and a partially collapsed lung. Covey died from complications resulting from the bike accident at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in
Idaho Falls, Idaho Idaho Falls (Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, Bonneville County, Idaho, United States. It is the state's largest city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 Un ...
, on July 16, 2012, at the age of 79.


Honors and awards

*The Thomas More College Medallion for continuing service to humanity *The National
Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership *The 1994 International
Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
of the Year Award *One of ''
Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...
s 25 most influential Americans of 1996 *The Sikh's 1998 International Man of Peace Award *2003 Fatherhood Award from the
National Fatherhood Initiative The National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian organization that aims to improve the well-being of children through the promotion of responsible fatherhood. Headquartered in Germantown, Maryland, United Sta ...
*2004 Golden Gavel award from
Toastmasters International Toastmasters International (TI) is a US-headquartered nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of promoting communication, public speaking, and leadership. History The organization grew out of a single c ...
*Accepted the inaugural ''Corporate Core Values Award'' from the California University of Pennsylvania on behalf of the FranklinCovey Corporation at the "national Franklin Covey Conference" (December 2006). *Inducted into the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum Hall of Fame on November 14, 2009 *Maharishi Award from Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa *Aman2020 Award from Aman Wolde foundation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


Works

*''Spiritual Roots of Human Relations'' (1970) () *''How to Succeed with People (1971) *''The Divine Center'' (1982) () *''
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People'', first published in 1989, is a business and self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. Covey presents an approach to being effective in attaining goals by aligning oneself to what he calls "true north ...
'' (1989, 2004) () *''Principle Centered Leadership'' (1989) () *'' First Things First'' (1994), co-authored with Roger and Rebecca Merrill () *''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families : building a beautiful family culture in a turbulent world'' (1997) () *''Quest: The Spiritual Path to Success'' (Editor) (1997) with Thomas Moore,
Mark Victor Hansen Mark Victor Hansen (born January 8, 1948) is an American inspirational and motivational speaker, trainer and author. He is best known as the founder and co-creator of the ''Chicken Soup for the Soul'' book series. Early life Hansen was born to D ...
, David Whyte,
Bernie Siegel Bernie Siegel (born October 14, 1932) is an American writer and retired pediatric surgeon, who writes on the relationship between the patient and the healing process. He is known for his best-selling book ''Love, Medicine and Miracles''. Early ...
,
Gabrielle Roth Gabrielle Roth (February 4, 1941 – October 22, 2012) was an American dancer and musician in the world music and trance dance genres, with a special interest in shamanism. She created the 5Rhythms approach to movement in the late 1970s; t ...
and
Marianne Williamson Marianne Deborah Williamson (born July 8, 1952) is an American author, spiritual leader, and political activist. She has written 14 books, including four ''New York Times'' number one bestsellers in the "Advice, How To, and Miscellaneous" cate ...
. Simon & Schuster AudioBook *''Living the 7 Habits'' (2000) () *''6 Events: The Restoration Model for Solving Life's Problems'' (2004) () *'' The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness'' (2004) () *''The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything'' (2006), Stephen M. R. Covey, co-authored with Rebecca Merrill; foreword by Stephen R. Covey *''The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child At a Time'' (2008) () *''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Network Marketing Professionals'' (2009) () *'' The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life's Most Difficult Problems'' (2011) () *''The Leader in Me: How Schools Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time (Second Edition)'' (2014) ()


References


External links


Stephen Covey's official siteFranklinCovey's official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Covey, Stephen 1932 births 2012 deaths American business writers American company founders American self-help writers Brigham Young University alumni Brigham Young University faculty Harvard Business School alumni Mission presidents (LDS Church) American Mormon missionaries in England American Mormon missionaries in Ireland Businesspeople from Salt Lake City David Eccles School of Business alumni Utah State University faculty Writers from Salt Lake City 20th-century Mormon missionaries American motivational writers Leadership scholars Latter Day Saints from Utah Latter Day Saints from Massachusetts American expatriates in the Republic of Ireland