This past week Dr Stephen R Covey, author of ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, ‘Principle-Centered Leadership’, and many other books, passed away at the age of seventy nine. He has no doubt affected many of your lives positively. I have had the privilege of spending some time with him and was more impressed by who he is than by what he taught.
One of the gems he shared with me was this: “If I were to give a person advice I would say realize you have four parts to your nature – for your body, assume you have had a heart attack, now exercise and eat accordingly; for your mind assume the half-life of your profession is two to three years, now prepare accordingly; for your heart assume that everything that is said about another person they can hear, now speak accordingly; for your spirit assume you have a one on one visit with your creator every three months, now live accordingly”.
He died following a bicycle accident, which means at the age of seventy nine he still lived life to the full. Leaders would do well to follow his advice of seven habits of highly effective people, finding ones voice and living a principle centered life.
By Adriaan Groenewald
Email Adriaan on adriaan@leadershipplatform.com for more on creating “Leadership Fit” leaders that generate successful movement (performance) inside your organisation.
