Dr Covey has written a book with some valuable points, which would be useful for any person to remember and apply. Although some say that they're common sense, sometimes we need reminding of common sense. Being proactive (i.e. doing something is better than doing nothing), starting with the end in sight (i.e. visualise what you really want and plan to get it), putting first-things-first (i.e. don't procrastinate), think Win-win (obviously valuable), and Seek-first-to-understand-then-to-be-understood are all useful and valuable habits. The idea of being principle-centred is also worth examining, as is the idea of concentrating on your circle of influence.
However, this book could have been much shorter; probably less than half the length. Dale Carnegie covered many of the ideas fifty years earlier, and wrote more clearly. Dr Covey's writing style would have George Orwell spinning in his grave. Like many authors in the 'self-help' genre, Dr Covey's writing is imprecise, long-winded, laden with exaggeration, and littered with clichés.
The 'Synergize' chapter should simply be excised; Dr Covey spends an entire chapter gushing about situations in which enthusiastic people got together, opened-up, became excited, and produced something wonderful. That isn't a habit; it's an effect. It's all very nice when it happens, but it ignores the situations where enthusiastic people get together, open-up, become excited, and produce something terrible or utterly disastrous because they were all too excited to examine risk. Late-90's dot-com companies in particular spring to mind. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds was written about this phenomenon.
Dr Covey's advice relating to tyrannical bosses is awful. I would expect that anyone who adopts Dr Covey's advice in a situation where they are forced to deal with a sociopath is about to discover the meaning of 'disappointment'. Dr Covey makes the error of assuming that deep-down, all people are reasonable... if they were, his ideas would work. Unfortunately, they are not, and adopting Dr Covey's techniques with a sociopathic manipulator (they're more common than you think), or even worse, a sycophantic group of sociopaths, is a recipe for disaster. Sometimes, the best advice is 'get as far as you can from that person and situation, as fast as you can'; I doubt whether Dr Covey has ever given anyone that advice.
This leads me to another thread common to self-help writers; the unwillingness to admit that their approaches won't necessarily work for all people in all situations, and the accompanying focus on only the positive outcomes that can come from following their advice. Dr Covey's book is an example of this; no warnings, no caveats; the whole thing is presented as a path to salvation.
Finally, the anecdotes... they're tedious. One after the other, we hear unverifiable anecdotes, which could have just as easily have been invented. Or they could be completely one-sided; the other people in the situation may have had a completely different interpretation. I couldn't help when reading the book but wonder if Dr Covey's anecdotes were all that they seemed.
So there you have it; a middling book which promises much and delivers some. This book is worth a read if you go in with your eyes open, and think critically. But for the impressionable reader (it is often impressionable people who buy self-help books) some parts of the book may lead to disappointment.
Reviewed By : Kim D. Mason : Aug 31, 2008
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment