On leaving a legacy...

On Monday morning I logged on to check my emails and the news of the death of Dr Stephen Covey flashed up on my screen. For those that are not aware he was the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, a book which has sold more than 20 million copies since it's publication in 1989. He wrote a number of other books on leadership and management, ran his own management training company and gave motivational speeches around the world.

And over the last few days I've been reflecting on the impact that his books have had on me and how or indeed whether I should make this a subject on my blog. I'd not come up with an answer until I sat down tonight and read some of the on-line articles about his life. I've been struck about how similar they all are; detailing the facts and figures of the number of copies of his books sold, his 9 children and 52 grand-children and the various accolades and honorary degrees he received. All very laudable but nothing that really gave a sense of the man - which comes across so strongly in his writings.

Then I found this article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhansen/2012/07/17/stephen-covey-leadership/

and after reading one of the comments left about this article I looked up the interview in 2005 that this student had with Dr Covey which gives a real insight on his thoughts on mentoring.

http://studentgenius.com/patrick.tedjamulia1

At the start of the second chapter of the 7 Habits - Habit 2 'Begin with the end in mind' he asks you to think about what you would like four speakers at your funeral to say about you; someone from your family, a friend, someone from your work and somebody from your church or community organisation that you've been involved with. He asks you to think about what type of person they would describe, what contributions and achievements; what difference you have made to their lives.

"If you carefully consider what you wanted to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success."

He wrote a follow-up book 'The 8th Habit', the first part of which is about finding your own voice and the second part is all about inspiring others to find their voice. I started the book some years ago now but didn't finish it but I feel the time is right to continue to read on. In the introduction he suggests that to get the most out of the book that you teach and share as you go - which is what I intend to do over the coming months.

“There are certain things that are fundamental to human fulfillment. The essence of these needs is captured in the phrase 'to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy'. The need to live is our physical need for such things as food, clothing, shelter, economical well-being, health. The need to love is our social need to relate to other people, to belong, to love and to be loved. The need to learn is our mental need to develop and to grow. And the need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution”                                                                         Stephen Covey