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Dr. Stephen Covey, is a world-renown expert on leadership development. Last year he gave an interview to Sharif Khan in which he explained some of the key behaviors and attitudes that have led to his great success:
"I have worked very hard to dedicate my personal and professional life to principle centered living. I am driven by a passion and conscience to spread understanding for principles and how to apply them to reach greatness. To that extent, there is no sacrifice - only a passionate, relentless commitment to my work, family, community and church to make a lasting difference.
"I believe the most important attribute for a leader is being principle-centered. Centering on principles that are universal and timeless provides a foundation and compass to guide every decision and every act. I've based my life's work on promoting principles and teaching the power that resides in principle-centered leadership. Principles are not my invention; they are self-evident and are found throughout the world. If you look at all enduring philosophies, religions and thoughts, you will find principles such as integrity, compassion, trust, honesty, accountability and others at their core. I simply translated these principles into a framework of habits, which when followed with consistency and frequency transforms one's character and allows one to earn the moral authority necessary for enduring leadership.
"I must also clarify the definition of leadership, which is sadly and narrowly defined as position, title, status or rank. This is formal authority and not necessarily leadership. Through years of study, teaching and working with people all over the world, from all walks of life, I have determined that leadership is: Communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves. It is the influence we have with others to help them discover their own voice, to find their own purpose, to make their unique contribution, and to release their potential, that truly defines leadership. Thus, leadership extends to the many personal and professional roles we play - as workers, parents, children, teachers, students, swamis, you name it - and the choice we make to live by principles to help others find their voice.
"To achieve greater heights each person must be challenged to find their voice - their unique personal significance and purposeful meaning - and help others to find theirs. Voice lies at the nexus of talent, passion, need and conscience. When anyone engages in work that taps into their talent and fuels their passion - that rises out of a great need in the world that they feel drawn by conscience to meet - therein lies their voice in life.
"Everyone chooses one of two roads in life, whether you're older or younger, man or woman, rich or poor. The most traveled road is the one that takes us to mediocrity and the other less traveled road takes us to greatness and meaning. The first road limits us and prevents us from realizing our full potential. This road is often the quick-fix or short-cut approach to life. It often lures us to it when we don't take accountability for ourselves or see ourselves as victims. My advice is to avoid the road of mediocrity. It's hard to see into the long-term, but if [you] will try to see [yourself] as a human being with vast potential, and see that next to life itself their greatest gift is choice - [you] can choose [your] response to whatever comes in life, and take responsibility for [your] choices, behaviors, feelings and choose to create [your] future."
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