How Schools and Parents Around the World are Inspiring Greatness, One Child At a Time 

By Stephen R. Covey 

Simon & Schuster UK 

£ 12.99 (Rs 990) 
 

Steven Covey is the presiding deity of self-help and leadership industry. The monumental success of ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ got TIME magazine to name him as one of the 25 most influential Americans. This book could have been named ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Schools’ but perhaps it sounded too repetitive, and Covey has called it ‘The Leader in Me’. 

So what is the book about? In a nutshell, Covey tells you that when you put your children in mind stimulating environment, they will turn into leaders and do great things. 

Doesn’t that sound commonsensical? Yes. But where is the evidence? Covey narrates in detail how some schools – particularly, A B Combs Elementary School in North Carolina – have adopted the ‘7 Habits’ programme and teach leadership skills to kids when they are still in kindergarten. 

The children have learnt to be responsible, respectful and tolerant and what’s more, they also achieve great scores now. It was not easy. Remember, A B Combs was facing closure at one point in time. Since then, it has come a long way to emerge as one of the most admired schools. 

So what does it take to implement the '7 Habits' programme in the school? 

First, a super confident principal, who can convert resistance (inevitable?) from colleagues and others involved in school administration into active support. 

Secondly, reasonable stability of staff and children. If teachers and children keep moving in and out, the programme may still be implemented, but the difficulty level will go up many notches. 

Thirdly, parents’ involvement and support is crucial for the success of the programme. 

Inspiring stories from a few schools across the world, yes, but there is one major problem with the book.  

The book looks at ‘achievement of greatness’ in a school entirely from the ‘7 Habits’ perspective. While that is not a bad idea at all; but that is not very logical either. Ideally, a principal should analyze the problems her school faces, work out plans to deal with them effectively, set goals, achieve them and hence greatness, etc. Covey’s ‘7 Habits’ could be part of such a programme but that is incidental and the scope of work should not be limited to them. Conversely, a fair approach for an author attempting such a book would be to look at how schools in dire straits achieved sustained greatness; and then demonstrate how following the ‘7 Habits’ programme did the trick for many of them, if that is the case. This book appears more like a product life cycle extension plan for ‘7 Habits’, and hence not a result of genuine research. Perhaps it was not intended to be.

Even if you have no objection to defining ‘greatness’ strictly by the ‘7 Habits’ parameters, remember, it is going to be a long haul. It took ten years for A B Combs to see results. Add a few more if you expect a lot of resistance from teachers and parents.  

(Note: If you have not heard of the ‘7 Habits’ here they are: 1) Be Proactive 2) Begin with the End in Mind, 3) Put First Things First 4) Think Win-Win 5) Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, 6) Synergize and 7) Sharpen the Saw (hone skills)).