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2 FOREWORD TO THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

cation in 1989 and it was a gift to reengage with its message. I also

wanted to recalibrate: what makes it an enduring classic? I see four

factors that contributed to its rarefied stature

1. Covey created a"user interface" organized into a coherent

conceptual framework, made highly accessible by covey's

2. Covey focused on timeless principles, not on mere tech-

strong writing

eques or momentary fads

3.covey wrote primarily about building character, not about

"achieving success-and thereby helped people become

not just more effective individuals, but better leaders

4. Covey himself was a Level 5 teacher, humble about his

own shortcomings, yet determined to share widely what

he'd learned

Stephen Covey was a master synthesizer. I think of what he did

for personal effectiveness as analogous to what the graphical user

interface did for personal computers. Prior to Apple and Micro-

soft, few people could harness computers to their daily lives; there

was no easily accessible user interface--there were no mouse

pointers, friendly icons, or overlapping windows on a screen, let

alone a touch screen. But with the Macintosh and then Windows

the mass of people could finally tap the power of the microchip

behind the screen. Similarly, there had been hundreds of years of

accumulated wisdom about personal effectiveness, from Benjamin

Franklin to Peter Drucker, but it was never assembled into one

coherent, user-friendly framework. Covey created a standard oper

ating system-the"Windows"for personal effectiveness, and he

made it easy to use. He proved to be a very fine writer, a master of

short stories and conceptual wordplay. I will never forget the story

in Chapter 1 about the man on the subway who could not control

his screaming kids (and the point it makes), nor will I ever forget

the lighthouse or the wrong jungle or the analogy of the golden

eggs. Some of his conceptual i apping Paper worked exception-

ally well, being both descriptive of a concept, and at the same

time prescriptive in its application. "Win/Win or No Deal. ""Seek

First to Understand, Then to Be Understood """Begin with the End

in Mind. ""Put First Things First. "He made the ideas even more

accessible by using personal life-struggles and stories--raising