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No. 573, September 24, 2007

The key habit in the knowledge society

Stephen Covey is world renowned as the author of 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. In his other books he has also written about successful families. In his new book he writes about the 8th habit; the key habit in the knowledge society.

The 8th habit is about finding what Covey calls our voice. Your voice, or your unique expression as a person in this world, is found in the intersection between your strengths, your passions, your convictions and your needs. We can become 50 times more effective in our work by finding our unique voice, says Covey.

The book begins describing the frustrations which many people feel in today’s work life: feeling tired, lack of meaning, not feeling good enough or being stressed. According to Covey the basic reason for this is that people have not found a way to use their unique voice at work.

Covey gives a great picture of mankind’s evolution from hunter-gatherer to farmer, industrial worker, knowledge worker and finally, the wisdom worker.

Imagine a hunter-gatherer who lives through hunting and gathering. One day he meets a farmer who sows seeds in the ground. The farmer is fifty times more productive than the hunter-gatherer, who learns to be a farmer. The traditional farmer then finds that an industrial worker is fifty times more effective than himself. The farmer can become jealous or feel threatened. But he hardly has a choice. He needs to either become an industrial worker or to industrialise his farming.

Today, says Covey, knowledge workers are becoming 50 times more effective than an industrial worker. The best computer programmers are already a thousand times more effective than the average ones. This creates tensions in our society in the same way as in the transition from agrarian society to industrial society. Now, we are in the midst of transforming industrial society into a knowledge society. The ticket to the future, according to Covey, is to find our unique voice and to assume leadership over ourselves. The successful managers of the future will be those who help their people find their unique voice and a way to express it at work.

The difficulty today is that most people in work life, regardless of position, are still in the mind set and thinking of the industrial society. Managers still often see people as things, rather than as unique individuals with a unique set of strengths – their voice. Too many people still experience work as an activity that diminishes them, a poor habit which we then bring home and apply to our children, says Covey.

Covey puts his finger on what we often write about in Strategies: listening within, being inner-directed, taking charge of our life and work and using the personnel talk as a way to develop work.

Creative regards! Jonas Himmelstrand

More info at www.stratletter.com/573.html


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