COVEY INTERVIEW IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE AUTHOR RESPONDS TO SKEPTICISM.(Lifestyle)

The Capital Times September 29, 2000 Stephen Covey, his secretary warns me, is very much in demand.

“Even his lunch hours are booked this week,” she tells me from the headquarters of Covey’s multimillion-dollar empire in Salt Lake City.

So I am extremely grateful — and, yes, surprised — when the famous author of the best-selling book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” calls me just a few hours later from his limo while en route to the airport in Portland, Maine.

I am not, it should be noted, a Covey disciple.

To the contrary, I’ve always been skeptical of self-help gurus who claim to have all the answers and who suggest that anyone who buys their book or video and follows a few simple steps will be rewarded with eternal bliss.

I’m particularly skeptical when such gurus charge exorbitant fees for their appearances — such as the $389 per person fee that Covey is charging for his daylong program in Middleton on Oct. 3.

Besides, how much of this sacred wisdom do people actually retain anyway?

For instance, a good friend of mine who once ran a small business in Madison read “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” shortly after it came out in 1989 and couldn’t put it down.

I asked him last week what he could remember about it.

“Not much,” he confessed. “Like most self-help writers, (Covey) jammed two or three pages of really good stuff into a 400-page book.” Actually, there’s much to admire about the book, which I recently read at the urging of a colleague. Yes, it’s filled with a lot of annoying buzz words and catch phrases (“Think win-win,” he advises again and again). And yes, a lot of his ideas are recycled or mere common sense — or both.

But how can you knock a guy who borrows from the philosophies of Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson? Or who argues that honesty, integrity and humility are among the keys to lasting success in any business or relationship? Or who maintains that “in the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.” Still, I was left wondering: Does Covey actually practice what he preaches? For example, he decries our obsession with expensive material possessions and says that, ultimately, they leave people feeling empty. in our site 7 habits of highly effective people

But doesn’t Stephen Covey, like most celebrities, live in a big, fancy home? And hasn’t he surrounded himself with the usual trappings of wealth?

“That’s right,” he acknowledges from his limo. But there’s a difference, he quickly adds.

His home in Provo, Utah, with its swimming pool, basketball court and other amenities, is more like a “community center” for his nine kids and 34 grandchildren, he says. web site 7 habits of highly effective people

“These things that I have . . . are essentially to build a firm and unified family culture,” says the 67-year-old devout Mormon. “I look at possessions as stewardships. And if you use them to share and to contribute, they are blessings. If you use them to consume and to pleasure yourself, they are curses.” OK, but what about Covey’s point that unless you learn to strictly manage your time, you risk destroying the most important thing in life — your personal relationships?

No offense, I tell him, but how can a guy who works 60 to 70 hours a week — as Covey claims he does — possibly have enough time for his wife, his nine kids and his 34 grandkids?

Because he does long-term planning, Covey says, and because he always puts his family first.

“If you were to see my whole year’s schedule, you’d find that I probably spend more time one-on-one with each of those nine children and those 34 grandkids than most parents do who have two or three kids,” he maintains. “Because I have private dates with each child and each grandchild.” Dates?

“That’s right,” he says. “And sometimes they ask their wives or husbands to be involved. It’s a matter of what’s important to a person.” Which brings us back to the time factor.

As impressive as much of his advice is, how many people who read his book actually sit down and draw up their own blueprint for success — and then stick with it? Most people, I’d guess, aren’t that disciplined.

Covey sighs and says it’s true that many Americans are stretched too thin these days.

“But I would also say this,” he says. “The average father spends two hours a day watching television and yet claims he’s too busy to have time with his family.

“So I honestly believe that time problems are more of a cop-out and an excuse from the inability to subordinate a lot of personal pleasures and urgent pangs of habit that are not important in their lives.” Well, maybe. I then suggest that there’s another key ingredient to success — whether in business or relationships or anything else. Luck.

Nobody wants to admit this, I tell him. But from my experience, luck is every bit as important as hard work and organization.

Covey says he doesn’t necessarily disagree.

“Luck, I think, is where preparation meets opportunity,” he says, not missing a beat.

“If you’ve done a lot of preparation and your eyes are open . . . lucky things will come your way.”