Strategy is important, but trust is the hidden variable. On paper you can have clarity around your objectives, but in a low-trust environment, your strategy won't be executed. Stephen Covey More Quotes by Stephen Covey More Quotes From Stephen Covey To be successful we must live from our imaginations, not from our memories. Stephen Covey creativity successful memories Seek to understand rather than be understood. Stephen Covey empathy understood Someone once inquired of a Far Eastern Zen master, who had a great serenity and peace about him no matter what pressures he faced, "How do you maintain that serenity and peace?" He replied, "I never leave my place of meditation." He meditated early in the morning and for the rest of the day, he carried the peace of those moments with him in his mind and heart. Stephen Covey meditation heart morning Management is formal authority given from above. Leadership is moral authority given from below and all around. Stephen Covey moral authority management As long as you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem Stephen Covey positive-thinking motivational inspirational We see the world, not as it is, but as we are -- or, as we are conditioned to see it. When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms. Stephen Covey perspective perception world As we make and keep commitments, even small commitments, we begin to establish an inner integrity that gives us the awareness of self-control and the courage and strength to accept more of the responsibility for our own lives. By making and keeping promises to ourselves and others, little by little, our honor becomes greater than our moods. Stephen Covey responsibility integrity commitment Intrinsic security doesn't come from what other people think of us or how they treat us. It doesn't come from our circumstance or out position. It comes from within. It comes from accurate paradigms and correct principles deep in our own mind and heart. It comes from inside-out congruence, from living a life of integrity in which our daily habits reflect our deepest values. Stephen Covey heart integrity thinking Private victories precede public victories. You can't invert that process any more than you can harvest a crop before you plant it. Stephen Covey privacy conservative victory Nothing is more exciting and bonding in relationships than creating together. Stephen Covey creating creativity together All things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things Stephen Covey vision imagination goal We are limited but we can push back the borders of our limitations Stephen Covey track borders motivational My behavior is a product of my own conscious choices based on principles, rather than a product of my conditions, based on feelings. Stephen Covey choices change motivational Independent will is our capacity to act. It gives us the power to transcend our paradigms, to swim upstream, to rewrite our scripts, to act based on principle rather than reacting based on emotion or circumstance. Stephen Covey independent freedom giving An empowering mission statement has to become a living document, part of our very nature, so that the criteria we've put into it are also in us, in the way we live our lives day by day. Stephen Covey empowering purpose way Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success. Stephen Covey effort teamwork people Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. Stephen Covey insperational leadership life In effective personal leadership, visualization and affirmation techniques emerge naturally out of a foundation of well thought through purposes and principles that become the center of a person's life. Stephen Covey foundation technique life People can't live with change if there's not a changeless core inside them. Stephen Covey 7-habits core people Private victories precede public victories. Stephen Covey keeping-promises victory success
