1.

0 Introduction
In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered
approach for living a quality life. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step road-map for
living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and dignity -- principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and
power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

The first three habits are the habits of character and help to achieve the private victory that lead to independence. The next (in
conjunction with the first three) are the outward expressions of character and help achieve public victories. The seventh habit is
about self renewal and sustains the growth process.

Habit 1: Be proactive
It is the habit of being proactive or the habit of Personal Vision. Proactive people develop the ability to choose their responses,
making them more a product of their values and decisions than their moods and conditions. It talks about focusing on the
immediate circle of influence, not upon the larger circle of concern. It deals with keeping promises and not make excuses.

Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind

This habit is about having a clear direction and destination. Effective people realize that things are created mentally before they
are created physically. A personal mission statement guides them in making future decisions. They clarify values and set
priorities before selecting goals and going about the work. They are more focused on doing the right thing than doing things
right. They focus more on leadership than too much of management. They focus more on building quality right from the
beginning than inspecting it in to the product. In short this is habit of Personal Leadership.

Habit 3: Put First things first

This habit deals with organizing and managing time around personal priorities identified in habit 2. This habit talks about
focusing on ‘high leverage’ activities ( 80/20 rule). A very important tool that really helps is the Time Management Matrix
which talks about the activities classified under four quadrants based on their importance and urgency. The most effective
quadrant to be in is the 2nd (Important but not urgent). This is where exploring the opportunities, planning, crisis prevention
and relationship building are done. This in short is a habit of Personal Management.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

This habit is about the attitude of seeking mutual benefit. It is about a commitment to explore all the options until a mutually
satisfactory solution is reached, or make no deal at all. It begins with ‘abundance mentality’. Effective people model the win-
win approach in their relationships and agreements. This is a habit of Interpersonal Leadership.

Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood

This habit is about the empathy – seeking to understanding the point of view of the other person. Once people are understood
they lower their defenses. This addresses the credibility problems that arise most of the time from perception differences. It is
habit of communication – one of the master skills in life, the key to building win-win relationships, and the essence of
professionalism.

Habit 6: Synergize
Synergy is about the whole being greater than the sum of parts. Synergy results from valuing differences by bringing different
perspectives together in the spirit of mutual respect. People then feel free to see the best possible alternative, often a totally
different one from the proposed ones which could be better than the originals. For those who have a win-win abundance
mentality and exercise empathy, differences in any relationship can produce synergy. This is a habit of creative cooperation
and teamwork.

Habit 7: Sharpen the saw

This is about having a balanced systematic program for self renewal in the four areas of life – Physical, mental,
social/emotional and spiritual. It is the habit of the Self-renewal.

It is the law of the harvest – we reap what we sow. We will enjoy a successful harvest if we cultivate these seven habits of
effectiveness and live in accordance with the underlying principles.

3.0 How the book relates to Entrepreneurship

The most important resource in Entrepreneurship is the Entrepreneur herself/himself. It is the entrepreneur that sees an
opportunity, starts, manages and develops a business that creates a product/service to meet the requirements the opportunity.
In many cases the entrepreneur employs many people in the business. In short the entrepreneur is the glue that holds the whole
organization together. Hence the vision and values the entrepreneur stand for, trickle down the organization, affect the
organizational culture and determine how effective the organization is in the business environment. For example if the
entrepreneur reports to work late every day, soon every body in the organization start reporting to work late.

It all starts with having a direction to life. It enables the person envision what they want to achieve in life. This is where the
second habit helps. If a personal mission statement refers to doing something on own, it may develop an desire to start a
venture. Since the development of a venture is related to a value centric mission statement, there are good chances that the
desire to start a venture is not a split second decision and likely to endure.

A person with a burning desire to do some thing on own is bound look for opportunities. This is where the first habit helps. The
more the entrepreneur develop the habit of being proactive the better he/she can feed the opportunities. It helps the
entrepreneur assess whether, the opportunity is with his/her circle of influence. Such an entrepreneur will be able to assess the
rewards, costs, and risks associated with such an opportunity in her/his business plan. The personal mission statement (habit 2)
of the entrepreneur may eventually affect the mission statement of the business.

Once the entrepreneur starts the business, strategic objectives may have to be developed based on the environment in which the
business operates and tied to the organizational mission statement. Habits 1 and 2 are tied clearly to identifying the objectives.
Habit 3 is particularly very important as this clearly enable the entrepreneur to identify and focus on the 20% activities that
generate 80% of the results, such as identifying the key customers that provide majority of the revenue. This not only helps in
maintaining the business but focuses more on developing the business. It is about planning, preparation, crises prevention,
developing relationships with the customers, employees and suppliers and identifying the further opportunities.

The habits that are most effective in resource management are the habits 5, 6 and 7, which deal with the outward expression of
the entrepreneur character and focus more on interdependence. In the business environment no one is an island and each affect
the other in some way or other. The entrepreneur that show a win-win attitude, empathizes and creates a synergetic
environment will highly be trusted by the suppliers, employees and the customers. Such an attitude by the entrepreneur will
help in developing a good brand value for the organization.

Last but not the least, it is very important for the entrepreneur to ‘sharpen the saw’. It involves a balanced and systematic
program of self renewal. This keeps the entrepreneur always sharp and enthusiastic. A sharp and enthusiastic entrepreneur with
personal vision, Personal leadership, Personal Management, Interpersonal Leadership, ability to empathize and synergize can
be the best resource an organization ask for.

These seven habits are interdependent on one another, but some appear more pronounced than the others in certain stages of
the business/personal development.

These seven habits possessed by an effective entrepreneur may eventually translate in to habits of the organization (the entity).
In other words they may define the organizational culture. The organization operates with a vision and every one in the
organization knows what the vision is and focus their energies in accordingly. The organization get in to the habit of
continuously assessing business environment proactively and develops strategies accordingly. The organization sets the
priorities and try to ensure that most of the priorities are in quadrant 2. The organization develops a Win-Win, empathic and
synergetic attitude while working with its suppliers, employees and customers. Such an organization continues to retain such
habits even if the original entrepreneur is no longer associated with it (unless the new management put in new value system).

Hence the Seven habits of highly effective people perfectly fit in to the OREO frame work of the Entrepreneurship. They are
relevant not only to individual entrepreneur but also may eventually translate in to habits of the organization.

4.0 Take Away

The seven habits that deal with personal vision, Personal leadership, Personal Management, Interpersonal Leadership,
Communication, Creative cooperation and team work and self renewal will be highly effective in envisioning, starting,
maintaining and developing a venture. They perfectly fit in to the OREO framework of the Entrepreneurship.

The entrepreneur with an effective leadership may eventually translate his seven habits in to the organizational habits which
become part of the organizational culture.

5.0 Reference
1. Stephen R. Covey, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”
2. Marc. J. Dollinger, “Entrepreneurship Strategies and Resources”
3. Internet