Sean Covey is President of FranklinCovey Education. Sean has led the development of most of FranklinCovey’s organizational offerings, including Focus, Leadership, The 4 Disciplines of Execution, The Leader in Me, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Sean oversees all of Franklin Covey’s International partnerships, which cover more than 140 countries. He is a New York Times best-selling author and has written several books, including The 6 Most Important Decisions You’ll Ever Make, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which has been translated into 20 languages and sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Sean’s dad is Stephen R. Covey, the author of one of the most sold books of all time (more than 30 million copies), The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

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  • Sean played Quarterback at BYU — Led the team to two bowl games and twice selected as ESPN’s Most Valuable Player of the Game.
    • What he learned from his time as a QB:
      • How to prepare
      • How to “do hard things” – “Your zone of comfort expands because the hard things aren’t as hard anymore.”
      • Importance of a system – Rigorous practice, filming of the practice, reviewing of the work. Daily.
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People came out in 1989… It had a tepid release and then exploded. It changed the lives of the Covey family. Sean said his dad Stephen (the author of The 7 Habits) was “very genuine… A better husband and dad than a writer. H was very congruent. He had the power of principles. There was no hypocrisy.”
  • How do you handle yourself when talking to a person who has a powerful position?
    • “Treat the garbage collector and the CEO with an equal amount of respect.”
  • 4 Disciplines of Execution:
    • Focusing On The Wildly Important Goals (WIG) – Exceptional execution starts with narrowing the focus— clearly identifying what must be done, or nothing else you achieve really matters much.  — Example: JFK has one of the best examples ever: “Send a man to the moon and return him home safely by the end of the decade.” It was one goal. There was a starting line and a finish line.
    • Act on Lead Measures – Golden rule of execution: Identify lead measures. Twenty percent of activities produce eighty percent of results. The highest predictors of goal achievement are the 80/20 activities that are identified and codified into individual actions and tracked fanatically. Lag Measures are the end goal.
    • Keep A Compelling Scoreboard –People and teams play differently when they are keeping score, and the right kind of scoreboards motivate the players to win.
    • Create A Cadence of Accountability –Each team engages in a simple weekly process that highlights successes, analyzes failures, and course-corrects as necessary, creating the ultimate performance-management system.
  • Goal setting – There are two kinds of strategies:
    • Deliberate strategies
    • Emergent strategies – “Be ready for waves that might hit you… And knock you in a better position.”
  • With goal setting, remember the phrase “No Involvement, No Commitment.” Involve your team to set their own goals. Don’t set the goals for them.
  • Advice to parents with teenagers:
    • Have a purpose as a family
      • Set values
      • Write a mission statement
    • Have 1:1 time with kids
  • Career/Life advice:
    • Have a plan… But be flexible
    • Live according to your principles, values, and mission statement
    • Create a credo of your own
  • Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle

Resources:

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