柯維的“高效能”人生

英國金融時報
露西•凱韋

斯蒂芬•柯維(Stephen Covey)在他的《高效能人士的七個習慣》(The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)一書中描述了自己最喜歡的一種把戲：想象自己的葬禮。他會想到鮮花、親人的面龐和悼詞，這是為了幫助養成他的第二個習慣：以終為始。

對於在今年7月16日辭世、享年79歲的柯維而言，這個葬禮場景變成了現實。這場葬禮大概會讓他感到滿意。

同行的管理大師們紛紛發表了悼詞。湯姆•彼得斯(Tom Peters)把他比作納爾遜•曼德拉(Nelson Mandela)。同為摩門教徒的克萊頓•克裡斯坦森(Clayton Christensen)表示，柯維改變了他的人生。他講起了柯維的一件事，當時還在哈佛商學院(Harvard Business School)攻讀的柯維沒有去酒吧，而是拿著一個肥皂箱去了波士頓公園(Boston Common)，他爬上這個肥皂箱，就耶穌基督的生平發表了一席非常精彩的佈道演說。

我自己關於柯維的故事發生在幾十年之後，當時這個人仍在“佈道”，但這一次是站在倫敦Grosvenor House酒店的講臺上，面對著數百名西裝革履的男士發表演講。所有人都畢恭畢敬的在頭上系了一塊白色餐巾，裝成一副酋長的樣子，學習關於信任的道理。
觀摩柯維的演講也改變了我的生活，至少改變了我對英國管理者的懷疑主義的看法。我原本從不會認為，他那套關於真誠、傳道式的熱情和管理行話的組合會在英國行得通。我錯了。這些信徒對他的喜愛無以復加。

那是1995年；此後，他幾乎在全球各地都越來越受歡迎。《高效能人士的七個習慣》現在被譯成了32種語言，銷量超過2000萬冊，是有史以來最重要的管理書籍之一。

這本書比其他多數勵志圖書更經得起時間的考驗，原因是，其中心思想確實很棒。柯維指出，所有組織的成功都取決於個人的行為。這一思想現在已不足為奇，但在本書1989年發表時是一種新穎的說法。柯維提倡的是一種對性格的全面質量管理(total quality management)，這是《經濟學人》(The Economist)的評語。他摒棄軟弱的奇跡療法，更傾向於從推崇正直、勇敢和耐心的亞伯拉罕•林肯(Abraham Lincoln)和本傑明•富蘭克林(Benjamin Franklin)那裡獲得靈感。

遺憾的是，柯維沒有沿用他的前輩們那種散文式的風格，而是給英語語言留下了一個污點，讓“雙贏”、“積極主動”、“統合綜效”和“範式”等詞匯變得流行起來，唉，這些詞匯沒有顯示出與他們的傳播者同眠的跡象。

正如柯維在改變語言方面非常高效一樣，他也非常擅長於把思想變成金錢。他的管理培訓公司Franklin Covey的網站稱，該公司與《財富》(Fortune)500強中75%的企業建立了合作關系，業務遍及147個國家。它的箴言是：“我們能讓偉大成為可能”。

事實證明，《高效能人士的七個習慣》這種路數取得了巨大成功，於是柯維乘勝追擊，推出了全系列的類似圖書：《高效能家庭的七個習慣》(The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families)、《第八個習慣》（The 8th Habit），他的兒子肖恩•柯維(Sean Covey)用另外13本書涵蓋了其他所有讀者領域，包括面向青少年甚至幼童的《七個習慣》。

除了是眾多方面的高手之外，柯維還是一名極其高效的後代繁育者，他子女眾多（有9個孩子），很多都繼續為他工作。這9個孩子都在猶他州的大家庭中長大，在那裡，這個家庭的個人使命宣言都寫在了牆上。7月16日，他的9個孩子——還有他們的9個配偶——圍在他的靈床周圍；柯維的52個孫子孫女也在身邊。

但最重要的是，他是一位高效能的名句高手。最近他的信徒們在Twitter上熱烈討論著他說過的話。讀著這些話，我被那種奇怪的組合所觸動。一些言論頗讓人煩惱：“活在想象力中，而不是活在過去”。一些值得商榷、如果不是完全錯誤的話：“與不幸福一樣，幸福是一種積極主動的選擇。”一些則平淡無奇：“生活、愛、笑、留下遺產。”但還有一些充滿真正的智慧：“我們多數人在緊急的事情上花費了太多時間，在重要的事情上花費的時間卻不夠。”

有一句我非常喜歡，我希望自己曾經說過這樣的話：“最重要的事是把最重要的事當成最重要的事。”

The highly effective life of Stephen Covey

One of Stephen Covey’s favourite tricks, described in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, was to imagine his own funeral. He would think about the flowers, the faces of the bereaved and the eulogies in order to help instil his habit #2: Begin with the end in mind.

For Covey, who died this week aged 79, the funeral scene is about to be played out for real. The chances are that it will be to his liking.

Already, the eulogies are flowing in from rival management gurus: Tom Peters has likened him to Nelson Mandela while Clayton Christensen – a fellow Mormon – has said that Covey changed his life. He told a story about how Covey, when at Harvard Business School, shunned the bar-room and went instead to Boston Common with a soap box, which he climbed on to and gave a jolly good sermon about the life of Jesus Christ.

In my own Covey story, which took place many decades later, the man was still sermonising, but this time standing on stage at the Grosvenor House hotel in London addressing several hundred men in suits. Each of them had obediently tied a white napkin on their head and was pretending to be a sheikh in order to learn about trust.
Watching Covey perform changed my life too – or at least my belief in the scepticism of British managers. I would never have thought that his mix of sincerity, evangelical zeal and management jargon would work in the UK. I was wrong. Those disciples could not get enough of him.

That was in 1995; in the intervening years his popularity went on growing more or less everywhere. 7 Habits is now translated into 32 languages, has sold more than 20m copies and is one of the most important management books of all time.

The reason it has lasted so much better than most self-help books is that its central insight is really rather good. Covey pointed out that the success of all organisations depends on the behaviour of each individual, an idea that is now commonplace, but was novel when the book was published in 1989. What Covey was peddling was a kind of total quality management for the character – as The Economist called it. He eschewed softie miracle fixes, preferring to draw inspiration from Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin, who favoured integrity, courage and patience.

It is only a shame Covey did not stick to the prose style of his forebears. Instead, he has left a blemish on the English language by making popular such terms as “win-win”, “proactive” “synergise” and “paradigm” which, alas, show no sign of dying with their propagator.

Just as Covey was highly effective at changing language he was also pretty good at changing ideas into cash. The website of his management training company Franklin Covey says it works with 75 per cent of Fortune 500 companies and is active in 147 countries. Its motto: “We enable greatness”.

The 7 Habits formula has proved such a success that Covey went on milking it with a whole series of copycat books – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, The 8th Habit – as did his son, Sean Covey, who has covered the rest of the waterfront with 13 further titles including 7 Habits books for teens and even for toddlers.

As well as everything else, Covey was a highly effective breeder, who created children in vast quantity (he had nine) many of whom went on to work for him. All nine of his offspring grew up in a big Utah household where the family’s personal mission statement was written on the wall. And all nine – with nine spouses in tow – were gathered around his deathbed last Monday; Covey’s 52 grandchildren were also close at hand.

But what he was above all was a highly effective master of the soundbite. Twitter this week has been alive with his disciples repeating his words. Reading them, I am struck by what an odd mix they are. Some are annoying: “Live out of your imagination, not your history.” Some are debatable, if not downright wrong: “Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice.” Some are banal: “Live, love, laugh, leave a legacy.” But some possess real wisdom: “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”

And one I like so much I wish I had said it myself: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”