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The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness: Miniature Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen R. Covey
Publisher: Running Press Miniature Editions
Category: Book
List Price: $4.95
Buy New: $1.73
You Save: $3.22 (65%)
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Rating:  98 reviews
Sales Rank: 5806
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Min
Pages: 112
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 3.2 x 2.8 x 0.6
ISBN: 0762428538
Dewey Decimal Number: 158
EAN: 9780762428533
ASIN: 0762428538
Publication Date: May 29, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
From Stephen R. Covey, the author of the 15 million copy bestseller 7 Habits of Highly Effective People--named one of the 25 most influential Americans by Time magazine--comes The 8th Habit, a book that holds powerful insights that challenge us to find our voice and inspire others to find theirs. This mini edition is culled from the original The 8th Habit, which has already sold nearly 200,000 copies since its November 2004 release. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People guided individuals to effectively improve their lives and organizations. The 8th Habit takes it a step further, and inspires us to thrive, innovate, and lead in order to move beyond effectiveness and into greatness.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 93 more reviews...
 Still inspirational, slightly disappointing and somewhat too long December 26, 2008
Bas Vodde (Singapore)
8th Habit is another book in the Stephen Covey 7 Habits series. It extends the 7 habits with the 8th one which is called "Finding your voice and helping others to find theirs". Its an important habit, though I didn't think the book was a very good read.
The book is split in three parts. The first part is an introduction part which is some chapters about how many people are currently lost in their job and their lives. It continues to talk about the change from the industrial age to the knowledge worker age and how everyone needs to be deeply involved in their work. I thought the first couple of chapters were great and looked forward to the rest of the book.
The next part is "finding your voice" which isn't very large and largely repeats Coveys earlier work. If you have read the previous books in this series, like me, then you'll probably gradually fall asleep! It is not that the things he talks about are unimportant or that he doesn't use the Covey inspirational way of writing, its just that it takes too long and has too much repetition.
The third part, by far the largest part of the book, talks about helping others to find it. Covey uses four "roles" to structure his work. They are "modeling", "pathfinding", "aligning" and "empowering". Modeling and pathfinding are part of what he calls "focus". Modeling refers to being a model for others. Pathfinding relates to creating a common vision for which people are passionate.
The third and fourth role are what he calls "execution". The first one is aligning which relates to aligning the system and goals. The last is empowering, which I guess is clear what it means. Most of the things Covey discusses are quite standard in leadership and organizational literature. I don't think, in this case, he contributed very much, instead he tried to link everything together and squeeze it in his model of the world. Sometimes the linking of things seemed fairly arbitrary to me, which made me somewhat uncomfortable.
All in all, I think the 8th habit was a huge disappointment. His earlier work is concrete and inspirational. However, 8th habit is more abstract, still inspirational and ... too long. It probably should have been a new chapter to the 8th habits instead!
I wouldn't really recommend picking up the 8th habit. It's probably better to look at Coveys older work (7 habits). After reading these, this one is not worth reading. It is not a bad book either thus 3 stars.
 Takes the 7 Habits to the Organizational Level November 28, 2008
Knud A. Hermansen
The book is a good companion to the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The 7 Habits looks into becoming an effective person, while the 8th Habit explores becoming an effective leader. What the 7 Habits is to personal organization and excellence, the 8th Habit is to leadership and organizational excellence. It is the same principles applied to your company or organization.
Like the 7 Habit, the 8th Habit builds from the inside out. Covey looks at how you must first master your own leadership or "find your voice" and build outward to your organization ("help others find their voice"). The book itself is build around the concept of "the whole person" and I think he makes a convincing case for why this is a good way to approach people and lead your organization. His focus on conscience and the need to serve a higher cause is inspiring and, I think, well stated.
My only complaint about this book is that you will recognize many of the examples from the 7 Habits and this can feel a bit repetitive at times. The book includes a companion DVD, but I did not watch it due to the fact that this was a friend's book.
It's A Classic For A Reason November 23, 2008
The Middleman (Iraq (Deployed))
This book was gifted to me at Christmas by an employer years ago when it was "The Seven Habits". Covey is a classic. This book will change your life. I promise you. Is you follow it - the positive changes will begin immediately. You will begin to get way more done douring the course of your day and still have more time for family...etc...
There is a reason this book has been selling so well for so long. Don't be the only person at work that has not read it.
 Read Someting Else including Covey's The 7 Habits of... October 24, 2008
Alex Vayner (New York, NY)
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness: Miniature Edition
Covey generally writes well, and his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (which is a much better and more useful read) remains one of the better personal development books on the market today.
In short, this 8th Habit book...any strong synonym for "bad" will do. Only read it if you can buy it for less than $3, and will not spend more than 20 minutes on it.
With the 8th Habit he capitalized on the success of his previous books to generate more cash. He does try to make this book as useful to a reader as possible, albeit with little success. The book is more tedious than his previous ones. Covey reiterates the same points (I almost feel like he copy and pastes paragraphs) and fills space with many inspirational stories and quotes which, and one can disagree, should be really limited to specific examples and supporting points in order to be effective.
In this text, yet again, he goes over different types of intelligence. If you never did particularly well academically, you can think that you are "intelligent in other ways." He spends a good chunk of the book persuading you that great leaders develop their physical, emotional and spiritual intelligence into higher sense of right and wrong (among other things). Creative genius perhaps? Just one look at the creative accounting by senior executives at Lehman and AIG suggests they really found a creative outlet for their physical and emotional intelligence :) Sorry, Covey explained away all modern-day corrupt leadership with Hitler and "mad ego" example.
The voice and the speed of trust was a good section, and probably a useful one for most people. Is it worth reading the entire book though..? I think there are far better texts(including his own 7 Habits), that are less theoretical/philosophical, and are packed with real-life concrete ideas that can be put into action today. Brian Tracy tends to be good with that and his books/programs on Maximum Achievement and How to Master Your Time are worth a look as a substitute to the 8th Habit.
 Extremely Disappointed May 12, 2008
Z. Jaff (Berkshire,UK)
I am only rating this book 1 because there is no zero rating.
I have read and enjoyed the 7 habits and First Things First; however this book one ways or another is repeat of same concepts and materials in the 7 Habits book.
Way too long, badly written and too many irrelevant details. In brief I think it's a new many making attempt by S. Covey.
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