Friday, September 29, 2006

Armchair analysis - childhood stories instead of real analysis

Too bad this isn't longer, this article snippet doesn't give the author any time to defend his truncated analysis. If he had really studied Covey's 7 habits, he would have found that most of what he has summated is nothing more than pithy "attitude" phrases, while Covey is more interested in the philosophy that runs behind self-improvement books.

Undoubtedly, there are management "guru's" and "consultants" who are simply out to get a big fee from "feel good" techniques. However, this author hasn't done his homework, or he wouldn't include Covey with fictional dwarves - but then he is intending to raise controversy to forward his book sales.

Check out my Go Thunk Yourself(TM) series, the first book, in order to see real analysis of the seven all-time bestsellers of self-help.

In Search Of Dwarfs: "Ask great execs to rank their favorite management books, and chances are three will appear near the top of their lists: In Search of Excellence, Built to Last, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. These tomes reside within the realm of undisputed classics -- business wisdom that is not about cheese yet somehow manages to move.

So it is with genuine pride that the Consultant Debunking Unit returns, after some court-ordered bed rest, to report that these books -- all written, incidentally, by consultants -- are actually the same book. Although their authors labored separately, poring over masses of data, they all arrived at pretty much the same seven 'insights.'

But these seven ideas weren't even original to begin with. One has to go back to the origins of learning, to the earliest moments of childhood, to reveal the true authors of seven-based business theory. We refer to Snow White's sidekicks, those rascally Seven Dwarfs.

What does Dopey have to do with excellence? Not much, of course. The Dwarfs are a cautionary tale -- examples of what not to do. They demonstrate the seven habits of highly ineffective people."

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