Stephen Covey

Stephen Richards Covey (October 24, 1932 – July 16, 2012) was an American educator, author, businessman, and speaker. His most popular book is of Highly Effective People. His other books include First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, , and The Leader In Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time. In 1996, Time magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people. He was a professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University (USU) at the time of his death. Early life and education Covey was born to Stephen Glenn Covey and Irene Louise Richards Covey in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 24, 1932. Louise was the daughter of Stephen L Richards, an apostle and counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to David O. McKay. Covey was the grandson of Stephen Mack Covey who founded the original Little America Wyoming near Granger, Wyoming. He was athletic as a youth but suffered from a slipped capital femoral epiphysis in junior high school, requiring him to change his focus to academics and a member of the debate team and graduated from high school early. Covey earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Utah, an MBA from the Harvard Business School (HBS), and a Doctor of Religious Education from Brigham Young University (BYU). He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He was awarded ten honorary doctorates. Philosophical background Covey was heavily influenced by Peter Drucker and Carl Rogers. Another key influence on his thinking was his study of American self-help books that he did for his doctoral dissertation. A further influence on Covey was his affiliation with the LDS Church. According to Clayton Christensen, The Seven Habits was a secular distillation of Latter-day Saint values.