How to achieving greatness in a turbulent world
How to achieving greatness in a turbulent world
Jakob Oetama, Jakarta
Dr. Stephen R. Covey has established his public persona as a
leadership guru, a family expert, teacher, author and
organizational consultant. This article welcomes to him a
national seminar to be held at the Jakarta Convention Center on
Wednesday.
The world has come to know Covey through his international
bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Many people
see Covey as a living manifestation of the seven habits. Millions
of people around the world, both personally and professionally,
have learned to become more effective people by incorporating
these habits into their lives.
The seven habits are:
1. Be Proactive. Don't wait or be reactive -- take the
initiative.
2. Begin with the End in Mind. Don't be distracted by small
matters and forget the big picture.
3. Put First Things First. Don't be reactive and always be
acting to "put out fires". Define your plans, prioritize
important things and give them your time and energy. Covey also
wrote a book First Things First.
4. Think Win-Win. To maintain long-term cooperation and
success, all forms of relations should be based on the principle
of mutual benefit.
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. The gist
is to listen with empathy in order to leave subjectivity and act
objectively. In communication, it means identifying, being
critical of and discarding one's personal prejudices.
6. Synergize. Instead of being antagonistic, relations should
be cooperative in nature, as a team, where one plus one can equal
four, 10, or 100.
7. Sharpen the Saw. To learn continuously, make time to read
and reflect, be open to all kinds of new developments.
The world keeps changing, and all sorts of new challenges
continue to emerge. Being effective is increasingly considered a
basic requirement for modern life. However, it turns out that
being effective alone is not enough. Humans have a greater
calling. And to achieve this, Covey has published his newest
book, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. He urges us
to start paying attention to the needs of the people around us,
to go beyond effectiveness and achieve greatness.
The key words in answering these new challenges are: To find
and work out our calling, then to inspire others to find and work
out theirs. Or, in Covey's words, to find our "Voice" and inspire
others to find theirs.
Based on his premise that we have the freedom to choose, Covey
asserts that leadership is a choice. Whether holding a structural
position or not, we can choose to be a leader, by utilizing our
competence to choose matters and manners that are in accord with
universal principles.
To that end, the call to "inspire others to find their voice"
can be accomplished by performing the four roles of leadership.
The first role is "Modeling". Anyone who has successfully
internalized the seven habits of highly effective people can be a
great role model.
The second role is "Pathfinding", in the sense of creating a
vision that directs the course of one's life. It begins with an
individual but spreads to helping others find their callings.
The third role is "Aligning" and this role is vital in an
organizational context. Coordination is needed to harmonize
organizational systems and structures with the vision. This role
can be actualized starting from oneself either in a formal or
informal environment, since it not only applies in the
professional context but also in families and communities.
The fourth role is "Empowering", that is assisting others to
achieve their potential.
In the context of Indonesia with its present turbulence, these
four roles of leadership are highly relevant. At the state
management level, we have a national leader who has been directly
voted in by the people. Bapak President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
has powerful charisma and legitimacy. But there is a pragmatic
dilemma as well: How to fill the formal leadership structure with
conscientious professionals who can assert their integrity and
embody the four roles -- Modeling, Pathfinding, Aligning,
Empowering -- effective.
In managing organizations as well as states, charisma needs
structures and systems that can translate visions. A charismatic
leader usually can, with ease, mobilize visions, but he or she
needs structures and systems to harmonize affairs at the
implementation level.
Continuing on matters of the state, an important role can also
be taken by a business world that is more committed to social
corporate responsibility.
Its basic value is a philosophy that has been taught by every
great religion and tradition -- that is, by its nature, private
property has a social dimension.
On a smaller scale, the four roles start from our own "circle
of influence". In a nutshell, this is done by actualizing our
calling and inspiring others to achieve theirs.
We all have the resources for that. Covey states the various
gifts given to us at birth. They are:
o Freedom to Choose
o Universal Natural Laws or Principles
o Four Intelligences: Physical/PQ, Mental/IQ, Emotional/EQ,
Spiritual/SQ
Our effectiveness, success and greatness depend on the
utilization of these inborn gifts. In the process, if we
subjugate the first three intelligences to the last one, which is
often called "conscience", we will live meaningfully and in
greatness.
In these turbulent times, Covey gives us the great hope that
we can stand tall and strong amid all kinds of environmental
influences. He tells us not to be carried away by the existing
negatives. With his ideas, we can rise as a great nation if we go
deep inside ourselves and utilize the potential we have had since
birth.
The writer is the chairman of Kompas-Gramedia Group.