Stephen Covey

[David CO]

Does anyone know if author Stephen Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) was a boy scout?

[CalicoPenn]

Unfortunately, given who he was and how carefully he crafted his biographical information for public consumption, I don't think we'll ever have a definitive answer but my guess would be no.  I think he would have mentioned in his biography that he earned the Eagle Scout rank, and the BSA would surely have mentioned that he was an Eagle Scout as part of their marketing of Wood Badge since they mentioned Covey's name in that marketing.  

 

[Saltface]

He's LDS and would have been a Boy Scout in the 1940s. (The Church adopted Boy Scouts as its official program for young men in 1928.) Whether he earned his Eagle or not, I dunno.

[David CO]

16 hours ago, Saltface said:

He's LDS and would have been a Boy Scout in the 1940s. (The Church adopted Boy Scouts as its official program for young men in 1928.)

That's what I was thinking. I know that he couldn't play sports because of a hip problem. It may have kept him from being active in scouting as well. I don't know. 

I have a meeting tomorrow with someone who wants to discuss applying aspects of Covey's "Seven Habits" to the curriculum. Some of the stuff sounds a lot like things we already teach in scouting. I was wondering if Covey was active as a boy scout.

If you talk about scouting values, nobody is interested. Put the same concepts in a self-help book, without any mention of scouting, and they will sell off the shelf. 

[walk in the woods]

31 minutes ago, David CO said:

If you talk about scouting values, nobody is interested. Put the same concepts in a self-help book, without any mention of scouting, and they will sell off the shelf. 

Mainly his later book, Principle Centered Leadership I think was the title, felt very scouty to me.

[David CO]

48 minutes ago, walk in the woods said:

Mainly his later book, Principle Centered Leadership I think was the title, felt very scouty to me.

I've never read any of his books. Just the synopsis. Are they any good?

[walk in the woods]

6 minutes ago, David CO said:

I've never read any of his books. Just the synopsis. Are they any good?

My employer in the mid to late 90s used the 7 Habits stuff, that's also when I ran into Principle Centered Leadership.

It's hard for me to say if they are any good.  I was young when I read them so I knew much more then than I do now.  I took away some things from his books that I still try to use today.

[The Latin Scot]

Covey's books are widely regarded as some of the best "self-help" literature in the market, and they continue to be something of a gold standard for the genre to this day. They are worth reading, though it is absolutely true that much of what he teaches comes from basic LDS beliefs on work and leadership. He has been a featured speaker at multiple BSA National Leadership Conferences,  so he knows the program well, whether or not he himself is an Eagle Scout.