420: Sean Covey - Disciplined Execution, 7 Habits, & Decision Making Tools

Sean Covey is President of FranklinCovey Education. He is a New York Times best-selling author and has written several books, including The 6 Most Important Decisions You’ll Ever Make, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which has been translated into 20 languages and sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Sean's dad is Stephen R. Covey, the author of one of the most sold books of all time (more than 30 million copies), The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Notes:

Sean played Quarterback at BYU -- Led the team to two bowl games and twice selected as ESPN’s Most Valuable Player of the Game.
- What he learned from his time as a QB:
  - How to prepare
  - How to "do hard things" - "Your zone of comfort expands because the hard things aren't as hard anymore."
  - Importance of a system - Rigorous practice, filming of the practice, reviewing of the work. Daily.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People came out in 1989... It had a tepid release and then exploded. It changed the lives of the Covey family. Sean said his dad Stephen (the author of The 7 Habits) was "very genuine... A better husband and dad than a writer. H was very congruent. He had the power of principles. There was no hypocrisy."
How do you handle yourself when talking to a person who has a powerful position?
- "Treat the garbage collector and the CEO with an equal amount of respect."
4 Disciplines of Execution:
- Focusing On The Wildly Important Goals (WIG) - Exceptional execution starts with narrowing the focus— clearly identifying what must be done, or nothing else you achieve really matters much. -- Example: JFK has one of the best examples ever: "Send a man to the moon and return him home safely by the end of the decade." It was one goal. There was a starting line and a finish line.
- Act on Lead Measures – Golden rule of execution: Identify lead measures. Twenty percent of activities produce eighty percent of results. The highest predictors of goal achievement are the 80/20 activities that are identified and codified into individual actions and tracked fanatically. Lag Measures are the end goal.
- Keep A Compelling Scoreboard -People and teams play differently when they are keeping score, and the right kind of scoreboards motivate the players to win.
- Create A Cadence of Accountability -Each team engages in a simple weekly process that highlights successes, analyzes failures, and course-corrects as necessary, creating the ultimate performance-management system.
Goal setting - There are two kinds of strategies:
- Deliberate strategies
- Emergent strategies - "Be ready for waves that might hit you... And knock you in a better position."
With goal setting, remember the phrase "No Involvement, No Commitment." Involve your team to set their own goals. Don't set the goals for them.
Advice to parents with teenagers:
- Have a purpose as a family
  - Set values
  - Write a mission statement
- Have 1:1 time with kids
Career/Life advice:
- Have a plan... But be flexible
- Live according to your principles, values, and mission statement
- Create a credo of your own