It’s 2020 & I’m a Feminist: Do The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Hold Up?
At the beginning of this year, even before COVD-19 threw everything into chaos, I sensed myself getting a bit, well, lazy with regards to my management approach at work. My team was doing great and had really come into their own. I had received no feedback that my performance was lacking in any way, but still, I could feel that I was a little off.
I decided to take some time to read a selection of career and self-improvement/self-help books. I did some research, and came up with a list of books to read. I hope to chronicle my thoughts on all the career books on the blog eventually; first up for review here is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey, first published in 1989.
Interestingly, I had read the teen version of this book when I was in elementary school. It was required reading, my teachers had us read it all together, taking turns reading paragraphs aloud. Honestly, it changed my life—this book came to me at the right time and right place. Looking back now as an adult, I am especially impressed that my teachers at the time (THANK YOU, Mr. M and Mrs. D!) made us read this given our context. My elementary school was public (for non-Canadian readers, our public schools are still very strong, it is not like the disparity between public and private schools in the U.S.), rural, and located in a pretty darn conservative school system. There were only a hundred students in my school, and the vast majority (I’m talking, like 85%) of students at the time were white.
Given the significance of the teen version of the book on my life, I thought I best take the plunge and read the regular version—despite the book being thirty years old now, it is still on many, many recommended reading lists for career and self-help.
For my former colleagues who might be reading this - I cringe a little now knowing I recommended this book to so many of you in performance reviews, etc. I would still recommend this book for self-improvement and/or career development, but it comes with a few major grains of salt, listed below.
Very few of the quotes explored and studies referred to in the book are by women
This book is about habits individuals can adopt and continuously strive for to be better, more effective people, not experts. Indeed, Covey recognizes over and over again throughout the book that this is not an easy task, nor does he claim to have attained perfection in any of the seven habits he outlines.
While his own humbleness is refreshing (i.e. he is not an expert in the habits he is extolling) it would be nice if at least one of the major inspirational quotes he explores or studies he refers to was said or run by women. After all, in using these quotes and studies, he implies a degree of admirable competency achieved by the individual (i.e. ‘this person gets it’).
By excluding quotes or studies by women, there are no examples for us who might identify with that experience — we just have to follow the examples and brilliance of these men.
The anecdotes are mostly about and among men
I appreciate that Covey was writing where he came from, anything else might have been uncomfortably close to appropriation.
That being said, I personally found it hard to find a place wherein I could visualize myself enacting the habits— he does a lot of Father and Son anecdotes, and details experiences talking to managers, business people, executives, politicians, business owners, investors, etc —all of whom used He/Him pronouns.
Most of the anecdotes are regarding ‘Big Business’ and post-secondary educational spaces
Personally, I’m from communities that value small and/or family-run businesses, and local initiatives. I’m also conscientious that at least in Canada, where I write from, post-secondary education is still a privilege, not a right.
There is no denying that all of the Habits can be handily and effectively applied to small business and any form of educational experience—as mentioned above, I was first exposed to Covey’s philosophies in (a public, rural, Canadian) elementary school. Just the same, I’m a little leery about privileging the experiences and stories of those we already hear so much from.
The prevalence of Christian belief and theology might be off-putting to non-Christian readers
Covey states up front, very early on in the book that he is a Christian and many of his religious beliefs inform the work laid out in the book. You can’t avoid it; references to Christianity specifically are very prevalent in the book.
The general practice nowadays in self-help books very often say something like “God or whatever spiritual beings/beliefs (if any) you connect to” —Covey makes absolutely no attempt to do this. It’s a little old-fashioned at best, at worst, my gut feeling on this is that those who don’t identify with Christianity or religion in general might find this alienating and not relatable. If this sets off your alarm bells but you are interested in the book, I would recommend reading a couple chapters online or renting this from the library before investing in a personal copy of the book so you can get a sense of what I’m talking about.
As if it weren’t obvious by this point, there is absolutely no consideration for the dynamics of privilege and oppression in this book
This book is by, refers to, and seems to be mostly targeted at white, cis, straight men. There are many references to family in this book, but only in the 'mom, dad, and kids' sense. I don’t think there is any mention of LGBTQ2S families, individuals, single-parent families, etc.
I am unsure of how many POCs are mentioned in the book. While I’m familiar with many of the people he quotes, I would have to look up all of them to confirm if they are white. Similarly, Covey of course does not specify the race of the person whom he is referring to in his anecdotes.
Covey says anyone can read this book and work at integrating these habits into their lives. He is upfront that this is not an easy task by any means for anyone, including himself. I would agree with both of these items to a degree. That being said, as someone who has studied and tried to practice intersectional feminism for their entire adult life, I am skeptical to recommend this book and methodology as supremely accessible. I am enthusiastic, and I am wary. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words come to mind here:
The last point I want to make is specifically for my friends reading this who identify as a women: read Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu before you read 7 Habits.
Having read both, I strongly feel that much of what Dufu is saying in Drop the Ball is very, very similar to 7 Habits, but written in a way that is much more accessible for women and non-white people. Drop the Ball may not be as tidily presented in X amount of habits or practices (nor does it promise to be), but I personally feel the takeaways and key concepts resonate just as strongly.
I decided to take some time to read a selection of career and self-improvement/self-help books. I did some research, and came up with a list of books to read. I hope to chronicle my thoughts on all the career books on the blog eventually; first up for review here is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey, first published in 1989.
Interestingly, I had read the teen version of this book when I was in elementary school. It was required reading, my teachers had us read it all together, taking turns reading paragraphs aloud. Honestly, it changed my life—this book came to me at the right time and right place. Looking back now as an adult, I am especially impressed that my teachers at the time (THANK YOU, Mr. M and Mrs. D!) made us read this given our context. My elementary school was public (for non-Canadian readers, our public schools are still very strong, it is not like the disparity between public and private schools in the U.S.), rural, and located in a pretty darn conservative school system. There were only a hundred students in my school, and the vast majority (I’m talking, like 85%) of students at the time were white.
Given the significance of the teen version of the book on my life, I thought I best take the plunge and read the regular version—despite the book being thirty years old now, it is still on many, many recommended reading lists for career and self-help.
For my former colleagues who might be reading this - I cringe a little now knowing I recommended this book to so many of you in performance reviews, etc. I would still recommend this book for self-improvement and/or career development, but it comes with a few major grains of salt, listed below.
Very few of the quotes explored and studies referred to in the book are by women
This book is about habits individuals can adopt and continuously strive for to be better, more effective people, not experts. Indeed, Covey recognizes over and over again throughout the book that this is not an easy task, nor does he claim to have attained perfection in any of the seven habits he outlines.
While his own humbleness is refreshing (i.e. he is not an expert in the habits he is extolling) it would be nice if at least one of the major inspirational quotes he explores or studies he refers to was said or run by women. After all, in using these quotes and studies, he implies a degree of admirable competency achieved by the individual (i.e. ‘this person gets it’).
By excluding quotes or studies by women, there are no examples for us who might identify with that experience — we just have to follow the examples and brilliance of these men.
The anecdotes are mostly about and among men
I appreciate that Covey was writing where he came from, anything else might have been uncomfortably close to appropriation.
That being said, I personally found it hard to find a place wherein I could visualize myself enacting the habits— he does a lot of Father and Son anecdotes, and details experiences talking to managers, business people, executives, politicians, business owners, investors, etc —all of whom used He/Him pronouns.
Most of the anecdotes are regarding ‘Big Business’ and post-secondary educational spaces
Personally, I’m from communities that value small and/or family-run businesses, and local initiatives. I’m also conscientious that at least in Canada, where I write from, post-secondary education is still a privilege, not a right.
There is no denying that all of the Habits can be handily and effectively applied to small business and any form of educational experience—as mentioned above, I was first exposed to Covey’s philosophies in (a public, rural, Canadian) elementary school. Just the same, I’m a little leery about privileging the experiences and stories of those we already hear so much from.
The prevalence of Christian belief and theology might be off-putting to non-Christian readers
Covey states up front, very early on in the book that he is a Christian and many of his religious beliefs inform the work laid out in the book. You can’t avoid it; references to Christianity specifically are very prevalent in the book.
The general practice nowadays in self-help books very often say something like “God or whatever spiritual beings/beliefs (if any) you connect to” —Covey makes absolutely no attempt to do this. It’s a little old-fashioned at best, at worst, my gut feeling on this is that those who don’t identify with Christianity or religion in general might find this alienating and not relatable. If this sets off your alarm bells but you are interested in the book, I would recommend reading a couple chapters online or renting this from the library before investing in a personal copy of the book so you can get a sense of what I’m talking about.
As if it weren’t obvious by this point, there is absolutely no consideration for the dynamics of privilege and oppression in this book
This book is by, refers to, and seems to be mostly targeted at white, cis, straight men. There are many references to family in this book, but only in the 'mom, dad, and kids' sense. I don’t think there is any mention of LGBTQ2S families, individuals, single-parent families, etc.
I am unsure of how many POCs are mentioned in the book. While I’m familiar with many of the people he quotes, I would have to look up all of them to confirm if they are white. Similarly, Covey of course does not specify the race of the person whom he is referring to in his anecdotes.
Covey says anyone can read this book and work at integrating these habits into their lives. He is upfront that this is not an easy task by any means for anyone, including himself. I would agree with both of these items to a degree. That being said, as someone who has studied and tried to practice intersectional feminism for their entire adult life, I am skeptical to recommend this book and methodology as supremely accessible. I am enthusiastic, and I am wary. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words come to mind here:
And when white Americans tell the Negro to “lift himself by his own bootstraps”, they don’t oh, they don’t look over the legacy of slavery and segregation. I believe we ought to do all we can and seek to lift ourselves by our own boot straps, but it’s a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.And many Negroes by the thousands and millions have been left bootless as a result of all of these years of Oppression and as a result of a society that deliberately made his color a stigma and something worthless and degrading.
The last point I want to make is specifically for my friends reading this who identify as a women: read Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu before you read 7 Habits.
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| Tiffany Dufu! |
Having read both, I strongly feel that much of what Dufu is saying in Drop the Ball is very, very similar to 7 Habits, but written in a way that is much more accessible for women and non-white people. Drop the Ball may not be as tidily presented in X amount of habits or practices (nor does it promise to be), but I personally feel the takeaways and key concepts resonate just as strongly.
