I was a little hesitant to pick up this book, being as that it is classified under self-help/motivational, but I figured that it wouldn't hurt to have a bit of management philosophy reinforcement under my belt. It's funny to think of high power corporate execs reading this book and taking notes about how to be deeper people. But there is indeed quite a bit of food for thought contained in this book, and it is well worth perusing, even if much of its framing must be taken with a grain of salt. Yes, the author seems to be firmly grounded in the 1950s, even as he communicates deeply spiritual and emotional insights. As an example, he feels the need to refer to dealing with other people's feelings as making deposits into their "Emotional Bank Accounts".

I also had to force myself to gloss over overtly Christian propagandizing sections in the book, as well as ignore instigations by the author to write a personal mission statement or a family mission statement (useful exercises, perhaps, but c'mon). I also had to ignore the frequent dated references in the book to the superiority of the Japanese business ethic.

Basically, the author does a great job of stating some deep thoughts about how to be more self-disciplined, principle centered, and motivated to develop, and he does it in an as structured and formal manner as possible to make it palatable to results-oriented businessmen. For those of us who have already spent a good deal of their lives looking within themselves for guidance, it is at the very least a good reminder of where our priorities should lay.

I found the book useful personally in that rather than strengthening my resolve to be a mindless cog in the machine of my employer, it actually strengthened my resolve to pay more attention to my own personal values and what gives me joy outside of work, and to begin to seek to transition into a new field of work where I can gain more time to devote to those areas.

There are plenty of "aha!" moments, in addition to a few "ugh" moments. As I said, take it with a grain of salt, and soak up the wisdom that there is to be conveyed by Mr. Covey.