管理学大师柯维去世

Stephen R. Covey, Herald of Good Habits, Dies at 79

管理学大师柯维去世

Stephen R. Covey, who won a global following and a five-year run on best-seller lists by fusing the genres of self-help and business literature in his 1989 book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic,” died on Monday at a hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He was 79.

史蒂芬·R·柯维(Stephen R. Covey)已经赢得了遍及天下的追随者。自1989年开始，他那本把自助类图书和商业文学融为一体的《高效人士的七种习惯：性格伦理的回归》(The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic)在各大畅销书榜上呆了五年时间。周一(本文发表于7月16日——编注)，柯维先生逝世于美国爱达荷州爱达荷福尔斯的一家医院，享年79岁。

The cause was complications of a bicycle accident three months ago, his family said in a statement.

他的家人在一份声明中说，他死于三个月前一场自行车事故引起的并发症。

Mr. Covey’s book sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, and also became the first audiobook to sell more than a million copies. After conferring with Mr. Covey over Thanksgiving in 1994, President Bill Clinton said American productivity would greatly increase if people followed Mr. Covey’s advice. More than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies flocked to use a consulting company he had founded.

柯维先生的书在全球售出了2500万册，也是史上第一本销售量超过100万的有声书籍的作者。1994年感恩节，时任美国总统的比尔·克林顿与柯维先生进行了一次会谈，事后克林顿说，如果大家都听从柯维先生的建议，美国的生产率将会大幅度提高。超过三分之二的全球财富500强企业都在争相使用他所创办的咨询公司提供的服务。

Mr. Covey was a bit baffled by his success. He said he was simply telling people what he thought they already knew: the efficacy of good behavior. All that people had to do was form habits out of their best instincts, he said, calling his seven nuggets of knowledge natural laws, like gravity. They are:

柯维先生对自己的成功有点迷惑不解。他说，自己只是告诉人们一些他觉得大家都已经知道的东西：好习惯的益处。他说，人们所需要做的就是把最好的天性养成习惯，他把自己的7个想法称之为万有引力一般的自然法则。这七个想法是：

1. Be proactive

1，主动积极

2. Begin with the end in mind

2，以终为始

3. Put first things first

3，要事第一

4. Think “win-win.”

4，双赢思维

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood

5，知己知彼

6. Synergize

6，统合综效

7. Sharpen the saw; that is, undergo frequent self-renewal.

7，不断更新

“We believe that organizational behavior is individual behavior collectivized,” Mr. Covey said. He expanded the lesson in 2004 in “The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness,” in which he urges people to find their own distinctive voices and to encourage others to find theirs.

“我们相信组织行为就是个人行为的集体化，”柯维先生说。2004年，他把自己的思想完善为《第八种习惯：从高效到卓越》(The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness)，在这本书里面，他敦促人们去发现自己的独特声音，然后再去鼓励其他人这样做。

Among his other books, “Seven Habits for Highly Effective Families,” published in 1997, advocates that families come up with mission statements. “The Leader in Me,” published in 2008, embodies his ideas for educational reform. His goal was to change society, he said, calling his catechism first and foremost an action plan. “What is common sense isn’t common practice,” he declared.

他的作品还包括：1997年的《高效家庭的七个习惯》(Seven Habits for Highly Effective Families)，书里倡导每个家庭都应该想出使命宣言。2008年的《我是领导》(Leader in Me)，这本书详细描述了他的教育改革思路。柯维先生说他的目标是改变社会，把他的教义问答称之为首要的行动方案。“常识并非惯例。”他如是说。

Mr. Covey was a Mormon, and some saw large elements of Mormon theology in his work, though his language was ecumenical. He denied any Mormon bias in his books, saying he drew inspiration from the Scriptures and from history’s great thinkers.

柯维先生是摩门教教徒，虽然他的语言是大众化的，但仍有人在他的作品中看到了大量的摩门教思想。柯维先生否认他的书中存在任何摩门教的偏见，他宣称自己是从宗教经典和历史上最伟大的思想家那里获得灵感的。

In 1996, Time magazine named Mr. Covey one of the 25 most influential Americans, and Forbes called “Seven Habits” one of the top 10 business management books ever. As speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich drew on Mr. Covey’s advice and asked him to help write a chapter on personal strength in American culture for a student reading in a college course Mr. Gingrich taught.

1996年，《时代周刊》杂志将柯维先生评为最有影响力的25名美国人之一，《福布斯》把“第七种习惯”称作有史以来十佳商业管理书籍之一。美国众议院发言人纽特·金里奇听取了柯维先生的意见，并请柯维帮忙为一名选了自己课程的大学生写一篇关于美国文化中个人实力的文章。

“Seven Habits” became part of the vernacular. Campaigning in the Iowa Republican primary last year, Mitt Romney referred to the book in offering his “seven habits for highly successful economies.” Parodies have cropped up. One, published in 1996, was titled “The 7 Habits of Highly Defective People: And Other Bestsellers That Won’t Go Away.”

“七个习惯”已成为大家的口头禅，米特·罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)在去年的艾奥瓦州共和党初选竞选活动中提到了这本书，他说的是“非常成功的经济活动中的七个习惯”。拙劣的模仿之作不断出现。其中的一本于1996年出版，书名叫做《有重大缺陷人士的七种习惯：不会消失的其他畅销书》。

Stephen Richards Covey was born on Oct. 24, 1932, in Salt Lake City, and grew up on an egg farm outside the city. A promising athletic career was cut short by degeneration in his legs, causing him to use crutches for three years as a teenager.

史蒂芬·理查兹·柯维于1932年10月24日出生在盐湖城，在城郊一个养鸡场里长大。因为腿疾，他本来前途看好的运动员生涯被迫中断，青少年时期，他甚至还拄了3年拐杖。

In an interview with Fortune magazine in 1994, he told of his parents’ constant encouragement. “You’re going to do great on this test,” he remembered his mother saying as he went to sleep the night before a school exam. “You can do anything you want.”

在1994年《财富》杂志的一次采访中，他谈到父母一直鼓励他。“你这次肯定能考好，”如果第二天学校有考试，临睡前的那个晚上，他记得妈妈总会这么说：“你会实现你的目标。”

He entered the University of Utah at 16 and earned a degree in business administration. He spent two years in Britain as a Mormon missionary before returning to the United States to earn an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He sometimes preached the Mormon doctrine on Boston Common.

16岁的时候，他进入犹他大学(the University of Utah)学习，获得了商业管理学学位。在英国作了两年的摩门教传教士后，他又回到美国哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)读工商管理硕士。有时候他会在波士顿公园传播摩门教教义。

After another missionary stint, in Ireland, he earned a doctorate in religious education from Brigham Young University. His thesis was on “success literature” in American history.

在爱尔兰又作了一段时间的传教士以后，他在杨百翰大学(Brigham Young University)获得了宗教教育的博士学位。他的博士论文是关于美国历史上的“成功文学”。

At Brigham Young, he became an assistant to the university’s president and began teaching his self-help ideas on campus, drawing as many as 1,000 students in a single class. In 1983 he gambled everything he owned on starting the Covey Leadership Center, a training and consulting concern in Provo, Utah.

在杨百翰大学，他成为校长助理，并开始在校园里教授自助的观念，每次上课都能吸引到一千多名学生。1983年，他赌上全部身家成立了柯维领袖中心(Covey Leadership Center)，这家培训与咨询公司位于犹他州普罗沃市。

In 1997 it merged with Franklin Quest, founded by Hyrum Smith, a time-management expert, to become the Franklin Covey Company. It now operates in more than 50 countries and had $160.8 million in sales last year.

1997年，该中心与富兰克林会斯特(Franklin Quest)合并，后者是由时间管理专家海仑·史密斯(Hyrum Smith)创办的，两公司合并后组成了富兰克林柯维公司(Franklin Covey Company)。该公司目前业务遍及全球50多个国家，去年的销售额为1.608亿美元。

Mr. Covey is survived by his wife, the former Sandra Merrill; nine children; and more than 50 grandchildren.

柯维先生身后留下了妻子(结婚前的名字是桑德拉·美林[Sandra Merril])、9个子女，以及50多个孙辈。

Mr. Covey hated to waste time. He made copies of documents and kept them in briefcases under his desk in case he lost an original. And he liked to do more than one thing at a time. Fortune reported that he was once seen at a gym lying on the floor of the shower room being sprayed by three shower heads while he brushed his teeth and shaved.

柯维先生讨厌浪费时间。他把文件复印后放在办公桌下面的公文包里，以防原件丢失。他还喜欢同时做好几件事情。《财富》杂志报道说，有一次有人看见他躺在一个健身房淋浴室的地板上，在三个喷头对着他喷水的同时，他还一边刷牙一边刮胡子。

In explaining his second recommended habit — Begin with the end in mind — Mr. Covey urged people to consider how they would like to be remembered. “If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience,” he said, “you will find your definition of success.”

在解释他推荐的第二个习惯——以始为终——柯维先生敦促人们去考虑想以什么样的方式留在其他人的记忆中。“如果你曾经仔细考虑过，希望人们在你的葬礼上如何评价你，那么你也就找到了自己对成功的理解。”他说。