The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. The book’s title is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. When you hear the word “effective,” what does it mean to you?

Teaching Suggestion: After asking students to review the definition of leadership presented in the following link, you might want to generate a discussion on the correlation between effectiveness in life as opposed to in leadership roles.

• An article that examines effective leadership

2. If you were going to make a list of 7 essential qualities for an effective person to have, what items might you include?

Teaching Suggestion: You might consider asking students to brainstorm and compile a list of qualities that they consider admirable or useful in life. They could then compare their findings to the list presented in the link below and identify areas of overlap or disagreement.

• An alternative list of 15 important qualities related to success in leadership (may require subscription for viewing)

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the book.

Have you ever read a self-help book? Taken a seminar on self-improvement? Consulted a life coach? Describe your reaction to the experience. If not, how helpful do you imagine such an experience might be?

Teaching Suggestion: You may wish to ask students to share their diverse past experiences in this area. As a group, they might speculate about what they expect to find in Covey’s book.

Differentiation Suggestion: Covey’s work is geared toward white-collar professionals who work in a corporate environment, but some readers may have little formal background in the study of business. Consider the life experience of readers who work in a domestic environment or students who haven’t yet graduated. How might they relate to the kind of advice that Covey’s book is likely to offer? A brief group brainstorming session on the parallels between types of work experiences may help to establish points of connection before reading.