Covey speaks to BYU about self-reliance

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    By Lorianne Flint

    Stephen R. Covey spoke to students and faculty Friday on the importance of building economically self-reliant families as part of a series of lectures for eBusiness Day.

    In order to be self-reliant, Covey stressed the need to empower individuals and constantly affirm their worth.

    ?People possess enormous potential,? he said. ?Leadership is communicating people?s worth and their potential so clearly they come to see it for themselves. Once they see if for themselves, they will become self-reliant.?

    When individuals are empowered and understand their worth, not only will they be more self-reliant, they?ll also be amazingly creative, Covey said.

    Another element of empowering people is to communicate the value of the individual.

    ?Everybody is important,? Covey said. ?Not one person can be left out. Everyone is like a piece on a chess set, not a checker set. Everyone has a unique voice, role and talent.?

    He also said another way to help people is the familiar idea of teaching them, and immediately having them teach someone else.

    Everyone has also been given three birth gifts to help make the most out of life, including the power people have to choose the direction of life and the need to get out of ?victimism,? which enslaves a person.

    Covey also taught about the importance of four intelligences within everyone. He said people must have vision for the mind, discipline for the body, passion for the heart and a conscious for the spirit.

    Covey?s idea of creating a balance in the four areas (mental, physical, emotional and spiritual) had an impact on one listener, senior Chris Hulme.

    ?There?s no way anyone can figure out how to achieve that balance,? said Hulme, a business management student from Santa Barbara, Calif. ?Nobody does that masterfully. It?s a concept that we all strive for in life. I liked his idea of remembering we?re spirits trying to have human experience rather than humans trying to have a spiritual experience.?

    Covey was one of many speakers for eBusiness Day, sponsored by the Center for Economic Self-Reliance and the Rollins Center for eBusiness. The theme of the conference was ?building economically self-reliant families.?

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