Reflections from airborne reading

There are generally two kinds of books.  Those that you read once and seldom
return to, and those that you want to reread every few years.  (And if you're
smart you'll get the ones in the first group from the library and only buy those in
the second group!)

A book that I reread every few years is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by
Stephen R. Covey.  This was recommended to me many years ago by my manager at
Microsoft.  The thing I like about this book is that it focuses on principles
and substance, rather than image and perception, as the key to moving ahead.

I reread this book on the plane during my trip to MN and it awoke me to some very
important insights, both with how to better manage myself and my team and also how
to better deal wtih internal teams when there are conflicting priorities & schedules.

One of the important messages in this book is that in both personal & professional
life, the only kind of agreement that leads to a healthy long-term relationship is
a win/win deal where both parties come away happy.  This is in contrast to the
usual business mindset of Win/Lose (I win, you lose).  At Microsoft we tend to
have a win/win view with customers and partners (in my opinion at least), but things
sometimes morph into win/lose when different teams inside the company are battling
each other over turf, schedules, features, etc.  (I believe the same is true
of most large corporations.)

The most important "personal management" lesson from the book is its splitting personal
activities into four quadrants, based on urgency & importance (which are very
different axes).  The key area to try to spend a more time on is with things
that are important but not urgent.  (Instead, people tend to spend too much time
on things which seem urgent but aren't really important in the grand scheme of things.)

Highly recommended reading. -Chris