The son of the author of the famed "7 Habits" books launches a new series on the defining principle of personal and economic success for the 21st century: trust. Charts & illustrations.

Reviews

Trust is so integral to our relationships that we often take it for granted, yet in an era marked by business scandals and a desire for accountability this book by leadership expert Covey is a welcome guide to nurturing trust in our professional and personal lives. Drawing on anecdotes and business cases from his years as CEO of the Covey Leadership Center (which was worth $160 million when he orchestrated its 1997 merger with Franklin Quest to form Franklin Covey), the author effectively reminds us that there's plenty of room for improvement on this virtue. Following a touching foreword by father Stephen R. Covey (author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and related books), the junior Covey outlines 13 behaviors of trust-inspiring leaders, such as demonstrating respect, creating transparency, righting wrongs, delivering results and practicing accountability. Covey's down-to-earth approach and disarming personal stories go a long way to establish rapport with his reader, though the book's length and occasional lack of focus sometimes obscure its good advice. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

In his first book, Covey (CEO, CoveyLink Worldwide), son of Stephen R. Covey of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People fame, explores the concept of trust and its positive impact on personal and professional success. He introduces the image of ever-widening concentric ripples of water, which he defines as the "Five Waves of Trust": Self-Trust, Relationship Trust, Organizational Trust, Market Trust, and Societal Trust. The degree and magnitude of trust one develops at each wave impacts the effectiveness of interactions at the next highest level, and the stronger the trust involved at each level, the more efficiently and quickly the desired outputs of that level can be achieved. Covey has an engaging style and uses many anecdotes and quotes from famous people to illustrate his points. The book's organization into waves, behaviors of High Trust Leaders, and Cores of Credibility makes the prose easy to digest and reminiscent of the format of the leadership seminars from which Covey got his start. This book would be of interest to public libraries and universities with self-help, psychology, or popular business collections. Crystal Renfro, Lib. and Information Ctr., Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

"I am happier when I am trusted, and I bet you are too. Covey has done a masterful job teaching that trust is conditioned on our behavior and that we can consciously shift our behavior to deserve trust. This one realization can change your life. This is the best book by a Covey since 7 Habits."

-- Richard Carlson, Ph.D., author of" Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" and "Don't Get Scrooged"