Confession: I’ve never read The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. It seems like everyone read it either in high school or college and I seemed to have missed that trend. Not because I didn’t want to read it, it just never came across my radar. I can’t escape much longer.
After launching a reading program in my classes, several students have 
read the young adult version of Seven Habits. They rave about it and recommend it to me. I don’t think I can keep avoiding it. Then our principal wanted to launch a book to be read in our faculty groups. It was how to incorporate the seven habits into a school’s curriculum and program.
Having never read the Seven Habits, it was hard for me to understand the basis for some of the ideas in the book. While I do feel that it’s important to read the text upon which Leader in Me is based, I do feel that they should have explained more of the 7 habits. The most I got was a list. After two chapters I checked out along with several of my coworkers who also hadn’t read Seven Habits. It’s like listening to one of your friends reminisce about something you have no relationship to. You end up just listening and smiling out of politeness, but hope to change the conversation as soon as possible.
The idea behind incorporating and personifying the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People is noble. However, in the Leader in Me, I feel like the idea is to sell people in the seminars and professional training. The book is full of stories of teachers and students who’ve found success, yet there’s not a lot of specifics. It’s not a how to book, it’s a why this is important. Not good for professional development but a good introduction for those that will be implementing this mindset into their school in the future.
