The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The author begins this chapter by introducing two key concepts and contrasting them to one another. He calls one the Personality Ethic and the other the Character Ethic. Covey says that most people try to solve a problem by modifying some external behavior. Self-help books are full of this kind of advice, yet those who apply such methods find themselves no better off than when they started. In past centuries, before the Personality Ethic became popular, people believed that a positive outcome was dictated by an individual’s inner virtues. This Character Ethic, to which Covey ascribes, insists that external problems can only be resolved by strength of character.

The author cautions that character improvement is an organic process that requires time and effort. The appeal of the Personality Ethic is that it suggests a quick fix, while the Character Ethic makes no such claim. To change one’s character, a person often needs to look at themselves in new ways. As Albert Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them” (42). Covey calls this change of