Stephen Covey on managing yourself and others: the celebrated self-help guru talks about developing habits that will help you keep focused, foster interdependency among colleagues and understand the principles of self-management in the Knowledge Economy.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.

In his newest book, The Eighth Habit, author Stephen R. Covey quotes Mahatma Ghandi: "The difference between what we are doing and what we're capable of doing would solve most of the world's problems." Is it fair to say Covey agrees with that statement?

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"Absolutely. We have barely even scratched our potential in almost every dimension there is," says the storied self-help guru, whose 1989 blockbuster The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People remains on every non-fiction best-seller list. He goes on to explain that dimension is more than any mental, internal dimension, but rather, "it's in terms of an individual's ability to build strong interdependent relationships with others."

He suggests that we could strike a death blow to about 90 percent of all social problems if we could get every functional family to psychologically adopt a dysfunctional family.

He's a strong believer in personal responsibility and people moving off a mentality of "victimism," "blaming" and "co-depending" on governments or others to care for them.

Ghandi, he says, was not an elected leader, but a rather ordinary person who did extraordinary things. Ghandi was the change agent whose legacy is the world's largest democracy. True leadership, Covey says, is not necessarily a formal authority, but a moral one. "We must become the change we seek in the world," he argues, and believes we can achieve that if we are resolved, determined and principled.

About now, readers who are not already Covey converts must be wondering what this has to do with balance sheets, strategic planning, budgeting and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. According to Covey, it has everything to do with the job and responsibilities that today's finance chiefs hold.

In a far-reaching interview with Financial Executive Executive Editor Ellen M. Heffes, Covey talks about his original seven habits, the newest eighth habit and how these apply to the senior finance executive.

The Gulf Coast hurricanes this summer exposed a devastated section of the U.S., interrupted businesses and has brought to light certain conditions that are ripe for change. Can such an event spark change? A related quote in your book from the late Peter Drucker says that this generation will be the first time when mankind had to manage itself and was totally unprepared for it.

A Peter Drucker was a very prophetic person. We get lulled into a sense of internal security, and then all of a sudden we have such devastation, like we are witnessing. Now, that's creating conversation all around the country--and probably the world. I think it will humble us, and open us up to thinking in new ways--about not only how to deal with catastrophes, but also how to anticipate and prevent them and how to help people take responsibility for their own circle of influence for magnifying their own situation rather than getting into victimism and blaming.

Good segue into the Covey concepts. Before talking about and applying your newest innovation, talk about the seven habits, a framework that has been around for over 15 years, originating in your book that's sold over 15 million copies.

A First of all, I get credit for these habits, but I didn't invent them. They are really all based upon universal principles that are timeless and...