Covey, The 3rd Alternative, Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems

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Stephen R. Covey, The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems. Free Press, 2012.

Companion Volumes: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit

Referenced in: Conflict Resolution and Management

LifeandLeadership.com Summary

This is an excellent motivation and guide to two of the habits discussed in Covey’s best-seller, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People:

  • Habit 4: Think win/win — Approach relationships and other commitments with the belief that you can satisfy both yours and others legitimate interests. This way everyone wins.
  • Habit 6: Synergize — In the relational climate created by win/win and seek-first-to-understand, value and synthesize the unique contributions each person makes to achieve a whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

This volume focuses on conflict, and distinguishes between a 2-Alternative way of looking at conflicts (My Way vs. Your Way), and suggests disputants strive toward a 3rd Alternative. This means more than mere collaboration, where disputants find common ground toward achieving a win-win. It also bests compromise, which often leaves parties with unhappy concessions and half-hearted commitment to the solutions. The 3rd Alternative means clearly identifying both oneself and the other in more human, less stereotyped terms. From there, parties follow a four-step path to synergy, achieving a solution that is better than any could have conceived alone. Technically, this is collaboration, but with the plus of providing a way for conflicted people not only see the issues through each other’s eyes, but also to see each other in much more redemptive terms.

This is perhaps the best and most current guide to collaborative conflict resolution and problem-solving.

Publisher’s Description

From the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People—hailed as the #1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century—The 3rd Alternative turns Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s formidable insight to a powerful new way to resolve professional and personal difficulties and create solutions to great challenges in organizations and society.

There are many methods of “conflict resolution,” but most involve compromise, a low-level accommodation that stops the fight without breaking through to amazing new results. The 3rd Alternative introduces a breakthrough approach to conflict resolution and creative problem solving, transcending traditional solutions to conflict by forging a path toward a third option, a 3rd Alternative that moves beyond your way or my way to a higher and better way—one that allows both parties to emerge from debate or even heated conflict in a far better place than either had envisioned. With the 3rd Alternative, nobody has to give up anything, and everyone wins.

About the Author

Recognized as one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans, Stephen R. Covey has dedicated his life to demonstrating how every person can truly control their destiny with profound, yet straightforward guidance. As an internationally respected leadership authority, family expert, teacher, organizational consultant, and author, his advice has given insight to millions. He has sold over 20 million books sold (in 38 languages), and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was named the #1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century. His most recent major book, The 8th Habit , has sold nearly 400,000 copies. He holds an MBA from Harvard, and doctorate degree from Brigham Young University. He is the co-founder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey, the leading global professional services firm with offices in 123 countries. He lives with his wife and family in Utah.

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