Are you using your "Voice"?

Stephen Covey takes Jim Collins’ hedgehog metaphor (See Blog Post "Are You On a Mission? 4.15.11) to the next logical level with his “Voice” concept in his 8^th habit book.  The subtitle for the book is “From Effectiveness to Greatness”.  It essentially provides a link from the 7 Habits to the 8^th habit.

Covey, like Collins recognizes that we sell ourselves short if we do not shoot for individual and organizational greatness.  He defines “voice” as unique personal significance.  He frames a purpose filled life by quoting The Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali:

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds.  Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find your self in a new, great and wonderful world.

The premise of the book is that the key to success in the 21^st century is going to be knowledge worker productivity.  To maximize this measure, he describes the whole person model. 

This model says that all of us desire to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy.  Essentially, we want an existence that engages all of our senses, our mind, body, heart and spirit.  To achieve maximum knowledge worker productivity we need to put a whole person in a whole job.  In order to accomplish this we need to first make sure that we are expressing our unique voice and then help others do the same.

To express your voice you need vision, discipline, passion and conscience.  This is essentially a model with at its base the Collins’ hedgehog metaphor and then adding the element of conscience.

He describes vision as having “a sense of yourself”.  Discipline as doing whatever it takes to accomplish your vision.  He defines passion as optimism, excitement, an emotional connection, determination, and unrelenting drive.  Conscience, according to Covey is the moral law within you.  Covey explains that conscience transforms passion into compassion.

Covey quotes the following as support for his “Voice” model

Aristotle

Where talents and the needs of the word cross, therein lies your vocation.

Greek Philosophy

“Know yourself, control yourself, give yourself”

The bottom line of Covey’s theory is that if you hire people whose passion intersects with the job description that they won’t require any supervision at all. 

How do you express your voice?  How do you help others develop their voice?