Well, this post was about more than our personal growth, actually, but his concept applies. I’m a big-picture oriented person, so I just thought about “why is military necessary?” or “why is self-improvement a major industry?” So the fundamental concept is his, but the application was mine.

When you make a living solving problems, you think you’re helping — but in reality, you’re being helped by your clients/customers because they’re giving you opportunities to help. And a lot of industries misunderstand this, and take advantage of the existence of problems. One consultant I worked with in the past told me “my job is to work myself out of this job.” I knew that this was a service provider with his aim in the right place — and of course he got my enthusiastic endorsement.

Thanks again for the comment!

ari

That’s so true regarding the ultimate goal of problem solvers. To use a commonplace phrase, “don’t give the fish, but teach them how to fish.” I thought that the “Begin with the end in mind” was generally for solving problems? I didn’t get that Covey was trying to take it further by encouraging us to help others help themselves, but that would have been a great thing if he did.

Indeed that SHOULD be the ultimate goal of problem solvers!