I want to provide some lecture notes on Stephen Covey's Habit 3 which is Put First Things First. "Things Which Matter Most Should Never Be At The Mercy of Things Which Matter Least" ( Goethe) Think about this--when you have multiple tasks or things to do, how do you go about prioritizing them? 1. Do you just jump right in without thinking them through, without thinking what should I do first, second and so on? 2. Do you stop and think about the end result or what you need to accomplish at the end or what outcome you want to achieve (the goal or goals or end result)? For example, at the beginning of this course did you say "I want an A in this course and this is what I am willing to do to get it"? I can say that it would appear that some of you did, but some of you did not. 3. Habit 3 is actually the fulfillment of Habit 2. Habit 2, as you should recall is Begin With The End in Mind. This is the mental creation of the concept that all things are created twice--first think about why we are doing something and what the end result to we want. Habit 3 is actually the second creation, or actually doing what is necessary to achieve that end result. 4. This concept of a mental creation and a physical creation is important both for you and me in our personal and professional lives, and is at the very heart of organizations in managing strategically and in formulating and implementing strategic plans. 5. What this comes down to for all of us (we and organizations alike) is tackling the hardest, most difficult/challenging or time consuming jobs first. For example, when you turn an assignment into me, I first scan over the papers. Some of you have submitted 5, 6, 7, or more pages giving a thorough analysis/explanation of the assigned work, while others have submitted 2 or 3 pages on the same assignment. Which ones do I grade first? I gradevthe ones that are the longest, the ones I know are going to take the most time to do so. I put first things first in terms of my time constraints and what lies at the end. 6. And so it is with businesses and their management. They must begin with WHY ARE WE DOING WHAT WE DO? WHAT DO WE WANT THE END RESULT TO BE REALIZING THAT THIS IS A CONTINUING PROCESS. FOR EXAMPLE IF A COMPANY THINKS IT IS JUST PRODUCING A PRODUCT AND NOT THINK BEYOND THAT, THEN THIS COMPANY IS DOOMED TO EXTINCTION IN SOME FUTURE TIME. Do yo remember the BlackBerry or ever hear of it. It was a Personal Digital Device (PDA), whose producers only saw themselves producing a PDA, and did not think about what comes after. What came after was cell phones and then smartphones and Blackberry became obsolete. 7. We also must think in the same way---what comes after college, after 3 years, 5 years, and so on. Today I am going to comment on Stephen Covey's Habit 2 from his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I want to set the stage for this by providing an exerpt from a great little book titl ...

1. I want to provide some lecture notes on Stephen Covey's Habit
3 which is Put First Things First.
"Things Which Matter Most Should Never Be At The Mercy
of Things Which Matter Least" ( Goethe)
Think about this--when you have multiple tasks or things to do,
how do you go about prioritizing them?
1. Do you just jump right in without thinking them through,
without thinking what should I do first, second and so on?
2. Do you stop and think about the end result or what you
need to accomplish at the end or what outcome you want to
achieve (the goal or goals or end result)? For example, at the
beginning of this course did you say "I want an A in this course
and this is what I am willing to do to get it"? I can say that it
would appear that some of you did, but some of you did not.
3. Habit 3 is actually the fulfillment of Habit 2. Habit 2, as
you should recall is Begin With The End in Mind. This is the
mental creation of the concept that all things are created twice--

2. first think about why we are doing something and what the end
result to we want. Habit 3 is actually the second creation, or
actually doing what is necessary to achieve that end result.
4. This concept of a mental creation and a physical creation is
important both for you and me in our personal and professional
lives, and is at the very heart of organizations in managing
strategically and in formulating and implementing strategic
plans.
5. What this comes down to for all of us (we and organizations
alike) is tackling the hardest, most difficult/challenging or time
consuming jobs first. For example, when you turn an assignment
into me, I first scan over the papers. Some of you have
submitted 5, 6, 7, or more pages giving a thorough
analysis/explanation of the assigned work, while others have
submitted 2 or 3 pages on the same assignment. Which ones do I
grade first? I gradevthe ones that are the longest, the ones I
know are going to take the most time to do so. I put first things
first in terms of my time constraints and what lies at the end.
6. And so it is with businesses and their management. They
must begin with WHY ARE WE DOING WHAT WE DO?
WHAT DO WE WANT THE END RESULT TO BE REALIZING
THAT THIS IS A CONTINUING PROCESS. FOR EXAMPLE
IF A COMPANY THINKS IT IS JUST PRODUCING A
PRODUCT AND NOT THINK BEYOND THAT, THEN THIS
COMPANY IS DOOMED TO EXTINCTION IN SOME

3. FUTURE TIME. Do yo remember the BlackBerry or ever hear
of it. It was a Personal Digital Device (PDA), whose producers
only saw themselves producing a PDA, and did not think about
what comes after. What came after was cell phones and then
smartphones and Blackberry became obsolete.
7. We also must think in the same way---what comes after
college, after 3 years, 5 years, and so on.
Today I am going to comment on Stephen Covey's Habit 2 from
his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I want to set
the stage for this by providing an exerpt from a great little book
titled The Wisdom of Wolvesby Twyman L. Towery, who has
spent years studying this remarkable animal. This exerpt is
titled STRATEGY and is quite fitting for discussing Habit 2
which is Begin With the End In Mind.
Here it is:
Hunters, photographers, researchers, and others
who have been fortunate
enough to witness an actual wolf pack hunt, often
report being speechless
When fate has had its way. Only moments before,
as the observers peered

4. through their binoculars, the wolves may have
seemed to be aimlessly trailing
The herd, as they had for days before. Suddenly,
the seemingly bored wolves
spring into action as a coordinated, focused team,
each wolf understanding
the STRATEGIC PLAN and the part they are to
play.
There are endless variations of the strategies
wolves use to accomplish their goal,
but one account stands out in my mind. A team of
four wolves suddenly began a
coordinated charge of a herd of musk ox, driving
them over a moderate rise. As

5. the musk ox topped the rise they were confronted
by two wolves, directly in their
path, looking unmovable and emotionless. The
musk ox panicked (as the wolves
knew they would) scattering in all directions,
thereby losing the protection the group
afforded.
As the musk ox ran wildly in confusion, all six
wolves converged on one elderly,
somewhat feeble musk ox, no longer protected by
his herd. One wolf attached to
the lower jaw, another to the forehead, pulling the
prey to the ground as the other
wolves literally took his legs out from under him.

6. The struggle was quickly over.
The musk ox had complacently relied on the
group for protection and had no plan to
contend with a skillfully executed attack. The
wolf pack was small in comparison,
but had a strategy, executed it properly, and
accomplished its objective.
1. The wolf pack began with the end in mind, its objective, to
obtain food for the pack, and it had a definite strategy it carried
out successfully.
2. And so it is with organizations, and with us as well.
Organizations and individuals must begin with the end in mind.
Managers must say about their organizatio ns "where do we want
to be in 3 years, 5 years (sales, market share, geographic
expansion, product/service mix, and the list can go on). This is
the goal or goals or objective or objectives. AND HOW DO WE
GO ABOUT GETTING THERE (what strategies do we need to
implement to accomplish our goals/objectives)?

7. 3. This is beginning with the end in mind. You may be familiar
with the children's book, Alice in Wonderland and the often
quoted part wher Alice asked the hare which road she should
take. The hare asked where do you want to go, at which Alice
responded " I don't know". Then the hare replied "if you don't
know where you're going, then any road will take you there"
4. Businesses should not undertake any actions without first
deciding what they want to do.
5. we, as individuals, should not do anything without thinking
through what outcome we want.
A. DID YOU DECIDE WHAT YOU WANTED TO
ACCOMPLISH BY GETTING A COLLEGE DEGREE--YOU
SHOULD HAVE.
B. WOULD YOU TYPICALLY START OUT ON A TRIP
WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT YOUR DESTINATION IS--NOT
LIKELY.
6. And in the process of BEGINNING WITH THE END IN
MIND ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS SHOULD
HAVE A MISSION STATEMENT WHICH IS THE BEST WAY

8. TO BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND
Do you have a personal mission statement? If not you should
take time to develop one and determine what you want to be
doing in 5 years. Begin with the end in mind.
I am going to begin one of 7 lectures covering the outstanding
book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by the late
Stephen B. Covey, highly sought after distinguished speaker and
consultant to numerous organizations. I had the great pleasure
of meeting Stephen Covey, getting a photograph with him and
getting him to sign my copy of his book which Inhad read
several times and refer to frequently in my own talks and
consulting work. The Baret School of Banking at Christian
Brothers College in Memphis has a distinguished speaker series
each spring at the reception for bankers going through the
schools classes and I am always invited to attend because when
I was Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Business
Programs at ASU, I had worked with the Baret School to allow
graduates of their banking school to transfer 2 courses for
degree credit in our MBA.
Why did I select The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peope to
discuss in a strategic management course you ask. Well, I'm
glad you asked! Quite simply each of the 7 habits has relevance
and significance to strategic management and the formulation of
strategies. And, these 7 habits are just as applicable to
individuals, you and I, for our own personal and professional
goals and how to achieve them.

9. Habit 1: Be Proactive. I want you to think back on discussions
early in the semester regarding how managers may approach
making decisions. If you recall we said they can be proactive,
reactive or inactive ( making the decision to do nothing which is
the very worst decision managers can make). Remember Lee-
Vac? Remember how the top management of Lee-Vac was
presented with a 5-year window of opportunity to be proactive
while the actual construction of the offshore oil port was
underway and upon its completion was going to completely
eliminate the company's highly profitable revenue stream
generated from performing lightering services for very large oil
tankers ( VLTs)?
This was more than ample time for the company's management
team to be proactive in making a strategic decision to utilize the
assets (barges and tow boats)it was using for lightering in
developing revenue streams from other markets. A strategic
decision to take assets from one use and apply them to other
uses is referred to as redeployment of assets.
But what did Lee-Vac's management do? Absolutely nothing,
they made a conscious decision to do nothing! So when the
offshore oil port was open and tankers started docking at the
port to discharge their oil into pipelines rather than having some
oil pumped into barges to make the tankers light enough to go
into the mouth of the Mississippi River, this revenue stream
dried up for Lee-Val and because of management's decision to
do nothing, it nearly bankrupted the company.
SO, LEE-VAC WAS NEITHER PROACTIVE,NOR REACTIVE,

10. BUT SIMPY WAS INACTIVE. IN THE WAKE OF CHANGE,
AND WE KNOW CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT, IT IS
A TRUISM THAT YOU EITHER ACT OR BE ACTED UPON
(CHANGE OR BE CHANGED)
In formulating strategy, managers must be as proactive as
possible to make the right decisions or the best decisions to
provide for long-term survival and growth of the business and
ensure it is a formidable competitor in the markets in which it
competes. The annals of Business are filled with examples of
those that failed in this category.
AND I WANT TO LEAVE YOU WITH THIS--YOU AND I,
AND ALL INDIVIDUALS CAN AND SHOULD APPLY THIS
TO OUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL GOALS AND
ASPIRATIONS. WE NEED TO DEVELOP THINKING, THE
SAME WAY A BUSINESS SHOULD, IN DEVELOPING
STRATEGIES FOR LIFE AND FOLLOW THROUGH ON
THESE STRATEGIES. WE SHOULD HAVE A MISSION
STATEMENT AND WE SHOULD DEVELOP OUR OWN SET
OF CORE VALUES TO GUIDE OUR THINKING AND
BEHAVIOR AS WEVSTRIVEBTO ACHIEVE OUR GOALS
AND ASPIRATIONS.
" I know of no more encouraging fact then the
unquestionable ability of man
To elevate his life by conscious endeavor" Henry David

11. Thoreau
3
Environment Scanning
Student’s Name
Institutional affiliation
Environment Scanning
In the lecture notes the various external environment factors
that affect business operations. The following 6 components are
discussed in the notes:
1. Economic environment
This refers to the changes in the economic cycles and economic
growth and includes factors such as the inflation, tax rates,
unemployment rates, and income levels. When the external
economy is performing well for instance when the income levels
of people go up then a business will perform well and vice
versa.
2. Social environment
These includes the characteristics of the population such as
their lifestyle, education level, values and attitudes. The social

12. factors influence what products the people will demand more of.
3. Political environment
The political climate is also another critical factor that the
management of organizations should consider in decision
making. When there is political instability or unrest businesses
will be affected negatively and when there is political stability a
business will be affected positively (Kuzmin et al., 2021).
4. Legal/ regulatory environment
These includes the set of laws and regulations that govern an
entire country and the industry within which an organization.
Some laws could act as an opportunity while some other laws
are a threat to a business.
5. Technological environment
Technology can be referred to as the application of the science
and engineering skills in the solution of production and
organizational problems. The software and new equipment
affects businesses through the improvement of the production
process (Yakubu et al., 2019). Technology advancement leads to
new innovations and affect the business positively.
6. Competitive environment
Competitors are the businesses in an industry that compete with
a business for customers. When competition is stiff managers
are required to create strategies to help them beat the
competition. Lack of competition sometimes could mean that an
industry is undesirable.
Unemployment Rate in the United States
US population
U.S internet users

13. References
Kuzmin, E. A., Vinogradova, M. V., & Zinatullina, E. R.
(2021). Macro Environmental Factors
in the Development of Public-Private Partnership in
Russia. International Transaction Journal of Engineering,
Management, & Applied Sciences & Technologies, 12(10), 1-
12.
Yakubu, S., Yalo, M. I., & Halilu, U. (2019). Analysis of
Environmental Factors Affecting
Manufacturing Small and Medium-Size Enterprises in Kogi
State Nigeria. Journal of Social Economics Research, 6(2), 85-
96.
Unemployment Rate
Year
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 3.9E-2 4.9000000000000002E-2
9.2999999999999999E-2 0.05 8.3000000000000004E-2
Population
1990 2000 2010 2020 252120309 281710909 309011475
331002651
Internet Users
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 260.32 262.24
270.39999999999998 278.58999999999997

14. 282.02999999999997 285.45999999999998 290.49
297.14
1. This is a follow-up to assignment 7(last work) where you
gathered data on pas to present unemployment rates, past to
present population and past to present number of Internet users.
2. Refer back to the notes about planning assumptions where
we project data into the future.
3. IT IS DIFFICULT, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE, TO FIND
INFORMATION ABOUT FUTURE UNEMPLOYMENT SO WE
WILL SUBSTITUTE THE NUMBER OF SMARTPHONE
USERS FOR UMEMPLOYMENT.
4. SO HERE IS WHAT YOU DO:
*USE THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE ALREADY
GATHERED ON THE POPULATION AND THE NUMBER OF
USERS OF THE INTERNET, BUT ADD THE PROJECTED
NUMBERSVYOU FIND IN YOUR RESEARCH. I THINK
POPULATION IS NOW PROJECTED TO 2026, AND NUMBER
OF INTERNET USERS IS PROJECTED TO ABOUT 2025, I
think.

15. *Gather past to present and projected number of users of
smartphones in the U. S.
*show all data in bar charts, using vertical bars, not
horizontal bars, and show increments between past to present
and projected ( for example 2016, 2017, 2018 and so on, or
whatever it is.
*YOU MUST WRITE AN EXPLANATION OF THE DATA
AS SOME OF YOU DID ON THE LAST ASSIGNMENT, BUT
MANY DID NOT--YOU WILL HAVE TO EXPLAIN THE
DATA