Book Review: The Leader in Me

Ellen Pritchett Luchak

University of St. Thomas

Professor: A. Patrick Huff, Ed.D

April 18, 2016

In the book, The Leader in Me, Stephen Covey explores how schools are using his 7
Habits of High Effective People to create leaders not only of their staff, but also engaging the
students in this process. The book looks at different school that have implemented this leadership
program and how this is inspiring students to become leaders and to have more success in
school. The 7 Habits that the leadership program is based on are, be proactive, begin with the end
in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek first to understand, then to be understood,
synergize, and sharpen the saw. Taking these and implementing them in different ways have
helped so many students become leaders.
One school that is blue print for this program is A.B Combs Elementary School in
Raleigh, North Carolina. This school has been successful in using the leadership principles.
Muriel Summers was appointed the principal of A.B. Combs, which is a magnet elementary
school. Her job was to attract more students to the school. While attending a Stephen Covey
conference, she got the inspiration that the 7 habits could possibly be used with students. She
took this idea back to her superintendent, and her leadership program was born. Before this
program could be fully implemented, all stake holders in the school had to be on board. She
needed teachers, parents, students, and even the business community to be on board with her new
approach. More than anything, even academics, parents wanted their children to learn social
skills and how to function as a responsible citizen in the community. It seems that all
stakeholders wanted the same thing for the students at A.B. Combs which could be aligned with
the 7 habits. They decided that leadership was what their school needed as a theme.
The school had to go through many steps to begin to implement this program. They first
developed a new mission statement and vision statement to go along with their new theme,
leadership. The theme of leadership can be seen throughout the school from kindergarten through

fifth grade. Teachers creatively tie in the habit with the lesson they are teaching. Students also
know the habits and can explain them to the visitors who come to the school. Using this
blueprint, teachers are able to not only teach academics to their students, but also life skills.
Another key component, to the A.B. Combs leadership program is data notebooks. Each
student has a notebook that tracks their data for the year. There are charts and graphs to track
data. The students are responsible for their notebook and are able to explain what is in them and
why it is important.
To be successful, everything they had developed so far had to be aligned with success.
They looked at bringing people on board with the new theme, aligning the schools structure to
match the strategy, training the staff in the 7 Habits and quality principles, and aligning the
reward systems so that the right outcomes would be reinforced and sustained (Covey, p.73, ).
With this new blueprint, every student is essentially a leader. They brainstorm leadership roles
and take on a role within the school. Students are also involved in the hiring process at the
school. The school also celebrates every success and makes all students feel successful.
By implementing this leadership blueprint, Mrs. Summers and the staff of A.B. Combs
Elementary School have create a culture of success and leadership for all the students that walk
in the door. The factors they used to create the culture they have are, behaviors, language,
artifacts, traditions (rituals), and folklore. (Covey, p .92). To continue to celebrate success and the
culture of their school, they have so many traditions that students are a part of and help to
organize and carry out. Through these traditions they are able to celebrate language, folklore, and
the culture in which their families come from. They are able to recognize differences and
celebrate the different cultures that make up the culture of their school that they have so much
pride for.

This leadership theme is not only at A.B. Combs, but it has spread all over the country
and even to foreign countries. The theme of leadership has been embraced by many elementary
schools that have had great success turning schools around making leaders out of their students.
The program that was developed at A.B. Combs is for elementary schools, but there are
many middle and high schools across the globe that have implemented the 7 habits effectively
into different parts of their curriculum. It is amazing to see and read about the positive changes.
Although all of this sounds great and we wish it could happen overnight, it does take time
to make this happen in the right way. Mr. Covey suggests four steps: inspire trust, clarify
purpose, align systems, and unleash talent. By using these steps, a leadership blueprint can be
born over time. The key point he makes though is that the majority of the school population,
parents, students, staff, and the community, must be on board with change.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I think it is great that schools are making leaders out of
their students at a young age, which in turn instills them with positive character traits and the
ability to be a global citizen. As I was reading this book, I thought of my own school and how we
do not utilize student leaders, but have so many students with potential. As the leader of the
Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) committee, I want to somehow incorporate
student leaders or ambassadors next year, for our students to take on a leadership theme.
I think Coveys 7 habits are a great way to instill character education into the curriculum
through reading, writing, math, and all core subjects. It teaches them not to just be nice or kind,
but how to react in a real life situation where leadership skills are needed. I hope to one day be
inspired and to have a school that is based on leadership and that has students taking on
leadership roles in some capacity. I look forward to reading the 7 Habits of Highly Effective

People so I can learn more about them and how they can be adapted for an elementary school
classroom.

References
Covey, S. R. (2008). In Simon and Schuster (Ed.), The leader in me: How schools and parents
around the world are inspiring greatness, one child at a time. New York: Free Press.