It irks a lot of people that Stephen covey, with the low-browish sound of his books and quasi-spiritual aura of his fame, should be a global business leader. Well, it is a fact. Not only is the man a Harvard MBA and one-time professor of organisational behaviour, he conducts workshops that are attended by folk from some of the world's most performance-crazed companies, the sort that won't stand for mumbo-jumbo, even if executives quip that the real fun of going to the Covey Leadership Center in Utah, USA, is the possibility of an excursion to Monument Valley.

So what accounts for Covey's influence? The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, his cult book on 'personal change'. His basic proposition? To be effective, be principles-centric, not money, work, possessions, self, spouse, pleasure, enemy or anything-else-centric. People lack leadership because their 'circle of influence' is much smaller than their 'circle of concern', even if concentric. To change that, pick up three private habits: 'Be proactive', 'Begin with the end in mind' and 'Put first things first'. And three public habits: 'Think Win-Win', 'Seek first to understand, then be understood' and 'Synergise'. And then, as habit seven, the most easily forgotten one, 'Sharpen the saw' through unrelenting daily application of the six principled habits.

Simple enough. Even common sense, to a large extent. But catch someone shrugging it off as common sense and ask if he or she can honestly claim to have stuck to the prescription dedicatedly, let alone tested its efficacy, and you might draw a blank. This is perhaps the reason that Covey draws the crowds he does: a need for intense detailing, particularly as applied to their own myriad missions in life. Those who do try the habits, want to know more. They're charmed enough to get closer within earshot, but not satiated enough to put the book in the attic: it's win-win for Covey and his fans.

The other reason observers cite for Covey's success is the dearth of principles in business nowadays. It's a gut-led yearning for a return to innocence-albeit a globally acceptable version of it.