the 7 habits of highly effective people - part 2

I would never have read this book were it not for a large cardboard box full of books that my sister was throwing away.  this one just happened to be in it and I thought I would give it a chance.

The first chapter is called 'inside out" and it has touched on some topics that I agree with.  The author, Covey, explains two trends he identified amongst success literature over the past 200 years. Personality Ethics and Character Ethics.  Character Ethics refers to the basic principles of effective living such as integrity and fidelity.  It states that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character. This encompassed 150 years of the 200 years of success literature that Covey studied. The last 50 years developed into Personality Ethics, he refers to it as being on a more superficial level. Success became more a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviors.  Take this passage for example:

If I try to use human influence strategies and tactics of how to get other people to do what I want, to work better, to be more motivated, to like me and each other - while my character is fundamentally flawed, marked by duplicity and insincerity - then, in the long run, I cannot be successful.  My duplicity will breed distrust, and everything I do - even using so-called good human relations techniques - will be perceived as manipulative.  It simply makes no difference how good the intentions are; if there is little or no trust, there is no foundation for permanent success.  Only basic goodness gives life to technique.

Do we all grasp the essence of this passage.