Perdue's pick is hot in local bookstores

By Sonja Lewis
Atlanta Journal Constitution Staff

The business management book that Gov.-elect Sonny Perdue called a must-read was a must-have at metro bookstores Friday.

Perdue said Thursday that government agency directors who want to retain their jobs in Georgia's first Republican administration since Reconstruction should be prepared to discuss Stephen R. Covey's "Principle-Centered Leadership."

His directness follows the book's observation that employees should be given a "clear understanding of the desired results."

State government workers apparently got the message.

"No one has them in stock," Sydne Waller, assistant manager of Chapter 11's Peachtree Battle bookstore, said of Covey's book. "It sounds like it would be smart to put more of those books on order."

Borders bookstore locations in metro Atlanta were out of the books, and several Barnes & Noble locations also reported selling out.

Covey's book, published in 1991, wasn't in abundant supply anyway. It was a follow-up to his monster success, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.