One of Stephen Covey’s favourite tricks, described in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, was to imagine his own funeral. He would think about the flowers, the faces of the bereaved and the eulogies in order to help instil his habit #2: Begin with the end in mind.

For Covey, who died this week aged 79, the funeral scene is about to be played out for real. The chances are that it will be to his liking.

Already, the eulogies are flowing in from rival management gurus: Tom Peters has likened him to Nelson Mandela while Clayton Christensen – a fellow Mormon – has said that Covey changed his life. He told a story about how Covey, when at Harvard Business School, shunned the bar-room and went instead to Boston Common with a soap box, which he climbed on to and gave a jolly good sermon about the life of Jesus Christ.