Maturity is the balance between courage and consideration. I first learned this definition of maturity in the fall of 1955 from a marvelous professor, Hrand Saxenian, who instructed my Control class at the Harvard Business' School. He taught the finest, simplest, most practical, yet profound, definition of emotional maturity I've ever come across - "the ability to express one's own feelings and convictions balanced with consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others." As a part of his doctoral research, Hrand Saxenian had developed this criterion over years of historical and direct field research. He later wrote up his original research format in its completeness with supportive reasoning and application suggests in a Harvard Business Review article (January - February 1958). Even though it is complementary and also developmental, Hrand's use of the word "maturity" is different from its use in the 7 Habits "Maturity Continuum," which focuses on a growth and development process from dependency through independency to interdependency.