As the focal point of the campus, the central garden water feature abstracts Covey's teaching that people need a "personal center." Other Covey principles providing direction in people's lives are represented in the comparison of the "compass and the clock." These two ideas expressing the unchanging nature of direction (effectiveness) and the fickle nature of time (efficiency) led to the concept that a central garden feature should be a large sculpted sundial superimposed over a grand compass.

The compass is formed on the ground plane by four main directional points and extends over 300 feet in diameter. All four compass points are transposed over the main pedestrian walkways. The compass point walkways slope upward to the sundial, and the lawn seating area between them slopes downward, creating the illusion that the sundial is sitting on a raised platform.

The gnomen is the form of a triangle with two vertical masonry side walls and cascading stone steps on the third side. The layout of the gnomen was calculated to the longitude and latitude of the site for the sundial to function correctly regardless of seasonal changes. A stainless steel triangle sits at the peak of the gnomen and faces due north. The overall height of the gnomen reaches an impressive 22 feet. Water flows from the top step and cascades down to a circular reflecting pool. The reflecting pool is symbolic for the requirement of personal reflection.

The large boulders and small cobble on each step signify the Covey principle taught in the large rock/small rock in-a-jar concept. Covey teaches many priorities in our lives can be accommodated, but first things must come first. If high priorities (large rocks) are in the jar first, many lower priorities (small rocks) can be fit in around them; however, if large rocks (high priorities) are not first placed in the jar, then they can't be forced in at a later time. This concept is further demonstrated with the use of smaller gravel paving which is placed around boulders used at the perimeter of the sundial and at the seating area adjacent to each compass point. Large boulders are also placed in the reflecting pool as if they were washed down from the flowing gnomen river. Four colored concrete compass points were cast into the cap of the pool wall to reinforce the directional concept.

Each hour marker is a raised poured-in-place concrete seating pedestal. Recessed wall-mounted lights enhance the time markers during non-daylight hours.

The sundial's southern plaza is used for formal outdoor seating. Four sloped lawn panels provide contrast with amphitheater type casual seating areas shaded by individual bosques of trees. Outdoor meeting areas are located at each compass point and punctuated with small rocks and boulders.

Wing walls protrude into each of the four lawn panels providing a foreground terminus to the sight lines from each building lobby and provide additional outdoor meeting areas. Tree groupings at each lawn panel provide shade and accentuate strong vistas from building lobbies and outdoor site entries.

Each building lobby is designed to allow a view to the gnomen and the sundial. Traveling from building lobbies to the gnomen a person must "intentionally change directions" to a compass point. This abstraction represents Covey Leadership's teaching that a person must "shift to a principle based paradigm" in order to locate their personal center.

President and CEO Stephen M.R. Covey of Covey Leadership explains that, "Because Covey Leadership Center is a company that teaches certain principles, we felt it imperative that our campus reflected a physical representation of those principles. This is not an easy task, in that it requires first a deep capture and understanding of the principles before any representation could be given. I believe that MHTN paid a price to understand our material, as well as any firm ever could, and then they were able to translate this into physical symbols and metaphors that worked throughout the complex. lasn