How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything

Description: The flood of information, unprecedented transparency, increasing interconnectedness-and our global interdependence-are dramatically reshaping today's world, the world of business, and our lives. We are in the Era of Behavior and the rules of the game have fundamentally changed. It is no longer what you do that matters most and sets you apart from others, but how you do what you do. Whats are commodities, easily duplicated or reverse-engineered. Sustainable advantage and enduring success for organizations and the people who work for them now lie in the realm of how, the new frontier of conduct. For almost two decades, Dov Seidman's pioneering organization, LRN, has helped some of the world's most respected companies build "do it right," winning cultures and inspire principled performance throughout their organizations. Seidman's distinct vision of the world, business, and human endeavor has helped enable more than 15 million people doing business in more than 120 countries to outbehave the competition. In HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything, Dov Seidman shares his unique approach with you. Now updated and expanded, HOW includes a new Foreword from President Bill Clinton and a new Preface from Dov Seidman on why how we behave, lead, govern, operate, consume, engender trust in our relationships, and relate to others matters more than ever and in ways it never has before. Through entertaining anecdotes, surprising case studies, cutting-edge research in a wide range of fields, and revealing interviews with a diverse group of leaders, business executives, experts, and everyday people on the front lines, this book explores how we think, how we behave, how we lead, and how we govern our institutions and ourselves to uncover the values-inspired "hows" of twenty-first-century success and significance. Divided into four comprehensive parts, this insightful book:* Exposes the forces and factors that have fundamentally restructured the world in which organizations operate and their people conduct themselves, placing a new focus on their hows* Provides frameworks to help you understand those hows and implement them in powerful and productive ways* Helps you channel your actions and decisions in order to thrive uniquely within today's new realities* Sheds light on the systems of how-the dynamics between people that shape organizational culture-andintroduces a bold new vision for leading and winning through self-governance The qualities that many once thought of as "soft"-values, trust, and reputation-are now the hard currency of success and the ultimate drivers of efficiency, performance, innovation, and growth. With in-depth insights and practical advice, HOW will help you bring excellence and significance to your business endeavors- and your life-and refocus your efforts in powerful new ways. If you want to stand out, to thrive in our fast changing, hyperconnected, and hypertransparent world, read this book and discover HOW.

Review: "In his book HOW Mr Seidman explained why he feels behaviour (as opposed to the more fashionable management notions of engagement or motivation) is the key to organisational success...Thought leadership, and big ideas, are rare. But here is a challenging thought for you. Outbehave, outperform, outgreen - or out you go." -The Financial Times Business Life columnist Stefan Stern "The book has understandably received a second wind, propelled by the global economic turmoil. Books like Seidman's on the importance of trust and building and strengthening corporate reputation are being heralded as the voices of sanity." -Economic Times journalist Arati Menon Carroll "Dov Seidman captures the power that Ray Kroc instilled in us at McDonald's from the day he opened his first restaurant in 1955-a culture based on values puts the customer first. In today's world, focusing on the 'how' is critical to accelerating momentum. HOW is required reading for anyone seeking enduring success in business or life." - Jim Skinner, CEO, McDonald's Corporation "In HOW, Dov Seidman takes the idea of 'success' even further, redefining it as a quest for significance. Isn't that what we all really want? To have a positive impact, to make a difference, to excel? To do that you have to achieve significance, and Seidman brilliantly shows you HOW. This book will change your life in profound ways." -Author Marcus Buckingham "Dov Seidman's book introduces you to the world of how in a way that will revolutionize the way you think about, assess, and experience success." - Former Chief Learning Officer, Goldman Sachs and former head of leadership development at GE, Steve Kerr

Contents: Foreword xi Preface xiii Prologue: Making Waves 1 Part I: How We Have Been, How We Have Changed 13 Introduction: The Spaces between Us CHAPTER 1: From Land to Information 17 Lines of Communication. Getting Flattened. CHAPTER 2: Technology's Trespass 25 The Ties That Bind Us. Distance Unites Us. Can You Hear Me. Now? The Age of Transparency. The Persistence of Memory. The Information Jinni Is Out of the Lamp. CHAPTER 3: The Journey to HOW 41 Just Do It. The Certainty Gap. The Limitations of Rules. Outbehaving the Competition. How We Go Forward. Part II: How We Think 57 Introduction: The Paradox of Journey. CHAPTER 4: Playing to Your Strengths 63 Help. You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover. Looking Out for Number Two. The Evolution of What Is Valuable. Believe It. CHAPTER 5: From Can to Should 81 Rules as Proxies. Dancing with Rules. On the Tip of Your Tongue. Unlocking Should. Risk and Reward. CHAPTER 6: Keeping Your Head in the Game 103 Distraction. Small Lapses, Large Costs. Dissonance. Doing Consonance. Friction. Putting It in the Whole. Part III: How We Behave 125 Introduction: How We Do What We Do. CHAPTER 7: Doing Transparency 129 Beyond Proxies and Surrogates. ICU, UC Me. The Market Defines You. Say You Are Sorry. Interpersonal Transparency. Sig, Don't Zag. CHAPTER 8: Trust 157 The Soft Made Hard. How High Is the Ceiling? Going on a TRIP. Tripping. Doing Trust. Trust Is the Drug. Trust, but Verify. CHAPTER 9: Reputation, Reputation, Reputation 181 Reputation in a Wired World. Reputational Capital. Mismanaging Reputation Management. A Second Chance. Part IV: How We Govern 209 Introduction: Innovating in HOW. CHAPTER 10: Doing Culture 215 The Sum of All HOWs. The Spectrum of Culture. The Four Types of Culture. Five HOWs of Culture. CHAPTER 11: The Case for Self-Governing Cultures 241 Self-Governance on the Shop Floor. Freedom Is Just Another Word. Taking Culture for a Test-Drive. Closing Gaps. Values in Action. A Journey to Culture. Why Self-Governance Is the Future of Business. CHAPTER 12: The Leadership Framework 267 Leadership. Walking the Talk. The First Five HOWs of Leadership. Circles in Circles (A Thought). The Leadership Framework, Continued. Afterword 299 HOWs Matter 305 Acknowledgments 307 Notes 315 Selected Bibliography 331 Index 337

Author Biography: Dov Seidman's professional career has focused on how companies and their people can operate in both a principled and profitable way. He is the founder and CEO of LRN. Since 1994, LRN has helped hundreds of companies simultaneously navigate complex legal and regulatory environments and foster ethical cultures. In 2008, LRN acquired environmental innovation firm GreenOrder. Today, LRN operates globally and reaches, works with, and helps shape winning organizational cultures inspired by sustainable values in hundreds of companies with over 20 million people working in more than 100 countries around the world. Fortune magazine called Dov the "hottest advisor on the corporate virtue circuit" and he was also named one of the "Top 60 Global Thinkers of the Last Decade" by the Economic Times. Dov became the exclusive corporate sponsor of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Prize in Ethics in 2008. He is a Harvard Law School graduate who also earned a bachelor's and master's degree in moral philosophy from UCLA and a BA with honors in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University.