How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything...in Business (and in Life)

Dov L. Seidman

Retail Price: $27.95 LS Price: $19.00 You Save: $8.95 (32%) Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours Format: Hardcover, 288pp. ISBN: 9780471751229 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: June 4, 2007 Average Customer Review:

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The flood of information and unprecedented transparency reshaping today’s business world has dramatically changed the rules of the game. It’s no longer what you do that 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 both companies and the people who work for them—now lie in the realm of how, the new frontier of conduct. For more than a decade, Dov Seidman’s pioneering organization, LRN, has helped some of the world’s most respected companies build "do it right," winning cultures. Seidman’s distinct vision of the world, business, and human endeavor has enabled more than ten million people doing business in over 100 countries to outbehave the competition. In HOW: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything . . . in Business (and in Life), Dov Seidman shares his unique approach with you. Through entertaining anecdotes, surprising case studies, cutting-edge research in a wide range of fields, and revealing interviews with a diverse group of business leaders, experts, and everyday people on the front lines, this book explores how we think, how we behave, and how we govern ourselves to uncover the values-driven "hows" of 21st-century success.

Divided into four comprehensive parts, this insightful guide:

• Exposes the forces and factors that have fundamentally changed the world in which business operates, placing a new focus on the hows with which we conduct ourselves
• Provides frameworks to help you understand these hows and implement them in powerful and productive ways
• Helps you channel your actions and decisions to thrive uniquely within today’s new business realities
• Sheds light on the systems of how—the dynamics between people that shape organizational culture—and introduces a bold new vision for winning through self-governance

The qualities that many once thought of as "soft"—trust, integrity, values, and reputation—are now the hard currency of business success and the ultimate drivers of efficiency, productivity, and profitability. 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, open this book and discover HOW.


Reviews

"HOW is a trip through the lens of a first-class observer. Dov Seidman captures the life lessons that impact how we should think and respond in today’s world. HOW’s clarity and common sense make it a must read for aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere."

—Sam Zell, Chairman, Equity Group Investments

"Dov Seidman's intellect and passion – brilliantly displayed in HOW's well-written and entertaining case studies, anecdotes, and research – show us a new way to think about enduring success in times of change. Seidman's penetrating insights into what really matters in a wired world challenge the very best in each of us to see what is right and wrong in everyday decision making."

—Senator Bill Bradley

"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."

—Marcus Buckingham, author, Go Put Your Strengths To Work

"HOW is a radically different and compelling approach to competing in business today. We're all aware of the implications of operating in a transparent, wired, global marketplace. Dov Seidman crystallizes how we need to think and act to win in this new world."

—Jeff Kindler, Chairman & CEO, Pfizer Inc.

"This book is the ultimate guidebook for successful living. Its truths are simple but stunningly powerful."

—Marianne Williamson, author, Everyday Grace

"We do business on every continent. Everywhere we go, Dov Seidman's message rings equally true. HOW provides valuable insight for anyone who believes their company culture and core values can determine their ultimate success."

—Massimo Ferragamo, Chairman, FERRAGAMO USA

"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

• "To gain a true understanding of the world of HOW, you must be prepared to struggle and wrestle with complexity and uncertainty and new ways of seeing." Pg. 59

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, Chairman, and CEO of LRN. Leading companies such as Disney, Dow Chemical, eBay, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Raytheon, and 3M turn to LRN to help management govern more effectively and workers do the right things the right way, even in the most challenging of situations. Dov is a Harvard Law School graduate who also earned a bachelor's and master's degree in philosophy from UCLA, and a BA with honors in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University.

	Preface	ix
	Prologue. Making Waves	1
	Part One: How We Have Been, How We Have Changed Introduction. The Spaces Between Us	13
1	From Land To Information Lines of Communication • Getting Flattened	17
2	Technology’s Trespass 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	25
3	The Journey To How Just Do It • The Certainty Gap • The Limitations of Rules • Outbehaving the Competition • HOW We Go Forward	41
	Part Two: How We Think Introduction: The Paradox of Journey	57
4	Playing To Your Strengths Help! • You Can Judge a Book By Its Cover • Looking Out for Number Two • The Evolution of What is Valuable • Believe It	63
5	From Can To Should Rules as Proxies • Dancing with Rules • On The Tip of Your Tongue • Unlocking Should • Risk and Reward	81
6	Keeping Your Head In The Game Distraction • Small Lapses, Large Costs • Dissonance • Doing Consonance • Friction • Putting it in the Whole	103
	Part Three: How We Behave Introduction: How We Do What We Do	125
7	Doing Transparency Beyond Proxies and Surrogates • I.C.U., U.C. Me • The Market Defines You • Say You Are Sorry • Interpersonal Transparency • Sig, Don't Zag	129
8	Trust The Soft Made Hard • How High is the Ceiling? • Goin on a T.R.I.P. • Tripping • Doing Trust • Trust is the Drug • Trust, But Verify	157
9	Reputation, Reputation, Reputation Reputation in a Wired World • Reputational Capital • Mismanaging Reputation Management • A Second Chance	181
	Part 4: How We Govern Introduction: Innovating in HOW	209
10	Doing Culture The Sum of All HOWS • The Spectrum of Culture • The Four Types of Culture • Five HOWS of Culture	215
11	The Case For Self-Governing Cultures Self-Governance on the Shop floor • Freedom is Just Another Word • Taking Culture for a Test Drive • Closing the Gap • Values in Action • A Journey to Culture • Why Self-Governance is the Future of Business	241
12	The Leadership Framework Leadership • Walking the Talk • The First Five HOWS of Leadership • Circles in Circles (A Thought) • The Leadership Framework Continued	267
	Afterword	299
	Acknowledgements	305
	Notes	310
	Selected Bibliography	325
	Index	331

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