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

Seidman, Dov

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471751227 ISBN 13: 9780471751229

Publisher: Wiley, 2007

Synopsis

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.

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. For more on this book, visit www.HowsMatter.com.

About this title

About the Author

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.

From the Back Cover

Praise for HOW

"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

"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

"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."
—Steve Kerr, Chief Learning Officer, Goldman Sachs, and former head of leadership development, GE

"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 everwhere."
—Sam Zell, Chairman, Equity Group Investments

"This 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

From the Inside Flap

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

Although the tone of this business primer suggests a commercial version of St. Paul's epiphany on the road to Damascus, consulting firm CEO Seidman hems so closely to the familiar earmarks of the genre-powerpoint diagrams, catchy acronyms, buzzwords and inspirational stories of successful, sane corporate culture-as to engender cynicism early on. Among some compelling accounts of exemplary work environments-the General Electric Durham aircraft engine assembly plant, where nearly flawless products are turned out on flexible schedules and the honor system is arranged by self-governed aircraft technicians, represents one such utopia-Seidman fails to explore the roots of those practices or why they aren't more widely imitated (GE hasn't attempted to reproduced the Durham plant model). As such, Seidman falls short of his goal-teaching leaders how to imbue their corporate culture with moral purpose-which is sure to leave readers frustrated.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471751227
• ISBN 13: 9780471751229
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352