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

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

by Dov Seidman (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (19 Jun 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0471751227
  • ISBN-13: 978-0471751229
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.9 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 322,104 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Review
“The simple thesis of HOW is that in today’s totally wired world, you are set apart by “how” you conduct yourself. Everyone is so much more transparent and connected than ever before. As a result, so many more people can now see more deeply into what you do and into you company’s operations and tell so many more other people about it via the Internet – without any editor or any filter. Therefore “how” you live you life, “how” you conduct your business, and “how” you say you’re sorry (or don’t’) matter now more than ever.

“…And we will not get out of [the global economic crisis] without going back to some basics, which is why I find myself re–reading a valuable book that I wrote about once before, called, “How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything in Business (and in Life).” Its author, Dov Seidman, is the C.E.O. of LRN, which helps companies build ethical corporate cultures…We need to get back to collaborating the old–fashioned way. That is, people making decisions based on business judgment, experience, prudence, clarity of communications and thinking about how — not just how much.”–Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and author Thomas L. Friedman

“In his book How, published last year, 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

“Seidman, an erudite intellectual and practical philosopher, shows that in today’s transparent commercial environment, operating openly and morally is both honorable and economically necessary.” –Syndicated Get Abstract book reviewer Rolf Dobelli

“One of the more interesting and ambitious books to cross my desk lately is How by Dov Seidman. The appeal of Seidman’s work is that he’s taken such a sweeping view of the business world in his explanation of how we think, behave and govern — as individuals and organizations — influences our achievements in the marketplace.” –Chief Learning Officer Magazine editor Brian Summerfield

“…Behaving as if everyone is armed with your personal information is a very good idea, according to author Seidman, because they are. He also discusses the ethical and moral implications of all this openness. Seidman is an experienced and worldly observer, so he is not unrealistic about the baser instincts that motivate many of us. Nonetheless he also presents a hopeful and positive future where lying and obfuscation are less possible and ultimately unacceptable because there are fewer places to hide.”
The Miami Herald reviewer Richard Pachtert

“In his superb book on corporate behaviour, HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything ... in Business (and in Life), Dov Seidman tells the story of the New York City doughnut seller who taught him a valuable lesson in business trust…Doing the right thing has always been good for business. What Seidman′s book makes clear is that regardless of whether it is in Sydney or in Auckland, being open about the manner in which a corporation operates, trusting customers and insisting on maintaining standards which enhance reputations, is now of global significance. Investors everywhere are looking at issues relevant to integrity.”
The New Zealand Herald reporter Stephen Loosley

"…Companies with a should–do culture can outperform those with a can–do culture because they value intellectual capital, not just human capital, and forward–think about the impact of "What’s next"…An integral component of Mr. Seidman’s should–do advocacy also involves connecting outside knowledge to the organization. The nature of should–do firms involves asking questions, change and accuracy of communication. Being inquisitive makes them aggressively search for "what they don’t know". Miscommunication is the Achilles heel of any firm; when a mouse click can send information around the globe, a company’s reputation can be damaged by an errant email. Mr. Seidman’s personal anecdotes illustrate how should–do firms deal with their thirst for knowledge and communicate effectively.”
Syndicated columnist Jim Pawlak

“HOW is a radically different and compelling approach to competing in business today. Dov Seidman connects the dots in an original way, focusing on transparency, trust, and reputation as important drivers of success. We′re all aware of the implications of operating in a transparent, wired, global marketplace. What Seidman has done is crystallize how we now need to think and act to win in this new world.”
Chairman and CEO of Pfizer Inc. Jeff Kindler

“Dov Seidman’s intellect and passion—brilliantly displayed in HOW’s well–written and entertaining case studies, anecdotes—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.”
–U.S. 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.”
–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

“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.”
Chairman, Equity Group Investments, Sam Zell

“This book is the ultimate guidebook for successful living. Its truths are simple but stunningly powerful.”
Author Marianne Williamson

“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

Product Description
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.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars How to decide what is most important and then "get the HOWs right", 14 Jul 2007
By Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Most people agree that good health, financial security, and self-esteem are important in one's personal life. In business, most executives agree that it is important to have customers who are (as Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba describe them) "evangelists," more money coming in than going out, people who get more and better work done in less time, etc. My point is, that there is a substantial consensus on "what" and the first challenge is to understand the "how." The next challenge is to avoid what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton have identified as the "knowing-doing gap."

As Dov Seidman explains in the Preface, "The tapestry of human behavior is so diverse, so rich, and so global that it presents a rare opportunity, the opportunity to outbehave the competition." He goes on to explain that, "Instead of rules, steps, or an instruction manual, this book offers an approach - a framework and a way of seeing - to help you navigate the new global, hyperconnected world in which we suddenly find ourselves working. It offers something that will carry you beyond short-term rewards toward lasting success." Those who get their "HOWs right" will achieve enduring personal and organizational business achievement.

Seidman carefully organizes his material within four Parts as he explores (through "a new lens") three HOWs:

HOW we think,
HOW we behave, and
HOW we govern.

I was especially interested in what Seidman has to say about "transparency" in Chapters7. He cites an example of "issue contagion." Specifically, a posting on an online bulletin board by a 25-year-old cycling enthusiast, Chris Brennen, claiming that Kryptonite locks (reputedly impenetrable) could easily be opened by almost anyone. Kryptonite chose not to respond to the increasing, accelerating buzz and almost immediately found itself in one of the first Internet-facilitated PR disasters. According to Seidman, "Knowledge is power. That old adage is as true today as when philosopher first said it in the seventeenth century...As the world transitions to a bottom-up and side-to-side model in which each individual can contribute to the free flow of ideas, it opens up and becomes more transparent...Transparency - the new conditions of the world that allow us to see past the medium to get to the heart of the message - fundamentally changes almost every way we conduct our lives in public (and in private), demanding a new set of HOWs if we really want to thrive."

Seidman goes on to say that to understand those fundamental changes, we must consider two types of transparency: technological transparency (i.e. the ever-evolving state of the networked world) and interpersonal transparency (i.e. the realm of how we do what we do, of being transparent amidst various interconnected social communities). "What does it mean to be truthful? To be open? To act from principle rather than for a desired effect? For one thing, it's simpler...More importantly, in a world accustomed to falsehood and deception, in which daily we receive hundreds of commercial messages inveighing us to act one way or another, transparency and forthrightness can be tremendously refreshing. No one can copy your HOWs, and within the wide spectrum of human behavior, the HOW of active interpersonal transparency can become a powerful differentiator." And that is as true of an entire organization as it is of each individual within it.

This is one of the most entertaining as well as one of the most informative and thought-provoking books I have read in recent years. Its value will depend almost entirely on HOW accessible and receptive each reader is to what Dov Seidman shares, and then HOW willing and able each reader is to apply whatever is most relevant in her or his personal life as well as career. "Pursuing significance, in the end, is the ultimate HOW."
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5.0 out of 5 stars A learned but lively treatise on the need for business ethics , 28 May 2008
By Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Dov Seidman respects your intelligence. Instead of "10 tips for ethical behavior," he provides a powerful new lens for seeing and assessing contemporary business ethics. Seidman, an erudite intellectual and practical philosopher, shows that in today's transparent commercial environment, operating openly and morally is both honorable and economically necessary. Corporate achievement now depends far more on how you act than on what you do. With the proliferation of media outlets, the Internet, notably YouTube, and cable channels, everyone is watching. Seidman uses fascinating anecdotes, case studies and scientific research to prove that goal-driven companies must focus on openness, integrity, values and ethics. Do things right, you win; do them wrong, you lose and end up exposed on the Web. Now that businesses live under the microscope, "on glass...slides, flat as flat can be," your company will be exposed if it cuts ethical corners. Seidman's well-annotated book is peppered with learned references to brilliant thinkers from Aristotle to Kierkegaard. He deftly moves from sophisticated topics, such as brain functioning, neuroeconomics and language theory, to stories about pop diva Janet Jackson, Madam Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower and Krazy George Henderson, madcap inventor of "the wave." This makes the book a pure delight to read. getAbstract openly enjoyed this insightful, idealistic and practical argument for corporate transparency, collaboration, good conduct and altruism.
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4.0 out of 5 stars How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything, 7 Oct 2007
By Tami Brady "Whole Health Therapist" (Calgary, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
If you read any of the hundreds of business books on the market, you'll know the current trend of what to do in business. I've read and reviewed dozens of titles that all say that the key to business is doing what you say you are going to do and treating people like people (both clients and employees). These resources usually give all sorts of examples of successful companies that actually follow through on their promises. Some of the more involved ones give step by step instructions on what to do to make your business successful.

How is a bit different from these other titles. The author doesn't write a how to manual. Instead, the author focuses firmly on the issue at hand: how the way you run your business actually reflects your business goals and what you are doing that is counterproductive to these goals. In other words, if you promise your clients excellent customer service do you then spent most of your time stonewalling consumer questions and concerns? It may sound like common sense but most businesses keep only a small percentage of their promises. Most say one thing and provide service of a completely different nature.

To me, the big difference between the methodology of How and the many other business books I've read is the difference between going into a mega-super-store and being given the hard sell or going into a local Mom's and Pop's corner store. Yes, in the first example, the company probably did get that initial sale but I won't come back and neither will any of my friends. The later example's integrity and ability to make me feel like they genuinely want my business will more likely make me a lifetime customer.
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