There are hundreds of Insights to explore that we hope raise people’s consciousness and elevate the conversation by exploring today’s world through the lens of The HOW philosophy.
Apologies can and should be hugely important actions and mechanisms, blessed with enormous power and lasting impact. But they must be two-way exchanges of trust and healing that are open and transparent.
The 2025 State of Moral Leadership in Business report is the latest in an ongoing study of the presence of moral leadership and how, when present, it inspires elevated behavior in people, shapes values-based organizational cultures, strengthens performance, and builds stronger links to society and communities.
Nothing is more corrosive to a vibrant democracy and healthy communities than “when leaders with formal authority behave without moral authority."
The 2024 State of Moral Leadership in Business report represents our ongoing effort to specifically study the presence of moral leadership and how, when it is present, it inspires elevated behavior in people, shapes values-based organizational cultures, strengthens performance, and leads to deeper relationships with communities and society.
It once wasn’t uncommon to hear a boss tell their employees “just get it done. I don’t care how.” However, in the last decade, organizations have evolved. Now, we often hear leaders priding themselves on encouraging their employees to speak up. But, what if leaders created environments and cultures in which it didn’t take an act of courage for employees to speak their minds? In this episode, we explore how leaders can create a framework and playbook for moral leadership at their organizations that allows employees to out-behave and consequently out-perform the competition.
The 2022 State of Moral Leadership in Business report represents our ongoing effort to specifically study the presence of moral leadership and how, when it is present, it inspires elevated behavior in people, shapes values-based organizational cultures, strengthens performance, and leads to deeper relationships with communities and society. This year’s report confirms our hypothesis that while some leaders have risen to the occasion of late, especially since the pandemic, there still aren’t enough moral leaders to go around.
Best-selling author and Chairman of The HOW Institute for Society, Dov Seidman pairs with Gregg Berhalter, head coach of the United States men’s national soccer team. Berhalter’s intentional build of team culture can be seen through the lens of Seidman’s best-selling book: How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything. Explains Seidman: “Self-governing cultures both inspire alignment and eject elements that don't fit in.”
For our second annual study, we sought to more deeply understand the current evolution of connections at work by comparing states from March 2020 to today. We found that moral leaders continue to disproportionately cultivate the cultures that encourage meaningful human connection.
Speakers: - Dov Seidman, Founder & Chairman – The HOW Institute for Society & LRN; Author – HOW - Zeev Klein, General Partner – Landmark Ventures
The HOW Institute undertook the research to understand how human connection in the workplace has evolved since the onset of the pandemic. The Human Connection in the Virtual Workplace report found human connection was strained for all employees but for some more than others, particularly women and younger workers. Yet, the findings also showed workers feel more meaningfully connected when their supervisors exhibited and embodied behaviors and attributes associated with moral leadership.
Human systems can’t function without formal authority, whether it’s the President of the US, a CEO or a school principal, but what makes organizations really work is when leaders occupying those formal positions have moral authority too. While formal authority can be seized, won, or bestowed; moral authority must be earned by who you are and how you lead.
In addition to presenting The Institute’s definition of moral leadership, this report provides a wide variety of data on how moral leadership manifests in the business world today—the presence of moral behaviors among managers and executives, the demand that employees express for leaders with moral authority, and the variety of benefits that stem from moral leadership. The report also offers valuable advice to those who aspire to become moral leaders.
Dov Seidman, founder and chairman of The HOW Institute for Society spoke at the opening session of the UNGA 75 Private Sector Forum on September 22, 2020. Dov shared his thoughts on what it means to lead with courage in our rapidly reshaped world.
A month before Lion Air Flight 610 took off from Jakarta and promptly plunged into the Java Sea, killing everyone aboard, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg traveled to a Baptist church in southern Illinois to talk about faith and leadership.
Former admiral James Stavridis motivated and inspired thousands of sailors amid shifting tides; Dov Seidmen, the ‘CEO whisperer’ teaches the ‘how’ of innovation. They both are joined by Suzy Welch at CNBC Evolve talking about what makes great leaders, and what new skills are needed in today’s dynamic business environment.
"Who are America’s moral leaders?" USA Today asked in a recent headline. At a time when businesses are increasingly thrust to the forefront of complex issues such as racial bias, gender equity and privacy rights, an overwhelming majority of employees feel adrift. They do not believe their organizations are run by moral leaders.
Q&A with Dov Seidman of LRN, a compliance and ethics education and advisory service in Midtown.
The animating spirit of business has always been an ambition to do big things—to build something valuable, to solve a difficult problem, to provide a useful service, to explore the frontiers of human possibility.
United Airlines’ rough dragging of a passenger off a flight to Louisville has now joined Cecil the Lion and Justine Sacco as case studies in social media outrage.
The bank's CEO appeared before a Senate banking committee this week to answer questions about fake accounts created by more than 5,000 of his employees. Scott Simon talks with consultant Dov Seidman.
In the face of rampant technology and automation (including warnings about jobs being lost to robots), Seidman points out that we must cultivate trust, truth, values, passion, and other human-related qualities. He notes that numerous companies tout the word human in their slogans. In many cases, these companies do exemplify human-centered values. However, “though these efforts are likely earnest attempts to embody human values, companies get into trouble when they don't fully and completely instill these values in their organizations.” Citing the example of Nelson Mandela, Seidman writes: “When you demonstrate moral authority, people follow you not because they have to, but because they want to.”
Are the world views, frameworks, and tools that leaders use to chart their course sufficient to compete today and tomorrow? We believe the answer is “No.” Our conclusion is supported by the results from one of the most ambitious, long-term research projects in the fields of organizational effectiveness, behavior, and leadership. The HOW Report suggest a clear roadmap for how organizations can simultaneously build resilience and deliver growth in today’s global economy.
People see that many of the companies where they have put their time, money, and faith are not actually working for them. Many employees and customers have adopted mistrust as a way of life, assuming that every big mainstream business will sooner or later fail to live up to their expectations.
Everyone knows that a workplace in which people feel appreciated and valued, with more autonomy, is a more pleasant place to work than one in which they don’t. What has been less certain is that workplaces with high trust and a strong culture actually do better as businesses.
What, exactly, is “greatness”? This is a question very much worth asking. After all, if we’re going to aspire to greatness together, we should have a common understanding of what we’re talking about.
One of the enduring ironies of the World Economic Forum in Davos is that the world’s élites congregate in this Alpine village each year to contemplate a backlash against the world’s élites.
Dov Seidman keynotes the 2015 ASU GSV Summit.
Fortune’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list provides useful insights into how we collectively view corporate culture. Most of us flip through the pages or click through the screens hovering over pictures and blurbs highlighting gourmet chefs, nap rooms, yoga instructors and other signifiers of “great” workplaces.
This is the fourth apology in our Apology Metrics series in which we present apologies for readers to assess. Our goal is not to evaluate apologies as theatrical performances but to evaluate the apologizer’s behavior over time to see whether there has been genuine change. The survey for this apology will be predictive rather than retrospective. We will follow up with a retrospective evaluation after at least a year.
Over the course of the 20th century, the mature economies of the world evolved from being industrial economies to knowledge economies. Now we are at another watershed moment, transitioning to human economies—and the shift has profound implications for management.
Over the course of the 20thcentury, the mature economies of the world evolved from being industrial economies to knowledgeeconomies. Now we are at another watershed moment, transitioning to human economies—and the shift has profound implications for management. What do I mean by the human economy? Economies get labeled according to the work people predominately do in them. The industrial economy…
Is your organization like GM? Your reaction to that question is probably similar to my own reflexive response–and to the reactions of the vast majority of business leaders and managers: “Of course not! Nor was our company like Enron or BP, for that matter. Our products didn’t kill customers, sap retirement accounts or damage the environment.” Of course, you may wonder why you should care enough to even ask yourself the question. Fair enough, but I strongly believe we all should ask this question.
I want to congratulate LeBron James, Germany and the San Antonio Spurs on their recent wins -- before they fade from our minds -- and for demonstrating to the world, and each other, how inspirational leadership works and what it takes to build a winning organization – any organization. This lesson goes far beyond sports; it is, in fact, directly analogous to the journey on which all leaders need to take their organizations to truly compete in today’s hyperconnected world as it reshapes our collective operating environment.
This is the third apology in our Apology Metrics series in which we present apologies for readers to assess. Our goal is not to evaluate apologies as theatrical performances but to evaluate the apologizer’s behavior over time to see whether there has been genuine change. This time, we will look at the apology of Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister of Australia, to Australia’s indigenous community in 2008. With the benefit of six years of hindsight, we are in a much better position to judge the apology’s authenticity.
This is the second apology in our Apology Metrics series in which we present apologies for readers to assess. Our goal is not to evaluate apologies as theatrical performances but to evaluate the apologizer’s behavior over time to see whether there has been genuine change.
Doctors don’t traditionally apologize for medical errors; in fact, they usually don’t even disclose them. That is why I have long been interested in how the University of Michigan Health Systems has bucked tradition with its Michigan Model, a collaborative and transparent approach to patient safety and medical mistakes.
When Andrew Ross Sorkin and I came together to start “Apology Watch,” our goal was to elevate the conversation about authentic apologies. In that vein, we are introducing an “Apology Metric” survey to give readers an opportunity to share their insight.
We are in troubling times for the business community, and your work is greatly appreciated by it. Trust of American business is at an exceedingly low level, perhaps the lowest since the Great Depression. The actions of a few, spectacular malfeasants have sullied the reputation of business as a whole and exposed the need for greater vigilance, and greater penalties for failures of compliance and ethics.
Dov Seidman shares insights from his keynote speech at the Arthur W. Page Society's 2013 Annual Conference.
Netflix is the toast of the town, and they rightly deserve to be congratulated not only for bringing joy to their nearly 30 million subscribers, but for impressing stalwarts from both the Street and the Valley.
Online gaming company Zynga has been in the news a lot lately, but most of this reporting and analysis neglects a fundamental point: Now that it has rebooted its leadership, its success hinges not on how it executes business, but how it integrates culture. Zynga’s journey presents a rich reminder to all companies -- of what organizational culture is, what it is not, and how culture can and should be a strategic asset that informs and inspires everything our companies do.
From the moment that the World Economic Forum announced its 2013 theme – “Resilient Dynamism” – the Twitterverse was electrified. Some pondered the theme’s meaning. “Anybody know what that means?” While others went for straight out mockery – “I’ve decided to name my first child Resilient Dynamism”!
“We now know that you do well by doing good,” says Warren Cormier, the President of the Boston Research Group and one of the founders of the RAND Behavioral Finance Forum. “It’s not a theory – it’s a fact.”
THREE years ago, in front of my 300 colleagues, I ripped up our organizational chart and proclaimed that none of us would report to a boss anymore. From that point on, we would all “report” to our company mission. Literally. No one would experience life at LRN as someone else’s subordinate. In short, we would strive to become a self-governing company.
Dov Seidman kicks off the Reinvent Business Hackathon. This inspirational keynote conveys the urgency and importance of reinventing business.
From Occupy Wall Street to the publication of resignation letters in the New York Times, we cannot ignore the widening “trust gap” between business and society. Increasingly, consumers and citizens are demanding that companies match their actions to their words. Integrity must incorporate the values and principles of stakeholders, including society at large. Our current crises – referring not only to financial ones – are not the result of unforeseen disasters or natural market cycles. They are the result of our behaviour.
How would a global company build a big enough bureaucracy to ensure that all 100,000 employees in its operating companies worldwide follow each and every law and regulation? Even further, how could the CEO of that company be assured that his or her people were acting according to the even higher standard of behavior demanded by its stakeholder community?
Leadership is going from being command-and-control to connect-and-collaborate; from inspecting for trust to giving it away; and from discussing success towards significance: "If we make a difference for our consumers, our people, and the world, success will find us."
What ideas are you building your company on? It’s an important question for all organizations, and some companies are responding with innovative and inspiring answers. Ideas shape our thinking, animate our endeavors, and serve as the foundation upon which we scale our institutions and companies.
Forget about winning the Super Bowl this Sunday. New York Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin is demonstrating to the world what a winning approach to 21st Century leadership looks like.