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.
Remember when leaders could sidestep taking a stand on sensitive political or societal issues by saying, “The business of business is business”? That aloof neutrality is no longer acceptable.
When our trust in each other erodes, fewer people think they have responsibilities to the other and we lose societal immunity.
Dov Seidman gives the keynote address at Salesforce exploring the imperative of living, working, and leading with morality in a world radically reshaped by the forces of technology.
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.
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.
Several years ago, Dov Seidman published a business book called How. His primary argument was that process — the “how” — matters as much, if not more, than the substance — the “what.” Seidman focused his argument on how companies deliver products and services, but the Bowe Bergdahl case shows that political leaders who ignore the “how” in decision-making do so at their peril.
Dov Seidman, an ethics and compliance expert, urges banks and other companies to do the "next right thing," not the "next thing right," citing the example of Chipotle, which earlier this year stopped serving pork at one-third of its restaurants when it found a supplier fell short of its animal welfare standards.
Fifteen years ago, when 40 companies formed the Global Compact at the United Nations, they laid out the principles for a more inclusive and sustainable world. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for a “global compact of shared values and principles, which will give a human face to the global market.”
Two years ago, I wrote about #GivingTuesday when it first launched, calling it the “kind of wave that will launch and sustain us on a new journey.” Created as a response to “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday,” #GivingTuesday was spearheaded by the 92nd Street Y in partnership with the United Nations Foundation and other admirable organizations. Back then, the movement consisted of around 1,400 American charitable groups; this year, #GivingTuesday has spread to all 50 states and dozens of countries. From participating in coat and blood drives, to volunteering, to making donations, people of all ages, religions and opinions are uniting in the spirit of giving. It is capturing people’s imagination in ways no one has anticipated because it is tapping into a new source of power: our values.
What does it mean for a company to be human? For starters, it means we want our companies to embody the best – not the worst – human capacities and qualities. Peter Drucker’s distinction between “doing the next thing right, and doing the next right thing” nails a profound difference between humans and machines.
People, we have a grande problem. And it goes much farther than your local Starbucks. Here’s how to take a stand. (How, indeed!)
“I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be ‘Sir.’ Do you maggots understand that?” With that line from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket actor R. Lee Ermey introduced his new recruits – and a whole generation of Americans – to the fundamentals of basic training, where drill sergeants demand respect, order, and, most importantly, obedience. Ermey, who wrote much of his own dialogue, acted out the reality he experienced when he was a Parris Island drill sergeant.
The freedom train has left the station, my friends. If you’re a business leader, you better track that train down, leap aboard and learn how to conduct the right type of freedom throughout your business ecosystem. If you don’t, your company and your career may soon hurtle off the rails.
Yet while many are engaged in conspicuous consumption, today we will all have the opportunity to engage in something else: conspicuous compassion.
Tomorrow, I’ll be addressing chief executives from around the world at the U.N. Global Compact’s triennial Leaders Summit in New York.
This Election Tuesday, I celebrate our American tradition of exercising the right to vote. While there will certainly be a lot of talk about voter turnout and exit polls, today’s true significance is that Americans will be acting in good faith, as they always do as citizens. Each of us, no doubt, will cast a vote for the candidate we genuinely believe will do the best job in leading our great country.
“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.”
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."
It happened again. And it likely will keep happening until JetBlue and other airlines get their HOWs in order.