How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything

386 Pages·2011·2.13 MB·English

by  Dov Seidman

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Why HOW We Do Anything
Means Everything
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Why HOW We Do Anything
Means Everything
EXPANDED EDITION
DOV SEIDMAN
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright © 2007 by Dov Seidman. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Seidman, Dov.
How : why how we do anything means everything / Dov Seidman.
p. cm.
“Published simultaneously in Canada.”
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-118-10637-2 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-16768-7 (ebk);
ISBN 978-1-118-16769-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-16770-0 (ebk)
1. Success in business. 2. Business ethics. 3. Values. 4. Organizational
effectiveness. 5. Technological innovations. I. Title.
HF5386.S4159 2007
650.1—dc22
2006103097
Printed in the United States of America.
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To my mother, Sydelle, for my first
and lasting sense that HOW matters
To my wife, Maria, for the HOW
that matters most to me
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C o n t e n t s
Foreword xi
Preface xiii
Prologue: Making Waves 1
PartI
How We Have Been, How We Have Changed 13
Introduction: The Spaces between Us
CHAPTER 1
From Land to Information 17
Lines of Communication • Getting Flattened
CHAPTER 2
Technology’s Trespass 25
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
CHAPTER 3
The Journey to HOW 41
Just Do It • The Certainty Gap • The Limitations of Rules •
Outbehaving the Competition • How We Go Forward
PartII
How We Think 57
Introduction: The Paradox of Journey
vii
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viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER 4
Playing to Your Strengths 63
Help • You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover • Looking Out for
Number Two • The Evolution of What Is Valuable • Believe It
CHAPTER 5
From Canto Should 81
Rules as Proxies • Dancing with Rules • On the Tip of Your
Tongue • Unlocking Should • Risk and Reward
CHAPTER 6
Keeping Your Head in the Game 103
Distraction • Small Lapses, Large Costs • Dissonance • Doing
Consonance • Friction • Putting It in the Whole
PartIII
How We Behave 125
Introduction: How We Do What We Do
CHAPTER 7
Doing Transparency 129
Beyond Proxies and Surrogates • ICU, UC Me • The Market
Defines You • Say You Are Sorry • Interpersonal Transparency •
Sig, Don’t Zag
CHAPTER 8
Trust 157
The Soft Made Hard • How High Is the Ceiling? • Going on a TRIP •
Tripping • Doing Trust • Trust Is the Drug • Trust, but Verify
CHAPTER 9
Reputation, Reputation, Reputation 181
Reputation in a Wired World • Reputational Capital •
Mismanaging Reputation Management • A Second Chance
PartIV
How We Govern 209
Introduction: Innovating in HOW