"We really enjoyed having Dov speak to CEO last month. Dov was received very well by our Members. We do have audience members rate the event’s speakers, and Dov received a 9.2/10. I was managing a different education room onsite so I unfortunately did not get to hear his presentation, but I heard the buzz from attendees that they really enjoyed the sessions."
-Chief Executives Organization"Dov was amazing! We got rave reviews about his delivery and most importantly his message. He was well aligned to our client’s meeting theme and to the overall key messages being delivered by key executives. "
-MAC4 Communications, LLC"…why are all of these Fortune 500 companies falling over themselves to hear what Mr. Seidman has to say? Ethics are all well and good, but doesn't the bottom line matter most?...Thanks to the Internet and other technologies, what we do, according to Mr. Seidman, is not as important as how we do it…Companies that can build customer loyalty through caring, ethical, and transparent behavior will have the upper hand going forward. It's an encouraging trend to us as consumers, shareholders, and just plain old human beings. The world can always use more integrity…"
- Todd Wenning and Blake Fulton, The Motley Fool"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"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"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. "
- Jeff Kindler, Chairman and CEO, Pfizer Inc."Dov gave a polished, positive, visually compelling talk at a time when WGI needed to direct people's attention to good corporate conduct, especially given the high proportion of business being done with the U.S. government. "
- Larry Meyers, Washington Group International"Dov is one of those rare speakers who can walk into a room and turn a lecture into a dialogue, engaging his audience – including seasoned executives, attorneys and other professionals – to think through challenging issues with him. He doesn't talk to his audience, he talks with his audience. He is thoughtful, and his audience leaves the presentation with a far greater understanding and appreciation of the issues than they had when they walked into the room. "
- Michael Horowitz, Partner, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and Commissioner, United States Sentencing Commission"Dov got us talking about HOW to succeed in our business – the very competitive entertainment industry – and really helped our people understand how to use behavior, transparency and authenticity to deepen our key relationships. We found our time with Dov to be very insightful and entertaining, and his ideas have continued to stimulate our thinking even today. "
- Creative Artists Agency (CAA)"The leadership workshop that Dov Seidman presented for the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) was an outstanding success. Dov was an energetic and engaging speaker who kept the audience involved, effectively linking his ideas to UNMC's culture, strategy and operations. We are confident that Dov's insights will live on at UNMC and help us advance toward our vision of being a world renowned health science center. "
- John C. Adams, Ph.D., Asst. Vice Chancellor, UNMC"Dov was a terrific speaker and worked as a real partner in helping us with the program. The evaluations of our members were A+, and we couldn't have been more delighted. Dov is also a terrific person off stage - a somewhat unusual combination for charismatic speakers."
-Lee Emery, CEO, Texas General Counsel ForumLeading in a Reshaped World
In a time of crisis, with people feeling frightened and uncertain, leadership doesn’t just matter more. It matters exponentially more. From business to politics, religion to sports, few Americans have more closely observed the changing nature of leadership than Dov Seidman. At a time of eroded trust in traditional institutions and authority, he draws a bold conclusion: we are in the midst of a moral crisis, when leadership itself has been disrupted. In this session, Seidman offers an equally bold call to arms, outlining the urgent need for a new kind of leadership rooted in moral authority. He identifies the five forces irrevocably shaping the world, and the four pillars of moral authority today’s leaders must embody: the pursuit of significant and noble purpose, the ability to inspire, unshakable values, and wisdom.
Finding Humanity in the Age of Machines
The rapid advances in artificial intelligence force us to grapple with a question that is both philosophical and deeply personal: What does it mean to be human in the age of intelligent machines? In this session, Dov Seidman shares the perspectives that have brought him renown as both a business leader and moral philosopher, weaving together insights on modern-day technology and business with timeless wisdom — from Aristotle and Heraclitus to Adam Smith and David Hume. Our present revolution, Seidman explains, is not only one where we will need to rethink the nature and structure of our industries and institutions, but also one where we will need to create new systems that put humanity at the center and come to grips with the transformative implications of such a change.
Trust: The Ultimate Performance-Enhancing Strategy
Trust is a funny thing, one of those soft things that we often rush by. What’s not so funny is how often it lies at the center of our challenges and opportunities. That is because trust allows us to function in times of uncertainty. Business has long known about the benefits of trust, but absent any real metrics or data found itself at a loss to be able to do anything about it. In this session, Dov Seidman, called the “hottest advisor on the corporate virtue circuit,” by Fortune Magazine and one of the “Top 60 Global Thinkers of the Last Decade” by The Economic Times, shares insights from more than 20 years of visionary business leadership and reveals fundamental truths about trust, with an emphasis on how to build a culture of trust that fosters strong relationships, boosts individual performance, and helps organizations gain a competitive advantage
Shared Values for Shared Value
Social, religious, political, geopolitical, environmental, human, ethical, and even existential issues that were once considered tangential to doing business are now inescapably central on its agenda. In this fused world, the business of business can no longer just be business. Everything is now personal; the business of business is therefore society. Mission and margin, profit and principle, success and significance are now inextricably linked. In the fused world, how we behave, how we operate, how we govern, and how we relate to people and communities matters more than ever. Going forward, businesses are going to compete on trust, on responsibility, and on creating and maintaining deep relationships with their stakeholders rooted in shared truths and values.
“When you press the pause button on a machine it stops. But when you press the pause button on human beings, they start.” – Dov Seidman
Dov Seidman is a successful entrepreneur and CEO, best-selling author and writer, and a teacher.
He has devoted his life and professional career to making philosophy and philosophical frameworks practical in the business arena and across all sectors of society on a global scale.
Seidman is the author of the New York Times bestseller HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything, which offers a philosophical framework for individual and organizational behavior in a world that is increasingly interconnected and interdependent.
Most recently he founded The HOW Institute for Society, a global nonprofit that aims to elevate humanity by nurturing a culture of moral leadership, values-based behavior, and principled decision making.
Today, the HOW philosophy is being used to impact how businesses operate, cities are run, soldiers are trained, school systems prepare their students and staff, and professional sports franchises use values for competitive advantage.
Prior, he spent more than 25 years as the CEO of LRN, a global ethics and compliance management firm he founded to inspire organizations to put purpose, trust, values, and ethics at the center of business endeavor.
Seidman has been named a “Game Changer” by TIME Magazine, a “Groundbreaker” by The New York Times, “One of the Top Thought Leaders of the Past Decade” by The Economic Times, and “the corporate whisper” by Fortune Magazine because of his “ability to take the challenges that CEOs and other leaders face in their day-to-day roles and place them in a broader context of decision-making.”
Led by a lifelong pursuit and passion for ethical leadership, he became the exclusive partner of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Prize in Ethics in 2008, as the institution was in its 20th year of celebrating ethical decision-making among America’s youth.
Seidman regularly writes about business behavior, leadership and corporate culture for Fortune Magazine and The New York Times.
After the collapse of Enron, Seidman testified before the U.S. Sentencing Commission arguing that corporations must move from a check-the-box, compliance-only approach to instead focus on fostering ethical cultures and behaviors. His proposals were adopted and today are the very standards by which companies, cultures and programs are judged.
Seidman attended UCLA simultaneously for both bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy. He then received another bachelor's degree from Oxford University in philosophy, politics and economics, where he was a Newton-Tatum scholar. He is also a graduate of Harvard Law School. Seidman gave the commencement address at UCLA College of Letters and Science.
Seidman is a member of the board of directors at the 92nd Street Y, The Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine, and Planet Word. He also teaches as a Hauser Leader at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.
Seidman was honored with an honorary doctorate from The Hebrew Union College. He was given the Jurisprudence Award by the Anti-Defamation League. He has also been presented with the Corporate Organizational Excellence in Organizational Development Award for demonstrating a 10+ year commitment to organizational development and effectiveness.