Notes on How by Dov Seidman

I just finished reading ​How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything by Dov Seidman, and I had heard about it from another book I had read recently. It focused on morality, principles, and ethics in business (the "how" behind what companies do).

I really liked its description of the history behind the "wave" phenomenon at sports games and how it used that metaphor throughout the book. I found the book quite high level and abstract and wished for more tactics and examples, though there definitely were diverse stories throughout. It acknowledged this issue itself in the end saying that the book was less about tactics and more about the principles behind "how."

I can recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding how good principles and ethics in business can make people and companies more successful long term and how to incorporate such ideas into one's work.

Some of my notes and takeaways from the book are below.

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​Forward by bill clinton

Preface
How vs how to
Differentiation
Outbehave the competition
the era of behavior
Constant: World is connected
Constant: Human passion for progress
Variables: ideas and values
Way of life versus end of life crises
Situational versus sustainable values
Integrity
Honesty
Truth
Humility
Hope
Everything personal is public now
Principal behavior is the key to success
Coerce, motivate, or inspire
Better to rely mostly on inspiration
Connect and collaborate leadership
Replace task based jobs with value based missions
Inspiration begins with in, internal motivation
How is anagram of who
Human operating system
Success vs significance
Hope
Making wave in football stadium

Part 1 how we’ve been, how we’ve changed

Intro the spaces between us

1 from land to information
Land limited but info unlimited

2 technology's trespass
New types of relationships
Expectation of response factor
Persistence of memory

3 the journey to how
The certainty gap between aspirations and reality
Limitations of rules 
Transparency

Part 2 how we think

Intro paradox of journey

4 playing to your strengths
Altruistic helping

5 from can to should
Rules as proxies
Rules govern the past
Apologize when something goes wrong
Values based approach
Should versus can

6 keeping your head in the game
Rules just floor not ceiling
Dissonance due to something against values versus consonance

Part 3 how we behave

Intro How we do what we do

7 doing transparency
Say you are sorry

8 trust
Trust increase profits 
Poverty trap
Trust, risk, innovation, progress
Trust enables risk
Trust but verify
Random checks

9 reputation
Diamond trade based on trust and reputation
Reputation quotient

Part 4 how we govern

10 doing culture
Four types of culture
Five how’s of culture
Self governing cultures

11 case for self governing cultures
Values based self governance
J&J credo
Written values/principles

12 leadership framework
Vision
Enlist and create connections
Build a clock that can tell time without you
Be principled