User:BC1278/sandbox/how (book)

How is a philosophical framework that argues "how" individuals, companies, organizations and governments behave in a "hyper-connected" world matters more for their success than what they do.

How was introduced by The New York Times best-selling book of the same name, written by Dov Seidman in 2007 and expanded with a foreword by former United States President Bill Clinton in 2011.

The How framework and is frequently discussed in the New York Times. Since 2011, The HOW Column has appeared in Forbes and several international publications and previously appeared in Business Week. How has been a presentation topic at the World Economic Forum, the United Nations and the Aspen Ideas Festival. The philosophy has been cited as influencing the work of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. In the The World is Flat, by Friedman, How is number eight in his rules for the new world: "HOW you do things as a company matters more than ever."

Individuals
How refers to how individuals should behave, rather than how they can behave. Instead of thinking about behavior in terms of obeying rules, and whether behavior conforms to regulations, How advocates thinking about behavior in terms of values.

Since the world has become more transparent, connected and interdependent, especially because of information technology, the How framework says that behavior matters more than it has in the past and in different ways. Individual behavior can affect the world much more than it has previously, for good or bad. It also can affect people and organizations far removed from the individual. The world is in an "era of behavior", according to Seidman.

He argues that principled behavior provides a sustainable competitive advantage to people and organizations. Behavior provides a means of differentiation, even in circumstance where goods and services become commoditized. "Outbehaving" as opposed to just "outperforming" or "outproducing" has become a source of advantage.

Organizations
According to How, the most sustainable organizations are also the most moral — via "sustainable values" (as opposed to "situational values"). Such organizations have a culture of sustaining relationships over the long term, with values such as "integrity, honesty, truth, humility and hope". Organizations that "outbehave" their competition are more likely to achieve success.

How argues that companies need to differentiate themselves via behavior toward clients because globalization has made many products and services commodities. Information technology has has amplified the consequence of good and bad behavior and made it more difficult to hide the latter.

The theory has been questioned in Strategy + Business by an editor who argued that among "the most successful companies were quite a few that were known for visibly amoral — or, in some cases, exploitative — values and practices." But Seidman maintains the global trends of interdependence and transparency will make such behavior increasingly difficult to sustain.

How says a better way than top-down command and control is for organizations to regulate and guide their own behavior based on "connect and collaborate." How says there are four models of group culture: "Anarchy and lawlessness", "Blind obedience", "Informed acquiescence", and "Self-Governance." How promotes self-governance as the most values-based model and therefore, most likely to allow an organization to thrive. The idea is also described by Seidman in the Harvard Business Review as the "human operating system", where companies value humans and behavior at their core.

In a a time of unprecedented transparency, the effect of good and bad behavior is compounded. Reputational capital is as important to success in business as physical capital. Winning organizations build cultures based on humanity, How argues, defining humanity as "how you connect with and inspire other humans."

Research
In a 2011 independent study of several thousand corporate employees conducted by Boston Research Group, and designed by Dov Seidman's company, LRN, 43% of company cultures were top-down management; 54% were "informed acquiescence" and 3% were "self-governance." More than 90% of employees in self-governing firms, and two-thirds in the informed-acquiescence category, agreed with the statement that "good ideas are readily adopted by my company." At blind-obedience firms, fewer than one in five did.

A 2016 study called the How Report included about 16,000 employees in 17 countries, 8% said they work for self-governing organizations. About 30% said they worked for “blind obedience” organizations and 63% said they worked for “informed acquiescence” companies. Some 99% of those self-identified from "self governing" organizations said they would recommend working for their employer compared to 31% of those at “blind obedience” organizations. Organizations described by employees as having both "strong character" and "inspired trust" performed four times better than those with other cultural markers, such as collaboration and celebrating others. Performance was measured by market share, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, long-term sustainability of the company.

Applications in Society
A wide range of organizations have engaged in formal How education. These include the NFL, the U.S. Army, and Kelloggs. U.S. Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno included the How book on his recommended Leadership reading list. Retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral and NATO supreme allied commander James Stavridis included How on his 2017 list of five non-fiction books U.S. President Donald Trump should read.