How (49 page)

My thanks also go to Marcus Buckingham for your wise perspective as I began this effort and helpful feedback near the finish line. Having been there many times before, you helped me stay focused on the book’s promise and you stepped in at key moments to help me deliver it.

My friend Tom Friedman, you sat me down in Aspen one day and said the things that a new writer needs to hear in a way no one else could have, and our ongoing conversations since then have been invaluable. What a special privilege for me. Through our “Aristotelian days” on the gondolas and the slopes, Aspen will never seem the same.

Murray Hidary, thank you for our close friendship especially during the journey of discovering this book in myself. Our many conversations on life’s issues through the lens of HOW have been illuminating.

Ben Sherwood, my dear friend of 20 years, your inspirational example showed me that you can write a book and still keep your day job. Then you introduced me to Joni. For what more can a friend ask? Thanks for your rare sensibilities, wise advice, and for pushing me past the points of no return.

Among the many things I learned from a great teacher of mine, Rabbi David Ellenson, is the expression from the Mishnah, “make for yourself a rabbi, and acquire for yourself a friend.” David, I am honored to be able to call you my rabbi and blessed to be able to call you a dear friend. I cherish our many meaningful conversations on matters of HOW.

I am grateful to all the people with whom I spoke about the ideas in this book, from business executives and thought leaders to line and middle managers to professional cheerleaders, some of whom read and commented on various drafts, some of whom were interviewed, and all of whose insight and experiences have helped shape my thinking, including Keven Bellows, William Broyles Jr., Judge Ruben Castillo, Jack Daly, Keith Darcy, Paula Desio, David Ellen, Patti Ellis, Massimo Ferragamo, Roger Fine, Mike Fricklas, Pat Gnazzo, David Greenberg, Joie Gregor, Charles Hampden-Turner, Patricia Harned, George Henderson, Dr. Michael Hoffman, Dr. Richard Joyce, Jeff Kindler, Rich Korn, Mats Lederhausen, Doug Lankler, Tom McCormick, Michael Monts, Paul Robert, Adam Rosman, Timothy Schultz, Jim Skinner, Joe Stallard, Robert Steele, Patricia Swann, Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz, David Toms, Chris Weiss, Marianne Williamson, Linda Wolf, Steve Wynn, and Paul Zak. It is impossible to remember and properly thank all the other people who, through casual conversation, spirited debate, or a glass of good wine also contributed to my thinking. If I have neglected to mention you now, I thank you for all you have given.

I’d like to thank Philosophy, without which I would never have read a book from cover to cover or learned that ideas can change the world. Thanks to all my professors and mentors, patient and loving people, who helped me see through the words to the profound ideas that lay beneath them. And thanks especially to my dear friend, professor Herb Morris from UCLA, who went the extra mile to mentor and help me through life, and still does.

The ideas in this book grew most directly from my experience with my colleagues at LRN (where all of our conference rooms are named after philosophers). At some level, every member of the LRN team over the past 13 years has contributed to how I think about and approach human achievement in both business and life. This book would not have been possible without the day-to-day, head-to-head interactions that have characterized our journey together. I want to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to work with you and to grow and learn by so doing, for your transparency, your trust, and for allowing me to join with you to transform these ideas from notions into real-world HOWs. So much of what I am today results from our mutual journey. I’d also like to thank the distinguished current and former members of the LRN board of directors, Senator Bill Bradley, Rex Golding, Alan Silver-man, Alan Spoon, Sheli Rosenberg, Joe Mandel, and Lee Feldman for believing in the book and its relevance to our mission.

My deepest appreciation also extends to all of LRN’s customers. Through my interactions with you over the years and the collaborations with your finest minds, you have given me the opportunity to solve real problems of ethics, compliance, leadership, and culture—real HOWs for a real world. You will see the fruits of our collaboration hanging amply throughout this book.

Family shapes you as nothing else. My mother, Sydelle Seidman, underpinned my life with values. You gave me a home base, and through our many adventures, the courage to venture widely yet never leave home behind. You helped me see the power of instinct and intuition, and believed in me when others did not. I love you.

My brother Ari and sister Goldee, thanks for your solidarity and love as we adapted together to all that life threw at us. I love you both. Being sandwiched between you, I got my first and most lasting lessons of HOW. Alex and Gabi, my niece and nephew, your resiliency and spirit show that our family’s next generation will also know HOW. I love being your uncle.

My father, Alex Seidman, who lives in memory, gave me the love of knowledge and connected me to the lessons of history, both others’ and our own. What he sacrificed for us inspires me still.

Yury and Vicki Parad, my wife’s parents, who, had I a choice of in-laws, would be my favorites among all possible in-laws. I am blessed by your sense of what it means to be family. Thanks for all your caring support, Russian remedies, and Yury, for your careful reading and mind-map of the book. And thanks to my lovely sister-in-law, Michele, for being a shining example of nice people finishing first.

Finally for these acknowledgments but first in my book of life, Maria Seidman, my wife, my constant content. Throughout the journey, from cover to cover, you have been the other voice in my head, reading, reflecting, pushing, and helping me to get it right. You have also been a loving and constant source of energy and support. Above all, you are my constant inspiration that the ideas in this book extend beyond business to life itself. I know no truer partner. I love you.

As I sit here today looking back, one final nod to all those seeming curses that turned out to be blessings in disguise.

And to all those people who questioned how I was going make a living with philosophy: This is HOW.

D. S.

Notes

PROLOGUE: Making Waves

1
George M. Henderson, interview, 2005.

2
I. Farkas et al., “Mexican Waves in an Excitable Medium,”
Nature
419 (September 12, 2002).

3
Ibid.

PART ONE How We Have Been, How We Have Changed

1
J. Madeleine Nash, “Fertile Minds,”
Time
, February 3, 1997.

2
Netscape, “Netscape Communications Offers New Network Navigator Free on the Internet,” news release, October 13, 1994.

Chapter 1 From Land to Information

1
“Revision Summaries: The Hundred Years’ War—1337-1453,” Arnold House School,
www.arnoldhouse.co.uk/site/pub/Pupils/history/history_rs_100yearswar.html
.

2
“The Queen at 80,” CBC News, April 20, 2006.

3
Adam Smith,
The Wealth of Nations
(New York: Bantam Classics, 2003).

4
Daniel Gross, “In Praise of Bubbles,”
Wired
, February 2006.

5
“Google Company Overview,”
www.google.com/corporate/
.

6
Thomas L. Friedman,
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century
(New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2006).

7
In the interest of transparency and full disclosure, it should be known that I have long-standing collaborations and commercial relationships with some of the companies that appear in one form or another in the book. I have tried to be fair and impartial in my analysis of them and their activities and to be truthful when selecting quotes and anecdotes to illustrate my points. It is, in many ways, precisely because of these relationships that I have been able to see more deeply into a wide assortment of business practices in order to share that insight and access with you, the reader. These companies are: 3M; Altria Group, Inc./Kraft Foods; Citigroup Inc./Citicorp; Computer Associates (CA); The Dow Chemical Company; eBay Inc.; Ford Motor Company; Fox Entertainment Group/ Fox Searchlight Pictures/MySpace; Harris Interactive Inc./Wirthlin Worldwide; Johnson & Johnson; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; MCI/WorldCom; Mitsubishi Motors Corp.; The New York Times Company; The Paramount Motion Picture Group/Paramount Studios; Pfizer Inc.; Philip Morris USA; Procter & Gamble; Toshiba America Inc.; Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.; Tribune Company/Los Angeles Times; Tyco International Ltd.; United Technologies Corporation; Viacom International Inc.; The Walt Disney Company; Wynn Las Vegas.

8
Matthew Hamblen, “CA’s Swainson Outlines Customer Advocate Cuts,”
Computerworld
, November 16, 2005.

Chapter 2 Technology’s Trespass

1
David Hume,
A Treatise of Human Nature
, new ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000; orig. pub. 1739-1740).

2
Terence H. Hull,
People, Population, and Policy in Indonesia
(Jakarta: Equinox Publishing, 2005).

3
Charles Hampden-Turner and Fons Trompenaars,
Building Cross-Culture Competence
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001).

4
Charles Hampden-Turner, interview, 2006.

5
Peg McDonald, “Globalization—Business Opportunity and KM Challenge,”
KM World
, February 1, 2001.

6
Jack M. Germain, “Online Consumers Window Shop More Than Impulse Buy,”
www.ecommercetimes.com/story/42761.html
.

7
Lev Grossman and Hannah Beech, “Google under the Gun,”
Time
, February 5, 2006.

8
Heather Landy, “RadioShack CEO Admits ‘Misstatements,’ ”
Forth Worth Star-Telegram
, February 16, 2006.

9
“Veritas CFO Resigns over Falsified Resume,”
TheStreet.com
,
www.thestreet.com/markets/marketfeatures/10045724.html
.

10
“Academic, Athletic Irregularities Force Resignation,” ESPN, December 14, 2001.

11
Rob Wright, “A
Monster.com
of a Problem,”
VARBusiness
, February 13, 2003.

12
The New Oxford American Dictionary
, 2nd ed., s.v. “Google.”

13
Madlen Read, “Should I Worry about Prospective Employers ‘Googling’ Me?,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, March 5, 2005.

14
Lizette Alvarez, “(Name Here) Is a Liar and a Cheat,”
New York Times
, February 16, 2006.

15
Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger, “Two Parties Far Apart in Turnout Tactics Too,”
Los Angeles Times
, November 6, 2006.

16
“Anger Over Big Brother ‘Racism,’ ”
BBC News
, January 16, 2007.

17
Landy, “RadioShack CEO.”

18
Andrew Ross Sorkin, “An E-Mail Boast to Friends Puts Executive out of Work,”
New York Times
, sec. C, May 22, 2001, late edition.

19
“The Wayback Machine,” The Internet Archive,
www.archive.org/web/web.php
.

20
According to “Mark Twain Quotations, Newspaper Collections, & Related Resources” (
www.twainquotes.com/Lies.html
), “This quote has been attributed to Mark Twain, but it has never been verified as originating with Twain. This quote may have originated with Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) who attributed it to an old proverb in a sermon delivered on Sunday morning, April 1, 1855. Spurgeon was a celebrated English fundamentalist Baptist preacher. His words were: ‘A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.’ ”

21
Eulynn Shiu and Amanda Lenhart, “How Americans Use Instant Messaging” (Pew Internet & American Life Project, Washington, D.C., 2004).

Chapter 3 The Journey to HOW

1
Jerry Maguire
, DVD, directed by Cameron Crowe (Sony Pictures, 1996).

2
“All-Time Worldwide Boxoffice,” Internet Movie Database,
www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region=world-wide
.

3
Harvey Araton, “Athletes Toe the Nike Line, but Students Apply Pressure,”
New York Times
, November 22, 1997; Steven Greenhouse, “Nike Shoe Plant in Vietnam Is Called Unsafe for Workers,”
New York Times
, November 8, 1997.

4
Claudia H. Deutsch, “Take Your Best Shot: New Surveys Show That Big Business Has a P.R. Problem,”
New York Times
, December 9, 2005, late edition (East Coast).

5
LRN/Wirthlin Worldwide, “Attitudes toward Ethical Behavior in Corporate America Still Suffer from a Gaping Divide among Executives and Rank-and-File Employees,” November 18, 2003.

6
“The Joy of Postal Service Dress Regulations,”
Morning Edition
, National Public Radio, November 13, 2006.

7
Jyoti Thottam, “Thank God It’s Monday!,”
Time
, January 17, 2005.

8
“Occupational Outlook Handbook—Engineers,” United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 4, 2006.

9
“The Story of Xerography,” Xerox Corporation,
www.xerox.com/downloads/usa/en/s/Storyofxerography.pdf
.

10
“Playmakers Part II: Play-Doh,” Parents’ Choice Foundation,
www.parents-choice.org/full_abstract.cfm?art_id=236&the_page=editorials
.

11
Henry Petroski, “Painful Design,”
American Scientist
93, no. 2 (2005): 113.

12
Brad Stone and Robert Stein, “Is TiVo’s Time Up?,”
Newsweek
, March 20, 2006.