Dov Seidman
Named one of the “Top 60 Global Thinkers of the Last Decade” by The Economic Times, “the hottest advisor on the corporate virtue circuit” by Fortune Magazine and a “Game Changer” by Time Magazine, CEO, author and HOW Institute chairman Dov Seidman has built a career, and pioneered an industry, around the idea that the most principled businesses are the most profitable and sustainable. It is from this conviction that Dov founded The HOW Institute for Society in 2016, which seeks to build and nurture a culture of moral leadership and principled decision-making that enables individuals and institutions to meet the profound social, economic, and technological changes of the 21st Century.
Dov’s effort to institutionalize principle-based behavior began twenty years ago when he founded LRN – which advises and educates companies on corporate culture, governance and leadership – with the powerful vision that the world would be a better place if more people did the right thing. From that basic notion, he has grown a successful business that has helped to shape the ways millions of employees, managers and leaders behave and interact all over the globe.
Dov maintains that in today’s connected and transparent world, people and organizations stand to gain by dedicating new thought and energy to how they do what they do. That’s the inspiration behind his award-winning book, “HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything.” Now updated and expanded, HOW includes a foreword from President Bill Clinton and a new preface from Dov on why how we behave, lead, govern, operate, consume, engender trust in our relationships and relate to others matters more than ever and in ways it never has before.
Led by a lifelong pursuit and passion for ethical leadership, he led the effort on behalf of LRN to become the exclusive corporate sponsor 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.
Dov is a member of the board at the 92nd Street Y, and was honored as the 2014 Corporate Organizational Excellence in Organizational Development Award winner for demonstrating a 10+ year commitment to organizational development and effectiveness. Dov is frequently invited to speak at leading industry events, and to senior corporate managers and boards of directors. Recent presentations include The Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, The World Economic Forum, The World Business Forum, The National Press Club and The Aspen Ideas Festival. He has also been the keynote speaker at University of California Los Angeles’s annual commencement, and has received an honorary doctorate from Hebrew Union College.
Dov earned simultaneous bachelor’s and master’s degrees, summa cum laude, in philosophy from UCLA. He later earned a B.A. with honors in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University. He graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. He, his wife Maria and their son and daughter live in New York City.