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Dov Seidman

Dov Seidman has built a career, and pioneered an industry, around the idea that the most principled businesses are the most profitable over the long term.

Fourteen years ago, long before Enron, Dov founded LRN with a 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 company that has helped to shape the ways millions of employees, managers and leaders behave and interact all over the globe.

Dov is recognized as a thought leader on a range of topics – from achieving significance, not just success, in our new 21st century world, to the importance of trust in personal and business dealings to succeeding with both principles and profits in mind.

In the wake of the corporate scandals that rocked global business, Dov testified in 2004 before the U.S. Sentencing Commission, arguing that check-the-box, compliance-only approaches were insufficient. Only by focusing on the underlying corporate culture could scandals be avoided. His views helped shape the amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

In 2007, his book, HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything…in Business (and in Life), was published by John Wiley & Sons, detailing years of thought about business cultures, philosophy and success. In the acclaimed book, Dov argues, outbehaving competitors has become critical to outperforming them. In our hyperconnected and hypertransparent world, it is no longer what we do that sets us apart from others, but how we do what we do that matters. HOW was selected as one of the best business books of 2007 by Soundview Executive Book Summaries and one of the Best Leadership Books of 2007 by Leadership Now. The book has been identified as a best seller on the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and 800-CEO-Read business book lists.

Dov’s perspectives have also been incorporated into other ideas and works. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas L. Friedman prominently featured Dov’s thinking and excerpts from his interviews with Dov in the best-selling book, The World is Flat. The updated edition, The World Is Flat 3.0, prominently features Dov’s philosophies as Rule #7 (proper use of outsourcing) and Rule #8 (“Hows Matter”) in Friedman’s nine rules for companies to embrace in a flat world. Further, in the new book What’s Next from Jane Buckingham, founder of the trend-forecasting consultancy The Intelligence Group, Dov is quoted discussing the need to focus more on how behavior is perceived by an increasingly networked and informed public.

Dov is frequently invited to speak at leading industry events and to senior management and boards of directors. His views have been quoted in hundreds of print and broadcast media. Recent presentations include The National Press Club, The Milken Institute Forum, The Outstanding Directors Exchange and The Defense Industry Initiative’s Best Practices Forum. Recent media appearances include ABC’s Good Morning America, BusinessWeek, Charlie Rose, Condé Nast Portfolio and The New York Times. He has also been the keynote speaker at UCLA’s annual commencement.

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, where he was a Newton-Tatum scholar and captain of the Balliol College crew team. He graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. He and his wife Maria live in Los Angeles, where LRN is headquartered.