Dov Seidman is an American author, columnist and businessman. He is the author of How and is the founder, chairman and former CEO of LRN, an ethics and compliance management firm.
Early life
Seidman was born in San Francisco, California. His father, Alex, was a Polish-born physician who died in 1992. At the age of 3, Seidman moved to Israel with his mother and two siblings. He returned to the United States in 1977, when he was 13. Seidman is dyslexic; his dyslexia is the subject of a case study in the book The Dyslexic Advantage.
After law school, Seidman joined the law firm O'Melveny & Myers and left in December 1992 to launch LRN. He has testified before the U.S. Sentencing Commission about the need for companies to develop ethical cultures instead of ‘check-the-box’, compliance-only approaches, and his testimony helped shaped the amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines He was hired by the NFL commissioner in 2014 to advocate to its owners and head coaches the need for the NFL to create a culture where tolerance and respect were normal expectations. He spoke about issues concerning global leadership at a Fortune Magazine conference for 100 CEOs held in Vatican City.
Publications
Seidman wrote a book How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything... in Business published in September 2007. In 2011, How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything, an expanded edition, was published and became a New York Times Best Seller in the "Advice, How-to, and Miscellaneous" category. Seidman is a columnist for DealBook in the New York Times; the digital Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and The Huffington Post.
Legal disputes
Seidman sued yogurt maker Chobani and its advertising agency Droga5 in 2014 claiming that an advertising campaign run that same year around the theme "How Matters" violated trademarks legally held by Seidman. In 2017, Seidman settled the lawsuit out of court after Chobani withdrew its application for a trademark for "How Matters." In March 2016, Seidman and LRN filed a lawsuit for breach of fiduciary duty against William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, his agent for the book, How. In 2017, Seidman and LRN settled all three lawsuits. In 2019, Seidman, LRN, and another 2 board members were sued by a shareholder for breaching their fiduciary duties to LRN shareholders.
