Kevin Hancock is the Chairman of our family business as well as an award-winning author and nationally recognized public speaker. For the last decade, Kevin’s written books, spoken nationally, and created content that fuels his website, The Business of Shared Leadership, where he invites any visitor to follow his blog for leadership inspiration. The mission of his personal website is to heighten RESPECT FOR ALL VOICES. If everyone on Earth felt trusted, respected, valued, and heard, what might change? Kevin believes that everything might change–and, most importantly, that the workplace can and must become a catalyst for this transformation.
Kevin started down this path over a decade ago, setting the stage for an updated company vision and strategy. ‘What if we created a human-centric mission?’ We’ve always been about people, but this is next level. At Hancock Lumber everyone has a voice and is expected to use their voice—to be a leader. It’s an employee-first, inside out culture. People spend a lot of time at work, so we wanted to find deeper ways for it to be more meaningful—making work important, but not all-consuming. We’ve simplified the mission and made everything employee-centric first.
– Erin Plummer, Chief Marketing Officer
During a January 2022 site tour across Hancock Lumber, Kevin visited six retail and manufacturing locations and spoke with more than 60 employees. When he returned to the office, he asked to huddle with the executive team for twenty minutes where he proceeded to tell his team that, ‘No matter how well you think it’s going; it’s actually going better than that’.
I was blown away on my tour by the self-regulating nature of the work culture. Everyone I spoke to was defining the values of the company in their own unique voice. The magic happens when employees take responsibility for the work experience.
– Kevin Hancock, CEO
Kevin believes the purpose of a human life is self-actualization, and this requires safe communities that embrace people as they are. At Hancock Lumber our goal is to create an environment that fosters this. Our mission is to create a work environment that first and foremost recognizes employees as human beings and ultimately improves the lives of anyone who works at the organization. On his website, Kevin emphasizes the notion that leadership in the twenty-first century must be about dispersing power and giving others a stronger voice. Followers must become leaders to create change from within. Every human spirit is sacred by design. Organizations must learn to free the human spirit rather than constrict, control, and direct it.
What makes me the proudest is the way the people in our company treat each other. Everybody has bought into the concepts of shared leadership, dispersed power, and respect for all voices. When this happens, it is no longer about managers promoting the cultural values, the culture becomes self-sustaining.
– Kevin Hancock, Chairman
Kevin Hancock is an award-winning author, speaker, and Hancock Lumber’s Chairman of the Board. Kevin’s first book, Not For Sale: Finding Center in the Land of Crazy Horse won three national book awards. In 2020, Post Hill Press published his second book, The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey into the Business of Shared Leadership. Kevin’s third published book released in 2021 titled, 48 Whispers from Pine Ridge and the Northern Plains, and is a hybrid book of sorts—part photography and part thoughts for reflection, heightened self-awareness, and human advancement.