In this podcast, Kevin Hancock speaks to The Bregman Leadership Podcast host Peter Bregman about his new book The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey Into the Business of Shared Leadership and the leadership style he adopted from his findings. Kevin has integrated an employee-centric culture into Hancock Lumber, highlighted by the importance of everybody partaking in a leadership role. By empowering others to lead, Kevin has been able to foster a safe space for ideas to be implemented and challenges overcome. The results for the business have been astounding, but Kevin ensures to speak about how any community can benefit from this interconnectivity and shared leadership practice.
Click here to listen to the full podcast.
Here are a few highlights from the podcast (click here for the full transcription):
- What struck me after months and months of answering a question with a question, was people already knew what to do. This is what really got me thinking differently about leadership. They didn’t actually need a top-down, management-centric directive to the vast majority of questions and challenges that they faced during the course of a workday. They already knew what to do. All they really needed was the confidence and the courage to trust their own judgment and voice, and a safe work culture to know that it would be okay to make a mistake or have something they chose to do not go perfectly. (11:40-12:33)
- But what we’ve found is that if people feel they aren’t being included in a transparent, authentic process of making decisions, that they are much more apt to support those outcomes. Our safety director is fond of saying that people support that, which they help to create. So we’ve actually seen by having authentic dialogue, is the discipline to core systems and best practices actually improves. It doesn’t weaken or fray, it actually strengths. (17:07 -17:47)
- The truth is, great people are everywhere. There’s a sacred light that dwells within us all. Everyone has value to contribute and the ability to lead. The idea is to turn the corporation inside out. In the old model, employees were commodities that sacrificed and served the organization. In the new model, the organization becomes a conduit for serving individuals within a company. For example, self-actualization, one employee at a time becomes the goal. Profit, while enhanced is now the outcome of a higher purpose. (20:05-20:39)
