About

A culmination of the professional and personal work of Kevin Hancock – CEO, author, speaker, and thought-leader—The Business of Shared Leadership website features a unique selection of ideas, real-world examples, and learnings from across myriad experiences. Between helping lead his seventh-generation family business, Hancock Lumber to his personal journey of self-discovery through travel to Pine Ridge, South Dakota and beyond, Kevin has shed light on a new type of leadership. Through books he’s authored, articles, and speaking engagements across the country, Kevin hopes to drive conversation about the evolution of leadership in our communities.

A note from Kevin:

The organizational structure of human society was long ago designed to compel us to look EXTERNALLY for direction, solutions, leadership, and control. This has been an intentional exercise and has produced an empire-centric view of our world. Employees exist to serve their company, followers, their church, and citizens, their state. These institutions have done some good through their centralization of power, but they have also done some bad. Regardless, in virtually all cases, the common denominator is that the individual is advertently made small before the capital, the kingdom, and the crown. True power, we’ve been taught, lives “out there,” beyond our reach.

I’m interested in flipping that script. The goal is not to eliminate human institutions but rather to refocus them on dispersing power, not collecting it. The salvation we seek requires looking inward. The real power source of humanity lives dispersed and WITHIN us all. Each of us is a spark of divine light, a never-to-be-repeated gift. Institutions should exist to celebrate and accelerate self-actualization at an individual level. A great company, therefore, should serve, honor, and ignite the talents of the people who work there.

The twenty-first century has the potential to mark the ascension of decentralized power, but for that to happen, the traditional model of leadership and followership must be reinvented. My books and supporting online essays are dedicated to pursuing this goal.

—Kevin Hancock