Idea Sharing Archive

Welcome to the Business of Shared Leadership blog! This weekly installment features thought-provoking posts and discussions about inspired leadership topics, authored by Kevin Hancock.

#44 | PATH FINDERS
“All this time I was finding myself and I didn’t know I was lost.” —Avicii, “Wake Me Up” How do you find and stay on your path? This is…
#43 | JENNY AND ME
“Everyone is beautiful.” — Ariana Grande Jenny Edwards cleans and cares for the Hancock Lumber home office in Casco at night, after finishing her day job. I work an…
#42 | WHO’S DRIVING THE GOD TRUCK?
“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” —Buddha I was driving through Rapid City, South Dakota, when…
#41 | IT’S WRITTEN IN THE SONGS
“Anyone writing a creative work knows that you open, you yield yourself, and the book talks to you and builds itself. To a certain extent, you become the carrier…
#40 | THE WATERMELON BUS
“Everything you can imagine is real.” —Pablo Picasso   We were driving through rural, agricultural Florida just north of Lake Okeechobee when I saw it. “What is that?” I…
#39 | FOUL BALL
“The most dangerous moment comes with victory.” —Napoleon Bonaparte Thursday, April 13, 1978 I’m twelve years old, in my bed on a school night. The only light in the…
#38 | PROTECTORS OF THE REALM
“Liberty means responsibility. That’s why most men dread it.” —George Bernard Shaw   It was six a.m. when I left Route 44 and passed through the veritable ghost town…
#37 | MISSION CLARITY
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” —Buddha Earlier this year I shared the following short message with…
#36 | TENT CITY
“The problem with homelessness is not houselessness.” —Matt Haig   Eugene, Oregon, is a city like no other. Nestled on the western edge of the Cascade Mountains, it’s surrounded…
#35 | THE POWER OF PRAYER
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” —Soren Kierkegaard Catherine, speaking only in Lakota, conversed with…
#34 | EIGHT BILLION ENTREPRENEURS
“All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in the human DNA.” —Reid Hoffman Entrepreneur is one of the…
#33 | BECOMING EMPLOYEE-CENTRIC
“Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first.” —Angela Ahrendts The first mission of a modern company should be…
#32 | NOMADS
“I am a wild, wandering nomad, I belong everywhere and nowhere all at the same time, and in that gap between worlds, I am free.” —Ritta Klint I’m fascinated…
#31 | THE HUMAN RACE
“A lion sleeps in the heart of every man.” —Old Turkish Proverb At the corner of a serene collection of shops and restaurants in the Park Shore neighborhood of…
#30 | THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS
“The collective unconscious contains the whole spiritual heritage of mankind’s evolution born anew in the brain structure of every individual.” —Carl Jung Speaking mostly in Lakota, Medicine Man begins…
#29 | THE PROBLEM WITH IT ALL . . .
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom.” —Mahatma Gandhi   The potential blessing of this essay series is that I am writing from experience. The…
#28 | SLOW DOWN TO SPEED UP
“Strange what being slowed down could do to a person.” —Nicholas Sparks   Even though the gymnasium was filled with whistles, shouting, and squeaking sneakers, I can still hear…
#27 | THE DIVERSE POTENTIAL OF SHARED LEADERSHIP
“Do not wait for the green light. You are the green light.” —Dr. Jacinta Mpalyenkana Shortly after participating in the Leadership Learning Exchange for Equity sponsored by the Maine…
#26 | “TRUST IS THE COIN OF THE REALM”
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” —Ernest Hemingway On December 13, 2020, former secretary of state George Shultz turned one…
#25 | UNSUBSCRIBE
“Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” —Dalai Lama Several months ago I was sitting with the vice chair of our board of directors, Jim…