Book Review: The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey Into the Business of Shared Leadership by Kevin Hancock
In this book Kevin Hancock presents the ethos of the song Imagine (John Lennon), with hints of Crack in the Cosmic Egg (Joseph Chilton Pearce), in the narrative style of A Pilgrimage to Eternity (Timothy Egan). It’s a very personal account that provides hope for humanity with a practical approach—the practical aspect is a cause for hope.
Hancock provides tangible evidence that treating people with respect as fellow humans increases monetary profits. The mantra of putting people first and profits will follow has confirmation in real life at Hancock Lumber—counterintuitive to the assumptions underpinning private equity practices, employee self actualization is foundational to shareholder value. If only this were universally practiced! It’s difficult to imagine Capitalism surviving without this fundamental course correction within businesses—the alternative is a fascist dystopia of oligarchic oppression the world and the US in particular are rapidly hurling toward.
The author describes his experiences with the Lakota people at the Pine Ridge Reservation near Rapid City, SD, the poorest county in the United States. He also chronicles his meetings with survivors of Soviet imposed starvation during the 1930s Holodomor in Ukraine. Among the many lessons from these experiences is that we are all fellow members of the human tribe, and should relate to others accordingly.
Although the Seventh Power is that of the individual, it is there to help other humans, contrary to what is touted as individualism in the libertarian sense. We need Seventh Power individualism—the exact opposite of the self-serving individualism that dominates our culture today. May we all pursue that!
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