"I attend a fair amount of networking events. This Women in Family Business was one of the best I've ever been to! I'm a big fan of the speaker, Susan Dench anyway, but wanted you to know I loved the energy and what we learned!"
- Kimberley C. Kalicky, Assistant Vice President - Operations, R.M. Davis, Inc.

Books by IFOB Members
We have some very talented authors in the Institute, and their books are listed below!

Kevin Hancock, Hancock Lumber

Not For Sale: Finding Center in the Land of Crazy Horse

"WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE?" the old jewelry maker asked. Moments later, Kevin found himself alone again by the red wooden sign depicting the massacre that occurred here so long ago. As Kevin stood, absorbing the soft wind that always seems to blow on the northern plains, he reflected on the strange sequence of events that had brought him to this lonely place, and how an old Lakota woman he had just met, an evolutionary astrologist he had never met, and a rare voice disorder he had never heard of had joined forces to make him stop, look inward, and think.

NOT FOR SALE: Finding Center in the Land of Crazy Horse is a unique iconoclastic memoir that traces one businessman's journey deep into Indian country, and even deeper into his own soul. In a corporate world hallmarked by the never-ending quest for bigger, better, more, this CEO of one of America's oldest family businesses contemplates an organizational structure where the goal is to do less, not more. In a 24/7 internet- wired world consumed with roles, responsibilities, and external accomplishments, Kevin learns to look inward for meaning and purpose. Through a series of successive, solo trips to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Kevin learns many powerful lessons.

In a modern-day adventure strikingly similar to the ancient Lakota Vision Quest rite, Kevin separates from his own tribe for the purpose of seeking a deeper sense of self. Along the way, Kevin comes to be thankful for the partial loss of his own speaking voice as he learns it was his soul's way of getting him to stop working, stop leading, stop caretaking. In losing consistent access to his voice, Kevin discovers a pathway, a calling, to strengthening the voices of others, which he uses to think differently about the future of Pine Ridge, the future of Hancock Lumber, and the future of tribes everywhere. Click here to learn more.

Kevin Hancock, Hancock Lumber

The Seventh Power - One CEO's Journey into the Business of Shared Leadership
“Kevin Hancock’s personal journey holds universal messages for people at all levels of business and community. The Seventh Power’s new, more inclusive approach to leadership and management will give you important insights into your life, your career, and your company.” —Chip Conley, Hospitality Entrepreneur and Bestselling Author

“Many business books have discussed management, innovation, culture, and how to be great, but none grab you like Kevin Hancock's The Seventh Power: A CEO’s Journey into Shared Leadership. One has to admire what Kevin has accomplished after experiencing a serious speech impediment. Kevin takes what most of us would be an insurmountable challenge and uses it as a learning tool to make himself, those around him, and his company better. The Seventh Power is not only a good read, it's a must read for all aspiring leaders and even those of us who have been around a while. It's never too late to learn!” —Rick Holley, Chairman of the Board, Weyerhaeuser Company

“From his home in Maine to Navajo and Lakota communities in the West to Ukraine, Kevin Hancock takes the reader on a personal journey of more than 15,000 miles in which he learns to listen and empower people. The Seventh Power is an exploration of a new model of leadership in which individual voices are heard and the human spirit is celebrated. The principles that Kevin puts to work in his 171-year-old family business offer an enlightened way forward for all institutions.” —U.S. Senator Susan Collins.

Click here to learn more.

Dana Morris-Jones, Ph.D., The Delphi Group

The Power of Difference: From Conflict to Collaboration in Five Steps

The Power of Difference provides a comprehensive roadmap for anyone who works in an organization and struggles with the frustration of unresolved conflict that is often the source of work disruption and disengagement.

The pragmatic five-step model the book is based on draws on more than forty years of knowledge and experience in organization development, social psychology, and conflict resolution, and brings together both time-tested and relatively new theoretical bases for processes to resolve organizational differences constructively. Real case illustrations make it understandable and user friendly. The model and accompanying skill-building activities provide a toolbox for OD and HR professionals, coaches, counselors, leaders and managers who assist and guide others to resolve organizational differences. Click here to learn more.

John Lemieux, Anton Lemieux Financial Group

Life is Greater than Limb: My Journey to Becoming Whole

Just before Christmas in 2012, at age fifty-three, John LeMieux lost his left leg to a recurrence of sarcoma. The unique twenty-hour rotationplasty surgery—never done on a man his age—was followed by six months of bed rest. It was only the beginning of years of physical, spiritual, and emotional growth. In this memoir, John recounts the lows and highs of a life forever altered.

As an aging, ex-college athlete, John was forced to confront a life where every expectation was changed. With the help of his family and friends, he discovered that he was stronger than he knew, as he grappled with the physical loss of his leg, the crippling anxiety that attacked him, his relationships with others, and his place in the world.

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Derek Volk, Volk Packaging Corporation

Chasing the Rabbit: A Dad's Life Raising a Son on the Spectrum

Derek Volk's oldest child - his only son - was two-years-old when his wife suggested, "Something is not quite right with Dylan." They struggled for the next several years as they were bounced from one "expert" to another, each offering a unique perspective on Dylan's challenging behaviors. Finally, at eight-years-old, Dylan was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and the Volk family was able to start making sense of Dylan's differences.

In Chasing the Rabbit: A Dad's Life Raising a Son on the Spectrum, Derek Volk shares his experiences raising a son on the Autism spectrum. Both Dylan and Derek write about the challenges, triumphs and coping strategies from the early days to the adolescent years to life in the "real world" as a young adult. This book showcases the unique relationship between a father and his son who has spent his entire life chasing the rabbit. Click here to learn more.

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Jocko Willink, Origin and Leif Babin

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win

Combat, the most intense and dynamic environment imaginable, teaches the toughest leadership lessons, with absolutely everything at stake. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin learned this reality first-hand on the most violent and dangerous battlefield in Iraq. As leaders of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, their mission was one many thought impossible: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a violent, insurgent-held city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping, firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories, they learned that leadership―at every level―is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails. Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted SEAL leadership training to pass on their harsh lessons of self-discipline, mental toughness and self-defense learned in combat to help forge the next generation of SEAL leaders. After leaving the SEAL Teams, they launched a company, Echelon Front, to teach those same leadership principles to leaders in businesses, companies, and organizations across the civilian sector. Since that time, they have trained countless leaders and worked with hundreds of companies in virtually every industry across the U.S. and internationally, teaching them how to develop their own high-performance teams and most effectively lead those teams to dominate their battlefields.