National Biographic

NATIONAL BIOGRAPHIC

PUBLISHED BY AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND DISTRIBUTED FOR SCHOOL USE BY EDUCATIONAL DIVISION OF WHO S WHO IN AMERICA

A BIOGRAPH

JOHN MILTON HANCOCK

Once upon a time, when the United Nations was still at Hancock, then a complete neophyte in active management, Lake Success, someone pointed out to Andre Gromyko the amaz- acted with the assurance and incisiveness that later were to being vigor of Bernard Baruch for a man of his ageo Gromyko, in- come his trade-mark. Arriving at Jewel Tea, his first remedial dulging in one of his rare jokes, looked over toward Baruch's al- step was to cut the number of wagon routes in half, retaining only ternate and said: "How about John Hancock over there -- he sign- those operating units which showed a profit. His next move was ed your Declaration of Independence, and he's still going strongl" to reduce inventories to realize badly-needed cash, (so badly- needed that prior to Hancock'scorning employees would race each Today, six years later, Gromyko's words echo meaning- other to the bank on pay-day before Jewel's money ran out.) fully for seventy-year old John Milton Hancock who, after a life- time of management, directorial responsibility and government To help out the company's cash position, Hancock pressed service, is, indeed, "still going strong." claims for--and won--a goodly sum from the Army for damages done during war-time leasing of a Jewel Tea plant. The com- A partner in the investment banking firm of Lehman Broth- ers and chairman of the board of Lever Brothers, Hancock currently serves as a director on the boards of fourteen manufacturing and distributing companies. He has sat on as many as twenty- two boards at one time, qualifying as a serious rival to the only other professional director in the field, Sidney Weinberg of Gold- man-Sachs, whose total has been thirty-one. Never a dummy director, Hancock has taken his board-room duties seriously and has brought with him his prestige, judgment and a wealth of knowledge born out of past practical experience.

JEWEL'S JEWEL Although in recent years Hancock has chosen not to become involved in direct management, this was not always so. He began his career under a veritable baptism of fire at the Jewel Tea Company of Chicago where he went as vice president in 1919 and was made president in 1922. Straight from the Navy, where as a Commander in the Supply Corps he had been in charge of Navy purchasing during World War 1, he was confronted with his first business assignment -- one that would have been tough for even a veteran busi- nessman. In 1919, Jewel Tea was a mobile grocery business which • i retailed coffee, tea and dry groceries to the housewife by door- to-door wagons. This business like many others was caught in the problems re suiting from World War 1. Commodity prices sky- pany's lawyers were about to settle for $250, 000. Hancock pro- rocketed. Then, as now, there was consumer resistance to rising tested, collected a bale of evidence, and eventually made good prices. Operating expenses rose. More and more capital was on claims for $880, 000. He then instituted the Navy accounting needed to carry inventories at their inflated levels. system and personally signed salary checks. With increased ef- Lehman Brothers and Goldman- Sachs had previously under- ficiency in operation and with lower commodity costs following written an issue of preferred stock. Because of Herbert Lehman's the 1920 break in prices, Jewel Tea was enabled to reduce its resulting interest in the long-term success of Jewel Tea, he sug- prices and win greater consumer volume. gested John Hancock as an executive because of his respect for Perhaps most important of all, Hancock changed the at- Hancock's ability, gained when Lehman was with the War Indus- mosphere at Jewel Tea. Faced with uncooperative and uncoor- tries Board. dinated personnel, he managed to make everyone feel a part of Vol. I, No. 6 January 1954 National Biographic the company and they began to perform as though they had a stake ing a variety of businesses, turned out to be ideally suited to his in it. By 1924 he made the "stake" tangible by instituting one manifold abilities. As one Chicago colleague said: "Hancock of the early profit-sharing plans for all executives and supervi- has a chain lightning mind. He can take a problem, tear it limb sory employees (except himself), and a joint pension fund, re- from limb, completely, exhaustively and with deadly accuracy." ferred to as the Jewel Plan, embracing 85 percent of all employ- This, combined with an unusual power of persuasion and judg- ees. ment, gave him a three-barreled method of attack. Because the business was largely dependent on the sales- As a result, Hancock's next assignment was of a similar men and their performance, Hancock started regular salesmen's nature. In 1930, rumor had reached Lehman Brothers that all was meetings at which he, himself, gave a pep-talk with much of the not well with the Kroger Grocery chain, whose stock the firm had evangelical zeal of Patterson of the National Cash Register Com- sponsored. Without prior announcement, Hancock appeared in pany. By 1923 the meetings had become conventions and he Cincinnati at the Kroger Company offices, and asked the surprised hired the old Olympic Grand Opera House in Chicago. In a burst president if he could have a private session with the accountants. of confidence he invited his competitors who walked away from An analysis of the figures, and intensive investigation, led to the the "inspirational and instructive session" with a new respect conclusion that a change in top management was desirable. For for their rival. nine months Hancock stayed in Cincinnati. The internal organization was changed both in form and in personnel, although the Shortly after Hancock had successfully instituted an incen- hard core of the staff were quickly made to recognize that their tive system for his driver-salesmen, Dan Tobin's Teamsters jobs were secure. New men were brought in to provide the nec- Union tried to organize the company. Hancock feared the un- essary leadership. When all was running smoothly, Hancock with- ion's wage proposal would destroy the incentive principle and drew completely from the day - to - day operating problems and contended that, more importantly, his wagoners were moresales- merely remained in his former position as a member of the Board men than teamsters. In Chicago, an outbreak of window smash- of Directors. Under the presidency of Joseph B. Hall, Kroger to- ing and stench bomb throwing followed. Men were beaten. Jewel day rates among companies which are extremely well managed . hired Burns detectives but finally was obliged to close down the Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco branches. These bran- Out of his Kroger experience, comes one of Hancock 's ches have since been re-opened, and some parts of the company key beliefs about directorial responsibility: A board should back are now unionized. the management to the hilt. If it can't do that, it should change management. That is not to say that a board should not keep a Hancock's techniques bore fruit quickly. Common stock rein on company affairs when it delegates authority. Indeed, had sold at as low as $3.00 at the time of his advent. Five years there should be enough controls so that the board is in close touch later it was nearly sixty times higher. In his final annual report with what is going on. But in the end it is up to the management for the year 1924, Hancock made a statement (reported in The New to run the company. York Times under the heading; "Company In Good Shape") that the two-million dollar loss of 1919 had been transformed into a CORPORATE DOCTOR seven hundred and fifty thousand dollar profit. With this happy state of affairs, he left Jewel's active management and became Most of the boards on which Hancock has servedhave been chairman of the board of directors and permanent "god-father" to of companies for which Lehman Brothers was an underwriter of the company. Frank Lunding, who became president in later securities. But by 1940, his fine reputation as a director prompted years, said: "We always rely on Hancock's judgment especially a company not financed by Lehman Brothers to ask him to join for the fine feel of human reactions as well as for new merchan- its board. The management of the Kress chain of stores found dise ideas or plans for expansion." itself at odds. One of the officers of the company comments: "The situation was very delicate -- some of our officers had WIDE PERSPECTIVE gotten old, quarrelsome and selfish. We though Hancock -- rep- It was not surprising that when Hancock left Jewel Tea, resenting an outside, objective point-of-view, could arbitrate five years out of the Navy, he should be showered "with offers. some of the difficulties. And he did - - without offending anyone. The most spectacular came from Julius Rosenwald who offered He has a curious tactic of getting people to believe that if they're Hancock the presidency of Sears, Roebuck on his own terms. right, what they're fighting for will win out some day." (Aware of Hancock's characteristic modesty Rosenwald said he For years he encompassed a wide-range of problems for felt sure that Hancock's demands would be less than what he would Kress Company on management situations, finance, dividends, be prompted to offer). Fearing that, among other factors, a com- inventory, and business out-look. O.A. Taylor, of Kress Com- plete reorganization (which Hancock felt to be necessary) would pany, said: "This is a far cry from Wall Street control -- rather, jeopardize his close personal relationship with Rosenwald, Han- it is the help of an experienced, professional advisor -- rather cock made a decision which became a turning point in his career. like a doctor." Indeed, it could be said that Hancock perfected Although he was to make management his life work, he never again the art of a new profession -- that of corporate doctor, operating, accepted a full time role in any company, choosing to keep his like early healers, largely through a trained common sense, but scope of operations broad and his perspective wide. also with a touch of magic. He relied on his shrewd acumen to Much more to his liking and closer to his temperament make the diagnosis, on his common sense and past experience to was a partnership in Lehman Brothers (the first to be offered out- make the prescription, and on his intuitive wisdom and dogged side the family). After the success of the Jewel Tea experiment, patience with the frailties of men and organizations to follow with Herbert Lehman was eager to formalize theory into regular policy continued and effective treatment. by having Hancock become a member of the firm. His broad The Kress Company soon began to schedule its monthly knowledge of management and his skill in organization matters board meetings to fit Hancock's convenience. It wanted to be were put to use in aiding companies which the firm had financed . sure that he would be there. Thus they began to regard it as the firm's distinctive policy (along with Goldman-Sachs) to deal with the industrial side of the cor- A MAN IMPARTIAL porations they financed and Hancock was to be one of their experts in encouraging effective management. As a young man, Hancock had not planned to be a busi- nessman. When he left the University of NorthDakota (BA, 1903) Hancock's choice to become an investment banker, serv-

Printed in U.S.A.—Copyright 195^—American Institute of Management—Incorporated—A Non-Profit Foundation National Biographic a four-letter man in football, baseball, basketball and track, and Taking his own advice, Hancock used his days in the Pur- editor-in-chief of the school paper, he took his first job as prin- chasing Division to good advantage. The nature of his job brought cipal, in Tower City High School near his home-town of Emerado, him into continuous contact with a host of businessmen who had North Dakota. ample opportunity to observe Hancock's quality of thoroughness, and his ability to get along famously in the maze of regulation. In the usual prophetic style of senior year-books, Hancock's In the War Industries Board work, he was in close contact with entry commented on him as: "A man impartial, free from sham: Herbert Lehman. On the War Industries Board itself, he worked his favorite palace, Buckingham." The last part referred to Ida with Bernard Baruch, and on a European trip after World War 1 to Buckingham, whom he married a year later just after he had been expedite surplus sales, he worked with Franklin D. Roosevelt, recommended by Senator H. C. Hansbrough for an examination then Under-Secretary of the Navy. These three angels were des- for a commission in the Supply Corps of the Navy. Winning the tined to direct Hancock's future out of the Navy and into closely commission, he entered the Navy as assistant pay-master and related patterns of business and government. began an era punctuated by steady, if not rapid, rises. With the war over, it was understandable that Hancock no longer saw in a Navy career the challenges he wanted. He asked Josephus Daniels for permission to resign. Daniels refused . Hancock, never a man to insist on a personal matter, simply hastened his work on war contract terminations and finally, on October 4, 1919, when the last one was completed, and after re- ceiving the Navy Cross for distinguished service, he got permission to resign. Shortly after that time, when Hancock was mulling over the 22 job offers he had received from private industry, the Han- cocks went to a party the Lehman's were giving at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington. During the course of dinner, Mrs. Lehman invited Ida Hancock to visit them in Westchester. Mrs. Hancock declined, saying that her husband's resignation from the Navy meant that their plans were too uncertain. Suddenly, Mrs. Lehman interrupted and called down the dinner table to her husband --ask- ing him if he knew that Hancock had resigned. He called back that he wanted to see Hancock before he left that night. Thus began his long association with Lehman Brothers. Equally important has been Hancock's continued association with Baruch on most of the latter's important ventures into state smanship. Called affectionately by Baruch, 'my old die sel', Baruch has been known to say: "Whenever I get something to do I reach out, grab John Hancock, and make him do the work." Without official title or appointment or salary, he started 'doing the work' on the 1942 "Report of the Rubber Survey Com- mittee" which Baruch chaired, "Baruch and I drafted 100 or more The new couple first went to Philadelphia Naval Yard where problems which were part of the whole rubber problem. Then Hancockwas instrumental in installing a new system of cost ac- James Conant and Karl Compton assigned experts to get the ans- counting. In successive years at Seattle and in the Phillipine wers." Baruch would come to Hancock's suite on the 6th floor of he re-organized the fiscal system of the naval bases. the Hotel Carlton, lie down on the couch and together they would In 1914, at the out-break of the War, he was on patrol evaluate the expert's answers as they came in. "We really had duty in the Yangtze River, when he was called back to Washington a report, " says Hancock reminiscently. And indeed the Report to be in charge of the Purchasing Division. set the policy which enabled America to keep supplied with this vital commodity during the entire war. In this capacity he worked under Rear Admiral Samue MacGowan, Chief of the Navy Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, PUBLIC SERVANT and from him learned a great deal about handling people. Mac- Gowan was a man who observed courtly southern manners witi Much more important was his participation on theBaruch- the fair sex but was inclined to be a stickler in matters of Navj Hancock report on War and Post-war Adjustment Policies, issued discipline, coping with office - life by means of techniques and February 1944. Here Hancock demonstrated to perfection his two slogans. For example, to prevent visitors from indulging in long- great skills -- one, the ability to grapple with and simplify vast winded conversations he kept them standing throughout the inter- amounts of technical and interrelated detail, and, two, ofpa- view by the simple device of having no chairs, other than his own, tiently dealing with the human factors concerned in such away in the office. "A person comes to the point more quickly when that they do not become a stymying block. One key segment of he can't sit down, " he used to say dryly. MacGowan's authori- the report was concerned with setting policy for the U.S. govern- tive efficiency appealed to the spartan in Hancock and his use of ment for termination of all war contracts. It was important for slogans, "It can't be done, but here it is" started Hancock ona the painless reconversion to a peacetime economy that a plan collection of his own - a habit which he has maintained to this for fast settlement of these contracts be ready to go into effect day. Borrowing some from MacGowan: "Everything must not as soon as hostilities were ended. Sam Lubell who worked with only be right; it must look right" he added to his repertoire by a Hancock on all his joint Baruch wartime assignments has said, constant look- out in the pre s s, sometime s clipping an appropriate "The Washington way of grappling with a situation where the 14 motto or bit of inspirational verse. He supplements his fund by agencies and three congressional committees concerned com- homilies of his own invention, such as: "A chip on the shoulder pletely disagreed on plans, would have been for Baruch and Han- is too big a piece of baggage to carry through life", or "Youcan cock to draw up their own plan and attempt to ram it down bure- only get to the future one day at a time". aucratic throats with a directive." Characteristically, Hancock, National Biographic organized a series of subcommittee meetings where each proposal in 1914 and no court has ever said what it means. It is not claimed was argued outpoint by point by the rival agency representatives. that any agreement exists between these pairs of companies, but Thus their differences were thrashed out painstakingly, and Han- I would prefer to avoid a law suit." He refused however, to sign cock got agreement as they went along. Within four months he the court decree which promised that he would not again violate the produced a report and a draft law on which all 14 agencies voted interlocking directorate provision, and although William Douglas unanimous approval and which was passed in Congress as the dissented, the Supreme Court upheld Hancock. Justice Douglas George - Murray Bill. The resulting coordinated action enabled said, "The web that is woven may tie many industries, insurance manufacturers to make the change-over smoothly without neces- companies and financial houses together into a vast and friendly sitating lay-offs _ Hancock can claim considerable credit for mak- alliance that takes the edge off competition." Senator Humphrey ing the transition period as easyas itwas. For his contributions, has tried to get Congress to pass a new and tighter law, (see the not only to industrial corporate management, but to the solution Corporate Director for July 1951) prohibiting multiple directorships. of involved problems facing the nation, Hancock has received If this becomes law one day, it will mean that the role of profes- many recognitions. Outstanding of these is the Medal For Merit. sional director will have risen and peri shed with John Hancock and Sidney Weinberg. Hancock's public service has not always culminated in success. In 1939 he served with Stettinius on the War Resources It is not surprising then, that when Hancock philosophizes Board which recommended to FDR that the American defense plan- about the relation of business and government, he should be char- ning be coordinated under one chief. The report was submitted acteristically outspoken. One business colleague has described to the President but never released publically; some thought be- him as "an unreconstructed and at times belligerent free-enter- cause Roosevelt was unwilling to designate Baruch coordinator, priser who has made himself perfectly plain on the subject." the logical choice it seemed, whereas others thought the Presi- Actually he is more consistent than many free enterprisers who dent felt that the recommendation, if carried out, might be politi- want a "hands-off" policy in good times and a handout policy in cally unpopular. bad times. Hancock in good Puritan style has no misgivings about his belief that no government interference in the economic field is In the early days of the NRA, when businessmen were necessary nor are subsidies vital to maintaining the economy with wanderingaroundlostin the maze of Washington corridors and new the exception of industries clearly in the national interest, such legislation, Hancock, who had never been a policy administrator, as shipping. was called down from New York to assist Hugh Johnson as his deputy coordinator. With an aide from the Lehman Brothers staff HANCOCK AT UN he set up a row of chairs outside his office, left his door open After the immediate phase of post-war planning had been from early morning to late at night, listened and directed business- left behind, and as America entered a new era of responsibility men from all over America to their proper "codes." After 8 on the world-stage, Bernard Baruch and John Hancock moved with months Hancock left with a firm resolve not to be lured back to it to a new climax of their teamsmanship. When future historians Washington in administrative posts. And, although Roosevelt come to examine United States-Soviet relations in the early days offered him many posts, even of Cabinet level, Hancock refused of the Atomic Age they may find mild irony in the fact that the two them all. He chose to remain in the role of consultant, and des- men of Wall Street who represented America on the United Nations pite his outspoken opposition to the New Deal, Roosevelt called Atomic Energy Commission were on close terms with, and inspired on him frequently for advice. According to Hancock, he seldom the personal respect of, the Soviet representatives. At a Joe Louis took the advice and on one occasion called him "the apostle of fight to which Baruch had taken Gromyko, Gromyko - in a com- the obvious." In any case, Roosevelt respected his hcnesty. radely way- invited him to Moscow. On his level, John Hancock When the Securities Exchange Act was in preparation, Roosevelt got along so well with Dr. Alexandrov, the USSR scientist, that he advised Speaker Sam Rayburn "Send for John Hancock. He'll cut persuaded him to accept a principle concerning inspection of atom- his own throat to tell the truth." ic plants that was incomplete opposition to the Soviet position on the matter. "The only avenue for this problem is international Hancock's long record of government service and prestige control, "Alexandrov concluded. The consequences of this rela- did not however prevent him from being attacked by one branch of tionship seem to have had a grim outcome. Dr. Alexandrov was the government. sent backto Russia shortly after, and when queried now about his In 1947, the Department of Justice, seeking to eliminate whereabouts, Soviet delegates are vague. the alleged evil of interlocking directorates, questioned some two As alternate to Baruch on the United States Delegation to thousand men who were directors of more than one company. Han- the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, Hancock's two cock naturally was on the list, being a director of 22 companies strongest abilities -- one, the capacity to handle vast amounts of at that time. Later, word was received by Mr. Hancock and six technical material and to reduce it to workable "decision points" of the companies of which he was a director that the Government and secondly, to have incredible patience with human frailities-- was instituting suit under Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act; were put to their greatest test. the Government's position was that Hancock's simultaneous directorships adversely affected competition among some of the com - For three months prior to negotiations, Hancock, a volu- panie s. minous reader at all times, read everything he could on atomic subjects, taking notes, then dictating from the notes memoranda Although it was debatable whether the three pairs of com- which he still keeps in seventeen black loose-leaf notebooks. peting companies were actually in competition (did Kroger's 38 "We have so many publications in this country that if you sense stores in Chicago, (out of 2, 000) really constitute competition a problem and index your mind to it, you soon are surprised what with the 150 Jewel units or does a man's suit from Bond Stores a tremendous amount of material flows into you," says Hancock. compete in the same market with one from Sears, Roebuck), Han- He has organized the flow into 30-odd bulging scrapbooks which cock did not want to be a guinea pig. he and his colleagues still put to frequent use. To forestall the expense and time consumed in litigation, According to Lubell, "Baruch has always believed in trust- Mr. Hancock decided not to stand for re-election on the boards of ing the detailed culture of individual trees to a general manager, Kroger and Bond Stores, and resigned from the Kress board. He freeing himself to ponder the forest as a whole." This division of retained his directorships in Sears, Roebuck, Jewel Tea and W.T. labor is well adapted to the different mental habits of Baruch and Grant. When he stepped out of the above companies, Mr. Hancock Hancock. Lubell says, "Hancock ran the whole show--all the de- said: "The statuteunderwhichlreceivedaninjunctionwas passed tailed problems such as negotiating with cabinet officers. Every- National Biographic thing came over his desk and had to be dealt with and coordinated." proper dimensions to compete in the American market. Today, Tills means sifting, weighing, and digesting information, assign- Lever has made a substantial recovery in this area. ing and managing the work of the other delegation members, Herbert More directly traceable to Hancock's personality, perhaps, Bayard Swope, Ferdinand Eberstadt, Major General Thomas Farrell is the marked improvement in morale since the departure of Charles Of the Manhattan District, the mining engineer Fred Searls, and Luckman three years ago. Dr. Richard Tolman of California Institute of Technology. Han- cock, of course, consulted Baruch continuously on all general pol- According to Lever President Jervis Babb, Hancock gives icy and on specific points. Their team-work was so close and in- confidence justbybeingaround, "bybeingthekindof man he is." tertwined that it is difficult to separate functions. Baruch wanted He goes to board meetings which are held at different plants around to soak in the subject; to be able to deal with the more political the country, and has insisted on the board meeting in an informal aspect of the work and mix with the other delegations and press way with the employees. Inevitably, according to Babb, personnel people; to get the feel of other attitudes. morale is improved after these discussions. When some of the members -of the delegation got impatient Probably the biggest job that a director has, according to with the USSR's interminable wrangling, it was Hancock who per- Hancock, is picking people. Hancock has longpracticed what he sisted in spending the six months from July to December 1946 to preaches in this respect. One good example is Frank Lunding, try to persuade the Russian Delegation to accept the Baruch plan. who is now chief Executive Officer of Jewel Tea Company and With the growing criticism by our allies in the UN, the American Chairman of the executive committee of Lever Brothers. When position was unquestionably strengthened by giving the Soviets Lunding was only 25, Hancock took him from his New York law every opportunity to state their case and come to terms. Respon- job to be general counsel for Jewel Tea. By the time he was 36, sibility for the ultimate failure to do so will have to be judged fi- Lunding was president of the company -- achieved on his own nally in the light of events. By the time that Baruch and Hancock merits, of course but with the backing of Hancock, who believes resigned from the American delegation, Hancock's role had been that when you get a good man you should leave him alone long clearly established; he had had a major share of responsibility for enough to do his job and let his abilities come through. transforming the Ache son-Lilienthal plan into the stronger Baruch plan and had succeeded in making it become the official United WORK NOT FAME Nations plan. He had negotiated in good faith without losing the Hancock was brought up by the hard and simple standards respect of his opponents. When negotiations became dead- locked of the frontier at the turn of the century. As the elder son of five he, like Baruch, felt that someone else should carry on. Close ob- children in a devout Presbyterian family, John Hancock started to servers felt differently. One reporter who covered the dealings at work on the North Dakota prairie land and in the shops of the rail- UN said recently, "One never knows, of course, but I have the road town of Emerado while he was still in school. His friends feeling negotiations would have been strengthened if Hancock had say that he has never known anything but work. Hancock knew stayed on. He' s one of the able st repre sentative s America ha s ever that he wanted to continue his education, so learned typingand had, perhaps because of his disinterestedness. He has an unusual shorthand to earn his way through the State University at Grand sense of detachment and yet he won't compromise on principles. Forks, North Dakota, by being secretary to a Dean. There is not an ounce of appeasement in John Hancock." Although he did well at the university - second in his class As citizens, Hancock and Baruch have continued, in a purely scholastically - his father, in the Puritan atmosphere of the day, unofficial way, their team-work on the study of atomic proposals. never gave him any hint of being pleased. As happens when most Last January they submitted the burden of their findings in a mem- children become parents, Hancock carried over this trait with his orandum to Eisenhower for his guidance on official policy. Han- own two children, Ruth and Ralph. When his daughter, also at the cock, as an investment banker, has done some pioneer ground-work University of North Dakota and trying to keep pace with her father's exploring ways in which the peace-time uses of atomic energy might record, achieved Phi Beta Kappa, she wired the happy news to Han- be financed. To fit the pieces of this mammoth problem together cock. She was disappointed that he did not acknowledge it and is a task with which Hancock, with his rare combination of knowl- wired him again. Hancock's reply was characteristic: "Why should edge of both finance and atomic energy, is uniquely equipped to you be congratulated for doing wha.t you ought to be able to do." deal. Although any reality of peace-time use is at least five to ten years away, according to his view, and time may overtake him, Younger than Ruth, Ralph too was following successfully the problem is still a challenge which he cannot refuse. in his father's footsteps at the University of North Dakota, when, in his senior year, a tragedy occurred--the great tragedy of Han- cock' s life. Returning from a summer vacation, Ralph was killed instantly by a train at a grade crossing. Hancock never permitted THREE QUESTIONS himself an open show of grief. Stoically he bore the sense of loss Hancock is still a director of 14 companies (see listing on and cruel injustice inside him self and took refuge in working harder page six.) One of the more recent responsibilities involves his than ever. position as director and chairman of the board of Lever Brothers Company. Hancock is the sort of man who works hard even at playing. A crack tennis player, North Dakota State champion three years in Three years ago the foreign owners of the American Lever a row, he has, in recent years, given this up for golf. When he Brothers decided that a fundamental reorganization of both policy was learning at the Scarsdale Golf Club, he refused to play with and personnel was indicated. Because of the complicated prob- anyone but the pro for two years until he had become so proficient lems involving not only foods but proprietary drugs and cosmetics, that he could rank with the top players. a man of great experience was wanted. Hancock was sought out and again the challenge of the job appealed to him. During his Navy stint in thePhillipines, Hancock and his wife discovered hunting. They began shooting deer, worked up to Presumably he asked himself the three questions which he wild hogs. Later during their Jewel Tea days when Hancock had says every director should ask himself as he moves into a com- made enough money to afford an annual foray to British Columbia, pany: (1) how do we stand compared with our competitors?; (2) they graduated into big game hunting. Mrs. Hancock accompanied where ought we to stand?; and (3) how do we get there? him in the role of, according to her own statement,"a retriever." Just how Hancock has answered the questions remains un- In past years the after-effects of an old accident have forced her known. But it is common knowledge that three years ago Lever into almost complete retirement. Hancock has been taking his Brothers had failed to maintain its product research program in grandsons for regular fishing trips to Nova Scotia in the summer, National Biographic Florida in the winter, where, though less strenuous than his past annual lectures on Navy purchasing. He is Chairman of the Amer- outdoor life, he more than keeps pace with the two young men. ican Management Association and is on the Board of Trustees for the Committee for Economic Development. He has cur-=!ntly However, Hancock today is realistic about his outdoor life. added to his interests The Empire State Foundation of Independent For visitors who ask about his health he keeps a clipping which Liberal Arts Colleges - to help finance private colleges - and The announces the retirement of a John Hancock as football coach of Council for Advancement of Secondary Education in which he is Colorado State College--indicating both his humor and his aware- concerned with better teaching of economics in high schools. The ness of the fact that John Milton Hancock can no longer be as ac- list could be continued with organizations in the fields of educa- tive as he once was. In terms of daily output it is hard to see tion, philanthropy, and better-business but unlike some letter- that his business activities have been correspondingly cut, but head men Hancock doesn't spread himself too thin. He only according to those who work closely with him he has, under doc- "joins" when he feels he can participate actively. tor's orders, cut down from the work of four men to that of two. Hancock is frequently called upon to give advice to young Hancock and his wife live simply in what neighbor Sidney businessmen. To them he says: "First, conduct yourself so as Weinberg describes in a friendly manner as "an oversized, obso- to gain the confidence of your associates. Second, know your lete, old-fashioned house." It is a mansion surrounded by a few own capacity. Third, tackle every job with enthusiasm. Remem- acres of Scarsdale greenery which Hancock, in a burst of Navy ber, you never know how fast you can run a half mile until you reminiscence, calls 'Home Port'. Their daughter Ruth, now Mrs. run it as fast as you can." Gordon Hunger, lives near-by with her four children to whom Han- cock has always been intimately attached. In fact, his eldest One of the most influential men in business and govern- grandson has helped immeasurably to heal the wound caused by ment, John Milton Hancock has remained, paradoxically, one of his own son's death - Hancock, in the old days, would on occa- the least known to a wide public. While being at the center of sion refer to George Hunger as 'Ralph'. events and power, he has been content to stay out of the limelight, rewarded only by his excellent reputation among the small group of top business, military and government people "in the know. " Throughout his life Hancock has given generously of his Because it has been in conjunction with his public service work time to other organizations --he is currently a trustee of Massa- withBaruch that Hancock has been closest to headline fame, some chusetts Institute of Technology; Hamilton College; Institute for friends attribute his not reaching it to his profound deference to Advance Study at Princeton; Wesley College; and his own Univer- Baruchand their thirty-year old relationship. Others feel that his sity of North Dakota. He participated in the guidance of the In- disregard of fame is due to his personality, his inherent shyness terracial Community Center on 110th Street in Manhattan; has been and modesty, andhis sense of values which puts functioning above Mayor of Scarsdale; and still participates in Navy affairs, giving reward.

LIST OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON WHICH JOHN HANCOCK CURRENTLY SERVES

Flintkote Underwood Elliott-Fisher The Lehman Corporation International Silver Van Realte Lever Brothers Co. Kimberly Clark W. T. Grant American Stores Co. National Surety Marine Insurance Corp. Jewel Tea Co., Inc. Underwood Corporation Sears Roebuck John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co.

For further biographical details concerning John Hancock, refer to page 1027 of Who's Who in America, 1952-53, A. N. Marquis Company, Chicago, Illinois.

For information concerning objectives, activities, and publications of the A.I.M., write: AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT Incorporated—A Non-Profit Foundation 125 EAST 38th STREET, NEW YORK 16, N. Y. A Nominating Board to the Listing Committees of A. N. Marquis Who's Who Publications DIRECTORS C. CANBY BALDERSTON, Dean, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania • WILLIAM C. DeVANE, Dean of Yale College, Yale University ALFONS B. LANDA, Partner, Davies, Richberg, Tydings, Beebe & Landa • JACKSON MARTINDELL, President, A.I.M. WHEELER SAMMONS, Publisher, Who's Who in America • ORDWAY TEAD, Editor and Director, Harper & Brothers EDWARD R. WEIDLEIN, President, Mellon Institute for Industrial Research OFFICERS & STAFF JACKSON MARTINDELL, President • ALFONS B. LANDA, Secretary • FREDERICK P. HARRSEN, Vice President THOMAS M. REILLY, Vice President • EDWARD L. DOBSON, Treasurer • DENNIS J. LYNDS, Editor of Publications ARNOLD L. BILGORE, Director of Research Center • FRIEDA SHERMAN, Librarian

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