Rhode Island's Emerging Leaders -- Meet John Humphrey

Rhode Island's Emerging Leaders -- Meet John Humphrey

Where is Rhode Island going and who is going to take us there? Well, United Way of Rhode Island and GoLocalProv have teamed up in identifying some of the emerging leaders in Rhode Island and asking them questions about leadership and the pathway to a better future in Rhode Island.

Name: John Humphrey

Title, Employer: CEO, Greycork

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Age: 27

How are you making furniture better?

HUMPHREY: I head up Greycork, which is the flat pack furniture brand for the modern urban lifestyle. The company was started because we believe legacy furniture retailers offer an outdated customer experience that hasn’t kept pace with the needs and demands of the modern consumer. So, we’re reinventing the way consumers are able to purchase furniture, which starts by designing furniture that is durable, high quality and can be assembled or disassembled in about five minutes in case people need to move to a new home. We couple our product design platform with innovation that makes our furniture easy to purchase online while removing risk from buying. For example, in June 2016 we unveiled our “Home Try-Out”, a first-of-its-kind solution to see Greycork furniture in your home before buying. We hope our furniture is not just convenient to buy and own, but also brings value to people’s lives by facilitating deeper social, personal, and productive experiences in their homes, and brings value to our economy through our support of over 20 U.S.-based factories and suppliers (today) who help make our products.

As an emerging leader what have you learned from success and failure?

HUMPHREY: I think the best place I can focus my energy as a leader is in empowering myself and my team to invest in our culture. Organizational hygiene (think company infrastructure, processes, org structure, the way we manage projects), external inspiration (like pursuing personal passions, family, networking with experts), alignment around our strategic vision, and surroundings (literally, the workplace) are all areas where we push one another to constantly improve. This matters because it builds trust among the team. When things go wrong, which they often do, trust obviates both passive finger pointing and self-consciousness. And when things go well, we have more fun celebrating as a team.

You could say I’ve learned this the hard way through countless tribulations in business and months-long droughts of personal betterment. So I’m trying to improve all the time. Last, the majority of our success should be attributed to my cofounders and team. They’ve picked me up when I needed it and have been a driving force behind our progress.

Who has been your most important mentor and why?

HUMPHREY: The truth is I can’t distill it down to a single person. I’ve been fortunate to have many people positively affect my life in unique ways, from business lessons to personal life.

Please provide one-word answers to the following:

Favorite Restaurant: Julian’s

Most Important Book: Daring Greatly, Brene Brown

Favorite Place in Rhode Island: Weetamoo Woods in Tiverton, RI