Lincoln Zehr is the CEO of Hampton Enterprises—a 70+ year-old family owned property management, real estate and construction firm in Nebraska— originally founded, shaped, and led by Joe Hampton. Joe was acting-CEO until Lincoln joined the company as part of Joe’s succession plan and as its 2nd non-family CEO and the third CEO since the company’s founding.
Q&A: SRG: What is the history of Hampton Enterprises, and who is Joe Hampton?
In 1947, Joe Hampton was an electrician in western Nebraska. He came to the city of Lincoln with his toolbox and truck for better wages and opportunities. Over the next 70 years, he turned those opportunities into an exceptional company: Hampton Enterprises - Properties & Construction. In the process, Joe became an icon in the business and political communities in Lincoln, Nebraska.
In 1948, while working as an electrician, Joe began building his first home. After seizing a chance to sell it and pocketing a bit of profit, he purchased a second lot and built another house. He continued that process until the 1960s when he was able to acquire a large enough parcel of land to build an entire residential development. Then a second, and then a third. He eventually moved into commercial construction. In the 1970s and 1980s, Joe acquired additional land and expanded into commercial developments.
Today, Hampton Enterprises operates two divisions: the Properties Division and the Construction Division—and is the most diverse commercial real estate company in the city of Lincoln. It owns and leases over 800,000 square feet of commercial real estate in six different developments across the city, owns enough land to double the square footage holdings, manages properties for other third parties, and does somewhere between $30 million and $40 million per year in commercial construction for parties other than Hampton’s Properties Division. We offer general contracting, construction management, property management, leasing, and development—all under one roof with an integrated team approach.
It was never important to Joe that we be the biggest—he much preferred that we be the best. He remained relentlessly focused on quality, relationships, integrity and work ethic, and giving back to the community.
Those attributes remain the core values of Hampton today and are embedded in the way we do business—a philosophy we call “The Hampton Way.” In addition to growing the company, Joe spent untold hours giving back to the city of Lincoln by serving two terms on the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce board of directors, 12 years on the Lincoln City Council – 8 as Council Chairman, 14 years on the Lincoln Airport Authority, and on countless other civic and nonprofit boards. In addition, he was instrumental in helping to form the Lincoln Independent Business Association (LIBA), which today has a membership of over 1,400 businesses across Lincoln.
SRG: Your career prior to joining Hampton Enterprises tracks through public accounting, pharmaceutical clinical trials, and security technologies. Why do you think Joe selected you as his successor despite your lack of “in-industry” experience?
While I did not have direct “in-industry” commercial experience, I worked summers in high school for my uncle who was a residential electrician and his dad who was a residential plumber. In addition to learning those trades, I had the opportunity to work in roofing, drywall, framing carpentry, finish carpentry, and underground irrigation systems. That said, I don’t think that experience was what convinced Joe or the leadership team at Hampton that I was a good fit for the job.
There were numerous factors—in my view—that played a role in me being selected as President and CEO of Hampton.
CPA background: As a CPA, I had accumulated a broad base of business knowledge and saw dozens of different industries and hundreds of different companies in public accounting. More than anything, this experience simply demonstrated an aptitude and a desire to learn things quickly.
Family Owned Experience: Many of the companies I audited or consulted for in public accounting were family owned businesses. Family owned businesses just have a different heartbeat. They both think and function differently. It would be very difficult for someone unfamiliar with family business dynamics to step into a leadership role without also stepping into a whole lot of other things with potentially negative consequences that could undermine their leadership and diminish their effectiveness.
Culture/shared values: Hampton Enterprises’ core values and way of doing business aligned very much with my own personal beliefs. This allowed me to not only be very passionate about our culture but also to be authentic and transparent at the same time.
Previous CEO experience: Before becoming a CEO, one generally only sees problems that are in their area of expertise. They have only seen, from the outside looking in, a fraction of the job responsibilities of the CEO. Having already cut my teeth as a CEO, I had already been face-to-face with areas that were not my expertise and developed practical knowledge about how they fit into the whole picture of company leadership.
Good fortune: I can’t ever discount the simple fact that I was in the right place at the right time.
SRG: Why, in turn, did you feel that you were the person to carry on Joe’s legacy?
First, it isn’t just my responsibility to carry on Joe’s legacy. The leadership team at Hampton is all-in on it too. The responsibility is as much theirs as it is mine—because they knew Joe better and for much longer than I did.
Second, there was only one Joe Hampton and there will never be another. I can’t replace him, but I am committed to honoring Joe by maintaining his values.
Still, times change and the way of doing business changes, so it isn’t as if we operate exactly as Joe did in 1948 or 1968. Heck, I’m willing to bet Joe didn’t even use contracts some of the time in the early days—and that of course wouldn’t work today. But we can continue to conduct business in accordance with the principles he established: committing to quality and integrity, working harder than the next guy to get things done, and placing a premium value on all relationships—from subcontractors to tenants to our own workers.
SRG: You joined the business in 2013 with Joe still in control of the Company. Describe your first few years.