Star Wars gives us two leadership extremes that are easy to recognize. The Sith rely on fear, control, ambition, and personal loyalty. The Jedi value discipline, restraint, duty, and service.At first glance, the lesson looks simple: don’t be a Sith. I think the more useful question is what both sides get wrong when otherwise useful…
I don’t expect everybody in my small town to agree with me, and I’d probably be a little suspicious if they did. I’m more interested in what happens after we disagree. In a place this size, the person who thinks I made a terrible decision today may be standing beside me at the store tomorrow….
I’d rather see someone start this job believing they can make it than arrive already convinced they can’t. But when somebody tells me they’re ready, I want to know what they’ve done to prepare. Believing you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you’re prepared to do it. Take somebody getting ready for the academy. He…
When I first became a police officer in 1997, the people around me who wanted the job actually wanted to be police officers. Maybe they had wanted it since they were kids, or maybe they came to it later, but they were working toward putting on the badge and serving the public. Nowadays, I see…
The stories and ideas I don’t want you to miss.
Most people know to call the police when something looks wrong. The harder part is knowing what information actually helps once you make that call. You don’t need to investigate anything yourself or decide whether a crime has been committed. What helps is telling us what you actually saw, where it happened, and what is…
One thing about working in a small town is that very few decisions stay at the office. The person you dealt with this morning may be standing behind you at the grocery store that afternoon. The person you had to tell no may be sitting a few rows away from you at an event that…
I’ve made enough mistakes in my life to know I’m going to make more. Some have been poor decisions. Others were decisions I thought were right at the time, only to find out later that I was wrong. Either way, once I recognize the mistake, I have a choice. I can spend my time explaining…
When I’m looking to hire a police officer, I’m not just trying to fill an empty position. I’m deciding who I’m willing to put in a patrol car, give a badge and a gun, and trust to make decisions on behalf of the department when I’m not standing beside them. That’s a considerable amount of…
It’s easy to look like a committed leader when something goes wrong. A complaint comes in, somebody misses a deadline, an employee makes a mistake, or a problem finally gets enough attention that it can’t be ignored. Now there are meetings, new expectations, closer supervision, and plenty of conversation about what needs to change. For…
The lawsuit against Workday began as a challenge to software that can determine which job applicants ever reach a human recruiter. Now, the case is expanding beyond its original allegations of race, age, and disability discrimination to include claims involving sex discrimination and California employment law. On March 6, U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin…