I’ve seen some impressive resumes in my life. College degrees, command schools, leadership certifications, specialized training, and enough certificates to cover an “I love me wall.” There’s nothing wrong with any of that. I believe in education and training, and I think officers should take advantage of every opportunity they have to improve themselves.

But I’ve never understood why we sometimes treat those accomplishments as though they’re proof that someone can lead other humans, particularly in law enforcement.

A degree tells me someone completed a course of study. A command school tells me they attended and met the requirements of that program. Those things can tell me something about a person’s initiative, discipline, and willingness to learn.

What they don’t tell me is how that person will respond when an officer makes a serious mistake, when a difficult decision needs to be made, or when the people they’re responsible for disagree with them.

And those are the situations where leadership starts becoming visible.

An officer doesn’t need to know where their supervisor went to college to recognize whether that supervisor understands the job. They learn it from the decisions being made, the expectations being enforced, and what happens when something goes wrong.

Consider a supervisor who has attended every leadership school the department could afford but consistently avoids making decisions. When an officer brings them a difficult problem, they either pass it up the chain of command or give an answer so vague that the officer is left making the decision anyway. Eventually, those officers stop looking to that supervisor for direction. The certificates are still hanging on the wall, but they’ve done very little to establish the supervisor’s credibility.

There’s another side to this, too. A supervisor who understands the work can still make a poor decision. Experience doesn’t make someone infallible, and being respected by your officers doesn’t mean they’ll agree with everything you do. But they should be able to recognize that you understand the circumstances they’re dealing with, that you’re willing to make a decision, and that you’ll take responsibility for it.

That’s where I think some departments get promotions and leadership development backward. We spend a lot of time documenting what someone has completed, sometimes without giving nearly enough attention to what they’ve demonstrated.

It’s easy to verify a diploma or a training certificate. It’s considerably harder to determine whether someone exercises good judgment, handles conflict appropriately, or has earned the confidence of the people they supervise.

Harder doesn’t mean less important.

I also don’t believe officers should have to like their supervisor to follow them. Leadership isn’t a popularity contest, and sometimes the right decision is going to upset people. But there’s a considerable difference between officers who dislike a decision and officers who have no confidence in the person making it.

If I put someone in a supervisory position because they have an impressive resume, I’m also putting that person’s judgment between the department and the people we serve. Their officers will depend on them for guidance, direction, and decisions that can carry serious consequences. I need more than a list of schools to justify that responsibility.

Education should make a good leader better. It can expose someone to ideas they haven’t considered, challenge habits they’ve developed, and give them tools they can apply to situations they encounter on the job. I’d be concerned about a supervisor who thought they had nothing left to learn.

But I’d be just as concerned about one who thought completing another leadership course meant they’d already learned how to lead.

When I’m evaluating someone for a position of responsibility, I want to know what they’ve done with what they’ve learned. How do they handle problems? Do they make sound decisions? Can they explain those decisions? Do they hold themselves to the standards they expect from their officers?

A resume can help someone earn consideration for a leadership position. What they do after they’re given that responsibility determines whether they’ve earned the confidence that needs to come with it.