Recently a long-time friend retired as Chief of Police. After he had been at home for a few weeks, he called me. “Hi!” he said. “Greetings, my Friend!” I replied. “I need your help with a little thing. You see, I am increasingly concerned that my wife is going to kill me in my sleep.” “What?!!!” I responded, knowing his… Read more →
Go here to choose, schedule and pay for an Online, Live Short-Course: Go here to register and pay for an Online, Live Leadership Academy: Questions? Call (541) 806-1502, use the red smiley face at the bottom right of the page or email [email protected]
Please, please listen to one another. Before you blow that off, look around you. There are too many broken family relationships, too much negativism and hopelessness in the workplace, too much child abuse, too much domestic violence, too many people with financial, drug, alcohol and coping problems, and, my friends, too fn many suicides. Please, please, LISTEN to one another…. Read more →
Rid the ranks of the “It won’t work” and replace those folks with, “How can I help?” Rid the ranks of “Us versus Them” and replace those folks with “Let’s build coalitions.” Rid the ranks of “They are out to get us” and replace those folks with “We need to listen, adapt and focus on Strategic Advantage.” Rid the ranks… Read more →
As I surf about LinkedIn, Facebook and other social media sites I am struck by the number of posts – ostensibly written by titled LEO professionals – portraying Law Enforcement as a “victim.” Those posts are then commented upon by people who pile on – against community, media, the courts, and a lot of “others” – using extremely disparaging language… Read more →
To my family and friends who put their health and safety in harm’s way each day: The first of “The Four Results That Matter” is: “Employee safety must be at the top of everyone’s list – all the time, every time.” I salute the commitment to the Oaths of Office taken by my family and friends in Law Enforcement, Fire,… Read more →
C’mon, folks, where are the photos and stories of the good work you’re doing to improve people’s lives, the community member testimonials on your behalf, the hourly highlights of everyday heroines and heroes among your ranks??!! Why are you not flooding social media with those on an hourly basis? Where are the voices of your Mayor, City Council, County Commission,… Read more →
Go here to choose, schedule and pay for an Online, Live Short-Course: Go here to register and pay for an Online, Live Leadership Academy: Questions? Call (541) 806-1502, use the red smiley face at the bottom right of the page or email [email protected]
I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago: Stop Pretending. The U.S.A. is never going to be “normal” again … as if “normal” is a good thing. A microscopic entity is doing what no politician, banker, physician, philosopher, attorney, arm-waving televangelical or madman could do. It has changed the trajectory of our culture in the United States of America and… Read more →
Effective: “result,” from O.Fr. effect, from L. effectus “accomplishment, performance,” from stem of efficere “work out, accomplish,” from ex- “out” + facere “to do” Efficient: “making,” from L. efficientem (nom. efficiens), prp. of efficere “work out, accomplish” A few years ago I had the honor of crafting a speech based upon hundreds of interviews with people in leadership academies and… Read more →
Purchase Steve’s novel, Covered With Montana in Kindle e-book form! Go here to choose, schedule and pay for an Online, Live Short-Course: Go here to register and pay for an Online, Live Leadership Academy: Questions? Call (541) 806-1502, use the red smiley face at the bottom right of the page or email [email protected]
As organizations throughout the United States start to form “committees” and “task forces” and other group discussion forums to deal with the issue of “Maintaining Public Trust,” I offer a few thoughts. Please consider resisting – if not downright denouncing – any effort by anyone to turn the issue of “Maintaining Public Trust” into some sort of “project” (with project… Read more →
Before anyone launches into “doing the budget” by filling out an Excel spreadsheet or myriad county/city budget forms, there are a few items effective Leaders must consider—not the least of which are, “If we have two systems, we have no system…”; “The only way to rationally dismantle an organization is if you have built it rationally to begin with…”; and,… Read more →
Inspiration: Latin: inspiratus, pp. of inspirare “inspire, inflame, blow into,” from in-“in” + spirare “to breathe” Please strip everything else away for a few moments. Strip away all the trappings of so-called “civilization,” all our collected and coveted possessions, all the superficial puffery and artificial plumage we use in our efforts to define how important and unique we think we are. Please – just strip all of it… Read more →
During these times when public trust in government is low, when the media frenzies are about conflict and not about successes, when Citizens are frustrated that they’re not getting their money’s worth out of government … it strikes me we should all be doing even a better job of making certain we consistently earn the trust of The People Who… Read more →
STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE: 1. Strategic: Gk. strategia “office or command of a general,” from strategos “general,” 2. Advantage: O.Fr. avantage, from avant “before,” probably via an unrecorded L.L. *abantaticum, from L. abante Lao Tzu is credited with noting, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and he can eat for a… Read more →
Leadership: O.E. lædan “cause to go with one, lead,” causative of liðan ” – to go in advance The Results Leader defines, “leadership” as, “the choices we make to inspire others to take positive, decisive courses of action.” Rank? That’s just some stuff about pay grade. (I know some pretty high-ranking people in Law Enforcement who couldn’t lead ants to… Read more →
The plain truth is this: I know of no rule in the Universe that gives your agency or section a charter to be in business forever. For those of you who think otherwise – or who haven’t thought about it at all – I offer a couple of cautionary observations for your consideration. For years, I believed every community simply… Read more →
I am honored to be of service to Corporations, City & County Governments and Public Safety agencies across the United States.
May you, your families and your teams be safe and healthy!
