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Showing posts from March, 2016

5 Leadership Rules from the SWAT Team

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If sixteen years (and counting) on the police SWAT team has taught me one thing, it's  leadership development . Above providing all the tactical, team, and individual technical skills training, my team knows how to grow crops of leaders. It's a cultural thing - where the first man on scene or the last woman standing is ready, willing, and prepared to make critical decisions...quite literally ones that may be ones of life-or-death. Whether the person is the top Commander, a mid-level supervisor, or the newest, least experienced person on the team, we preach leadership. Here are five steadfast rules that guide our leader development: 1. Determine the goal and strategy.   Big picture thinking is vital. With teams, it's easy for a member to zone-in on one's specific task or responsibility. Our people must always understand the overall objective and the broad, concept-based, strategic plan. Obedience to lower priority tactical or task plans that violate more

Dressed For Success: Camouflage & Cufflinks

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Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.  - Mark Twain  This week, the Minneapolis Police Department announced their   SWAT team is changing the color of their uniforms , from green and camouflage to more traditional navy blue. The decision was based on a Department desire to reduce the perception of an over-militarized force.  Last night, I posted the news story to a few social media platforms to confirm my hypothesis: Police officers would dig in their heels against the move away from green or camouflage.  And I was right. Cops   are   defending the green and camo color scheme. But I hadn't suspected how passionately cops would defend the uniform color...and how aggressively they'd go on a counter-offensive against anyone who supported returning to navy blue.  The whole debate caused me to sit back and consider, in a broader scale, how one's dress effects the emotions and encounter between the