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Showing posts from June, 2017

Weekend Building Blocks - 30 JUN 2017

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There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Scuba diving. Parade floats. Street cops. Trainers with self-awareness. A wide variety of topics in this week's list: The Real World Dangers of Diving and How to Prevent Them . Derek Gill with Imminent Threat Solutions discusses scuba diving threats. The closest I've been to scuba diving a 20-minute snuba on a snorkeling excursion on my honeymoon. I found value in this article because of, not the technical knowledge, but the structure of how it's presented. Very articulate format. Plus I learned something! Meanwhile, I think I'll stay on the surface with my snorkel.  The Critical Component Missing From Your Marketing and Communications Processes . Melissa Agnes is a crisis management strategist, based in Montreal. She and I have had many conversations, debates, and laughs over the years of knowing each other. In this 5-minute #CrisisReady video, she addresses

Working in a Perpetual State of Chaos

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It was just another Monday morning roll call at the police department. Night shift was going off-duty after a long weekend; my day shift was coming on-duty after a string of days off. Teasing a plainclothes cop because his black belt didn't match his brown shoes. One of the regulars got locked up...again. Bustin' on another cop who backed his black-and-white cruiser into a parked car. Hey, who's got court today? The deputy chief of patrol is on vacation this week. A young cop got "duped" by a street walker with a warrant for his arrest. Can you hang over for a couple hours for me on July 13th..it's a Thursday? No one currently in lockup. One of my guys called in sick for today.  Did you see what the department posted on Facebook yesterday? Check out this bulletin...looks just like the guy we had last month....what was his name...?  Then I caught a glimpse of a face in the room. The new kid. He graduated the police academy a couple days before. He was as

Weekend Building Blocks - 23 JUN 2017

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There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! I made a decision this week in Weekend Building Blocks -- I invoked my No Dickheads Rule . The absolute best thing I read this week is from a guy I know. He's a pompous, arrogant hypocrite who resorts to personal attacks against those who see the world differently than he. You won't be hearing about his awesome article from me. This is a reminder to not be a dickhead - a reminder that I myself need from time to time. Future of Work: Four Shifts Leaders Must Focus On . This is a short blog with an infographic. Tanmay Vora summarizes some thoughts from Kenneth Mikkelsen on shifts of mind, skill, behavior, and system...needed to succeed in the current climate of work .  Why Chefs and Soldiers Make the Best Product Managers . Few people know that I've moonlighted as security in a banquet hall and an Irish pub. Watching the kitchen and wait staff harmonize (and not alw

Weekend Building Blocks - 16 JUN 2017

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There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! I filter out crappy articles every week, so you're left with the best of the best. Here are my picks from this past week. Among the list are two (2) podcast episodes: A Former Navy SEAL On The Hidden Influencers In Every Team . If you're a fan of  Team of Teams  by General Stanley McChrystal, then this is up your alley. Chris Fussell is out with a new book  One Mission: How Leaders Build a Team of Teams . This article is adapted from his book and explains how organizational charts have solid lines...and dotted lines. Dotted lines are how people and groups  really  relate to one another, as opposed to how they're supposed to by design. Bet on it that I'm ordering this book!!  OODA Loop: Orientation Asymmetries . This is a slide deck by Chad Cote. Chad does an excellent job explaining many of the intricacies of the Orient phase of Colonel Boyd's famous cycle

Not Standards; Expectations!

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Last month, The CP Journal published a blog titled When is Good, Good Enough? How Leaders Should Talk About Standards of Excellence .  I warned the  author (& good friend) Patrick Van Horne, that I'd be writing a rebuttal: Last week, I met with an experienced police officer who happens to be new to my team. What sparked this meeting was nothing at all dramatic, nor spectacular. It was about his traffic crash reports. One of the most boring, mundane, repetitive tasks we do as a uniformed patrol team. When cars collide with things, police officers make reports. They are some of the most standardized report forms we use - complete with fill-in-the-boxes, numerical codes, drop-down menus, objective data. While not every time, this sort of objectivity matches well with the vast majority of traffic crashes. In this case, objectivity and standardization is good. That is...until you flip over to page #2 and find open space - for a diagram & a narrative. All of a sudden, t

Weekend Building Blocks - 09 JUN 2017

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There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! I read a lot of stuff each week. Here are five (5) things I've found especially useful: 10 Ways to Build a Go-For-It Culture . Here's a short list from Dan Rockwell on encouraging & empowering decision-makers in your team. This piece rang true with me because I've actually been working on most of these exact traits in the teams I supervise. Undoing the environment of "command-and-control" authority is challenging and takes intentional action & word!  The Traditional Lecture is Dead. I Would Know - I'm a Professor . Rhett Allain is a physics professor. He brings up at least a half-dozen educational formats through storytelling and imagery. Most of the methods he describes have "names" associated with them...but he does a great job explaining them without the fancy schmancy terms! This is how smart people should be talking and writin

Weekend Building Blocks - 02 JUN 2017

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There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Here's what I've picked up this week: Your Company's Culture is Who You Hire, Fire & Promote . How do you define your organization's values...or culture? I just stumbled upon Dr Cameron Sepah...but I can already tell that I'm going to like what he writes and promotes! He's simplified how we should look at competency versus being a nice guy or an asshole.  Competition in organizations: good or bad?  Niels Pflaeging discusses the differences between healthy competitive teamwork and destructive rivalry inside our organizations. Another issue may be rivalry between various teams (or the supervisors of those teams!!). What culture are we promoting, whether purposely or subconsciously inside our teams? Fake Expectations....   Dustin Salomon is the man behind "Building Shooters." This is an article about tactical police/military training, spec