Leadership?

[McNulty]

Anyone have suggestions for a book on law enforcement leadership?

[TEXASCOP]

Yeah Lobotomy 101 How The Brass Wants you LOL

[MikeG]

Anyone have suggestions for a book on law enforcement leadership?

I think cat_doc posted a few books a while back. They must have been pretty good too, because even with that kind of user name he promoted recently.

[jarobins]

I'm actually in a Leadership course for the next ten weeks. I'm not too fond of one of the main texts for the class, but it has it's merits. It's called "The Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes and Posner.

However, the best book I've ever read on the subject is the "New Art of the Leader" or the more current version called "Heroic Leadership" both by William Cohen.

[Ispbear]

My 2 cents, It's called common sense 101. Do you want your troops to do what you say because they respect you, know you have thier back, and wouldn't ask them to do anything that you're not willing to step in or do yourself. Or do you want them to do it because you ordered them to and they will do it half a$$ed and unwillingly. Lead by example and realize that everyone does things differently, as long as the result is the same. Don't get bent out of shape over the small stuff and keep in mind where you came from as the low man on the todem poll.

[retdetsgt]

Personally, I think it's like being a cop. You either have the talent for it or you don't. If you don't, it doesn't matter how much training you get, you will never be worth a sh!t. That being said, if you have the talent, training can speed up the learning curve.

But leadership is leadership, it takes the same skills to be a leader in a police department as it takes at a car dealership. You have to be trusted and prove you can make good decisions. It doesn't take many "Aw sh!ts" to invalidate your ability with everyone involved. The trust is then gone and so goes the respect.

When my brother was an Army company commander, he told me that he wrote a fitness report on a young 2nd Lt he had working for him. He wrote, "Men will follow this officer only to see what he's going to do next." I've worked for people like that.

[Cat_Doc]

I agree with RDS in that some are natural leaders, most probably based on life experiences, core values and mimicking the conduct of other good leaders they've interacted with. But, even those can improve with training that can help define and understand the human psychological needs, values and drive system.

I also agree with RDS that there are some people out there who can attend numerous leadership courses, read every published leadership book, memorize all the buzzwords, etc., but do not possess the ability or recognition to properly apply it real world.