Ep. 40 - Great Leaders Know How to Keep Their Ego in Check. Do You?
You are a temporary steward of a really big leather chair. The day you leave, you're a picture on a wall. The question is — what kind of picture will you be?
This episode of the Blah, Blah, Blah...Something Wellness Podcast pulls back the curtain on what great leadership in law enforcement actually looks like, sounds like, and costs. Because the chiefs who changed everything? They weren't the ones chasing the next rank. They were the ones who showed up on a rifle perimeter just to cover their officer. Who walked the halls, learned your name, and asked about your family. Who understood that policy is the ground floor — and culture is everything above it.
Host Tami Sharp and co-host Chris Zamora are joined by retired Chief Neil Cervenka and Under Sheriff Chris Hsiung — founding board member of The Curve, the leadership nonprofit co-founded with Simon Sinek — for one of the most honest, experience-backed conversations about police leadership you'll hear anywhere.
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????️ GUESTS
Neil Cervenka — Retired Chief of Police
25 years in law enforcement | 7 years military law enforcement
Chris Hsiung — Under Sheriff, Santa County Sheriff's Office | Retired Chief, Mountain View Police Department | Founding Board Member, The Curve (co-founded with Simon Sinek)
???? The Curve: https://www.thecurve.org
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???? BOOKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED
Start With Why — Simon Sinek
???? https://www.amazon.com/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-Everyone/dp/1591846447
The Infinite Game — Simon Sinek
???? https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Game-Simon-Sinek/dp/073521350X
Simon Sinek TED Talk: How Great Leaders Inspire Action
???? https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action
The Curve — Leadership Nonprofit for Law Enforcement
???? https://www.thecurve.org
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⏱️ WHAT WE COVER
→ What made one chief show up on a rifle perimeter just to cover his officer — and why that's the whole lesson
→ Why rank does not equal leadership, and what happens to agencies that confuse the two
→ Ego as the slow slide: how decent people become bad leaders and why it rarely starts big
→ Checkbox managers vs. leaders who actually let what they learn change them
→ The Law of Diffusion of Innovation — why targeting your innovators beats fighting your resisters every time
→ The Styrofoam Cup: what rank gives you, what it doesn't, and what gets left behind when you're gone
→ How to reach a toxic, salty veteran before you write them off
→ Passionate debates vs. ego clashes — how to tell which one you're actually in
→ "Policy is the ground floor" — what real culture looks like above it
→ Why retention, not recruitment, is the real measure of whether your leadership is working
→ If you're wearing a uniform at any level, you are already a leader
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???? CONNECT WITH US
Law Enforcement Coaching LLC: https://www.lawenforcementcoaching.com
National Police Podcast Network: https://nppn.live