The SFPD's Leadership Development Institute

Thoughts and a speech after a year of growth

For the past year, I have been a member of Cohort 3 of the San Francisco Police Department’s Leadership Development Institute (LDI).

The LDI is a program created by the San Francisco Police Department. The LDI was created in partnership with Michael Nila’s company, Blue Courage, and the San Francisco Police Officers’ Association. It offers “leadership education to members (sworn and professional staff) in order to provide professional and personal development and enhance leadership at all levels.”

The mission of the LDI is:

To develop shared leadership through interdependence and teamwork and provide members with the heart-set and mindset to lead ourselves and each other in both formal and informal leadership settings. Through facilitated discussions, open respectful dialogue, dynamic engagement, and shared experiences each student will have an opportunity to develop through a positive learning environment:

• A clear sense of purpose and meaning for their lives

• A language of leadership that enhances awareness and accountability

• A sense of curiosity to disrupt mediocrity and challenge the status quo

• The capacity to be more resilient in times of stress and adversity

• A clear pathway to mastery of the skills required to thrive in personal and professional relationships

Overall, LDI was a very good program that fulfilled its mission. Some speakers were top notch, others left some to be desired, but I was always able to yield a piece of wisdom from each session. Not all speakers seemed relevant to a law enforcement environment, however, a broadening of our leadership abilities to skills outside of law enforcement is also important. I would definitely recommend this program to fellow officers. Cohort 4 began last week and has a great lineup of speakers. When the time for Cohort 5 arrives, please consider applying.

MY LDI SPEECH

Last Tuesday was the final meeting of Cohort 3, our graduation from LDI.

At the previous session, Michael asked all of us to consider speaking at the graduation. While I initially dismissed the idea, I spoke to my wife about it, and she helped push me to make a speech. Make sure you always have someone who pushes you :-) So, I sent Brody a text and said sign me up for a speech.

Once I was committed, I had about a week to decide what to speak about. I would not call it writer’s block, but at that moment, I had nothing that really inspired me to speak about. Sure, I could talk about reflections on the year long journey we all took together, but I figured another speaker would cover that, and I did not want to repeat what others discussed. Then one late night, as I finally laid down to bed, it struck me. I immediately pulled out my phone and typed up the main points of the speech below.

I spoke about courage. Specifically, I spoke about the need for courage in our department and amongst our leadership, the lack of which, is killing our department. More and more members are looking for the door, due to indecision or lack of support from those in charge. For my regular readers, you will notice some continued themes from other articles, but they fit nicely into this speech.

Thanks for your time. The text of the speech is below:

Hello Everyone and Congrats to Cohort 3!

The other night I got off work and laid down to go to bed. Of course, I had been thinking all day, but inspiration struck at that very moment in the darkness. So, I picked up my phone, and typed this up so I wouldn’t lose it.

The wisdom that struck me, I boiled down to a very Gus Lee inspired phrase:

“Action is courageous. Inaction is cowardice.”

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines courage as, “the ability to do what frightens one.” Merriam Webster’s has a slightly different definition, the “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” But the most important part of those definitions is the “do.”

We are in a precarious time in our profession, in our city, and especially in our department. The decisions on the future, and what will come of our department, will come from people in this very room.

We know the cost of doing nothing. We are experiencing the cost of it right now. Burnout, retirements, no recruitment, and no retention. Years of indecision have gotten us here. The longer we choose not to act, the higher the cost of doing nothing will be. Our numbers continue to dwindle as no one comes in the front door, and many flow out the exit door.

Hope is not a plan…but without a plan…there is no hope.

The only chance there is to save this place is taking action.

That means doing things that may make you uncomfortable.

That means standing up and putting your neck out when others cower, or somehow magically become turtles.

That means providing hard truths when others only want to give soft lies.

As some of you know, I have been writing a lot more. In the past month, I’ve started self-publishing on Substack, and had articles picked up by the Epoch Times. In a recent article. I quoted the Rush song Freewill, which has a line:

“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”

Courage in action makes the choice…cowardice makes no choice, which has far larger consequences.

I would equate it to a ship in the water. A ship at sea will continue moving if the engine is on. With no one at the wheel it will continue moving until it runs aground or out of fuel. We need someone at the wheel directing our moves. A visionary leader.

Managers won’t cut it. Managers may keep the boat moving, but the leader takes the wheel and steers around obstacles. A leader gets the ship into port for more supplies.

Action is what gets us there. Courage requires action. Courage is a thing you must “do.”

If you need current, real examples of courage look at the Ukraine. We’ve seen many other deposed leaders go into exile and lead their country from the comfort of London. But President Zelenskyy, a comedic actor, is not backing down to one of the largest militaries in the world. When the United States offered to get he and his family to safety, he turned it down. Instead replying, “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.”

Our fight is here.

Amongst us we have some newly minted Captains, Lieutenants, and Sergeants. We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for. Now is time for all of us to act. And when you are unsure if you are making the right decision, or doubt creeps in saying, “Let’s just wait and see.”

Remember, that courage takes action, but cowardice takes nothing.

So, do not cower.

“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”

Thank you.