Let Them Shine

We Must Maximize Our Talent...To Achieve Greatness

Years ago I read an editorial by the founding editor of Law Officer Magazine, Dale Stockton, called “Let Them Shine.” I’ve read thousands of articles since but the words penned by Dale remain seared in my mind.

I had lunch with a trainer who’s been in law enforcement for almost 30 years, having spent 20 of those years patrolling one of America’s most crime-ridden cities. He’s earned his stripes. Now approaching the big “R” in life—retirement—he was noticeably negative about his agency and his current role. He clearly felt he’d been relegated to a position of irrelevance. As we talked, he showed me a small booklet entitled 48 Laws of Power and said he wished he’d understood the first law when he began his career. “What’s that first law?” I asked.

“Never outshine the master,” he said. In other words, don’t look better than your boss or else you’ll pay the price.

I have to admit to being initially a little skeptical but then I remembered the comment about “eating our own” from my former chief. I thought back on the people I’d known over the years who’d been taken for granted or held back by their agency. As the week at ILEETA unfolded, I became aware of several superb trainers who’d been minimized or outright disenfranchised by agencies that they’d served for most of their adult lives. How could this be? Why do we do this?

Unlike that trainer, I always kept the first law in mind. With a passion on training and a few lucky breaks, I found myself on the national stage quite a bit during my career, traveling to over 40 states and three countries. I now train and consult full time but during my 30 years in law enforcement, I did it all on vacation time and never announced why I was taking vacation.

I had no desire to talk or discuss my efforts outside of my agency because for me, it was separated and it needed to be. As a young officer, I watched one of the finest trainers I had been around be absolutely pummeled by department leadership and eventually banned from training his own agency. I didn’t know the details but I found it very strange that he was impacting law enforcement across the country and helping to save lives, and along the way he wasn’t able to do it for his own department.

The First Law Didn’t Matter

Personally, I had no desire to upset anyone or even give the impression that I was somehow outshining anyone because that wasn’t my intent. I simply loved training and God had opened doors across the country that enabled me to help others and while I was careful to follow the first law, I soon found out that it didn’t matter.

In 2007 I attended the International Educators And Trainer Association (ILEETA) National Conference outside Chicago for the first time. My roommate from the FBI National Academy went every year and when he found out I trained, he invited me. As a law enforcement trainer, ILEETA was like Disneyland. Any trainer you had heard of was conducting classes and it was like drinking from a firehose of knowledge. I can remember seeing Dale Stockton that first year and feeling like I was looking at young Elvis. I went up to him like a “Swiftie” and mumbled something like, “I’ve been reading you articles since I was kid.” I don’t think he appreciated the comment but it didn’t matter to me. I met a guy that I had seen from afar for years and it didn’t stop with Dale. From Chuck Remsberg to Tony Blauer to Chuck Humes, I not only met the giants in the profession but they spent time with me and poured their knowledge into me.

Turning Point

As I sat in the opening ceremony the following year, a legend in law enforcement training and the founder of ILEETA, Ed Nowicki, announced my name as the 2008 International Law Enforcement Trainer of the Year. The inaugural award was given to Ed the previous year and it remains hard to believe that I received it in 2008. I would have been happy just to talk to Ed Nowicki but here I was shaking his hand and receiving an award named after him.

There were and remain many much more deserving but it was a moment in my life I will never forget and I immediately knew that I couldn’t tell anyone at my agency.

I had led the EVOC program for over a decade and while training was a part-time position away from by shift commander duties, I loved it and the team had been having tremendous success. Not only was their effort reducing collisions in the agency but along the way, they started to get noticed nationally. In prior years, Line of Duty Films visited and rolled out their training for others and many agencies from across the country were visiting and modeling their training programs after ours. I led the team but it was the 30 trainers, at the top of their game, that drove the ship and I loved being involved. So while the ILEETA Conference was a highlight of my career, I had no reason to test that first law.

A few months later, a magazine ran an article on the conference and mentioned my award along with a photo. I wasn’t aware of the article but in a matter of days, a staff member mentioned the accomplishment in a staff meeting.

The End Was The Beginning

While the staff member meant it well, I wasn’t happy when I read the staff meeting notes and within a month I was removed from training. I was told that there wasn’t a need for “higher” ranks being involved in training but when I was the only one removed out of several others that fit that description, I knew I wasn’t exactly being told the truth.

Of course it was devastating news but I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason (Romans 8:28) and being banned from my agency training only enabled me to do more on a national level. In fact, without that decision, Below 100 would have never happened and I’m not even sure I would have expanded my training and consulting to where I would even be writing this now.

Opportunity For Greatness

In my case, and many others, I was never going to back down from my passion and the talent that God gave me and if I was unable to use that within my own agency, I was going to use it elsewhere and this is the message I would like to leave with you.

This isn’t about my agency because what happened to me is not unique and those that did it are no longer around. This isn’t about the harm done to me because that isn’t unique and I hear of similar stories on a weekly basis.

This is about an opportunity for our organizations to reach a height of greatness that no reform or fancy pledge could ever do. Leaders must engage with their employees at a level where they know who they are and what they are.

What drives your employees?

What are they passionate about?

What talent and skills have they been gifted with?

You can’t understand any of that from a personnel file and if a leader doesn’t know this and apply those talents to the organization, there will be a constant upstream swim that isn’t efficient for anyone.

Do you need an annual report? Find out who has a passion for marketing or graphic design and empower them to get it done…despite who they are what their rank is?

Are you developing a new use of force policy? Find the person in your organization that lives and breathes that issue.

Do you want a wellness program? Find the wannabe biohacker in your agency that loves the topic.

The easy way and the cowardly way is to grab a model policy from some national organization that knows nothing about your agency or your community. The courageous way and the more effective way is to find someone within your organization and let them shine.

You don’t have to do it this way and as Dale Stockton pointed out years ago, many don’t. But if you don’t empower those talented and passionate employees, don’t be surprised if they retire, resign or get off work and head straight to their clinic, marketing company, or jiu jitsu gym and place their efforts into their own business rather than the business of policing.

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Dr. Travis Yates retired as a commander with a large municipal police department after 30 years of service. He is the author of “The Courageous Police Leader: A Survival Guide for Combating Cowards, Chaos & Lies.” His risk management and leadership seminars have been taught to thousands of professionals across the world. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy with a Doctorate Degree in Strategic Leadership and the CEO of the Courageous Police Leadership Alliance.