Ruminations of Police Leadership by Dr. Gary Margolis - Burlington, Vermont

This is the first of invited posts that have been collected from colleagues and practitioners.  They offer a collection of ideas and lesson from many who have learned valuable lessons on leading people and organizations and have willingly shared their thoughts and experiences for this Blog.

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These are some of the immediate lessons I've learned in both policing and entrepreneurial leadership. 

1. Don't assume everyone sees it as you do... communicating the vision is critically important

2. Some times to change people, you have to change people...

3. LISTEN TO YOUR INSTINCTS... they are rarely wrong...

4. Just make the tough decisions and move on... don't waste time perseverating...

5. Past performance is the best indicator of future performance...

6. SWAGGER (get some)

7. Maintain professional boundaries with your employees... they have a role to play and you have a role to play... things get complicated when boundaries are crossed.

8. Treat your people fairly. Incentivize good work. Don't tolerate poor performance.

9. Do what you say you will do... and expect others to do what they say they will do.

10. Excellence, not perfection.

11. LISTEN.  Ask for advice and input. Yet, when the decision has to be made, make it expect your people to accept it and drive on. If they don't, make a change (see #2)

12. If you can believe it, then you can achieve it. Self-doubt is the enemy. Just do it.

13. Great is the enemy of good enough in business... (refer to #10)

14. Integrity . . . the foundation of it all!

About the author: 

Dr. Gary Margolis is a Managing Partner of Margolis Healy and Associates.  Gary served as Chief of Police for the University of Vermont Police Services and a trainer and Administrator with the Vermont Police Academy following a stint with the South Burlington Police Department and as a Deputy Sheriff. He earned a doctorate from the University of Vermont.