My Shift Supervisor had been a cop for as long as I had been alive. He laughed with a snarl and boasted a vintage 1970’s mustache that rivaled industrial size push-brooms. In a small department like mine his promotion to sergeant — and then lieutenant — was inevitable based on his tenure, though from my lowly perspective, it was not exactly the best of decisions.
When I walked into his office it was like hearing a verdict delivered by a jury before any evidence had been presented — heck, even before opening arguments. The complaint had been filed, a finding had been made, and all that was left to do was to sign on the dotted line. I guess hearing both sides of a story was just too much work or made too much sense.
Favorite Colors
I had made an arrest of an 18 year old kid for possession of marijuana that prompted his mother to file a complaint against me. Which makes sense because he had been a frequent flier since middle school but, according to mom, his run-ins with the law were all somebody else’s fault and had nothing to do with his upbringing or his life choices.
But this time, this time he had been unfairly targeted and his reputation had been tarnished because I had somehow made a reference to him and gangs in the arrest report. He was not in a gang, his mother protested. I mean, sure, he hung out with a particular group of kids who all had the same favorite color and all preferred wearing certain logos on their clothing while committing crimes, but they weren’t a gang.
Like A Duck
Granted, it was Smalltown USA, so it wasn’t like he was a member of MS-13 running around decapitating people with machetes or doing drive-by shootings in his spare time. But, if you walk like a duck, talk like a duck, and dress like a duck, you might be a duck. So, that was the big deal, the big complaint — I had called her son a duck.
After being notified of the formal complaint I had to type my response in a memo to my Shift Supervisor, the lieutenant. Theoretically, that memo was to be my side of the story that would then be weighed against the complaint and some sort of investigation would ensue, presumably culminating in a finding of fact as to whether or not I had done what the complaint alleged. Theoretically, of course.
Side Note
When someone files a complaint against me I can’t help but take it personally. Part of it is just the way I’m wired and the other part is that I put a lot of myself into my work and do the best job that I can. With that in mind, understand that when it came time for me to write the memo, I took my time, detailed my thoughts, and laid out a clear case for why I did what I did and said what I said. You could argue that the complaint was petty and nothing to worry about, but for me, it was personal.
Objection: Overruled
With a logical, rational, freshly typed three page memo in hand, I stood in the doorway of the lieutenant’s office and knocked on the door frame. He looked up from behind his mustache and over the rims of his reading glasses acknowledging my presence with a slow motion blink. He looked at me briefly and then down at a page of department letterhead lying on the desk in front of his ample belly. He placed his fingertips on the letterhead, rotated it 180 degrees, and slid it toward me.
“It’s just going to be a written warning. Not a big deal,” he said. “Just sign here,” lifting all but his index finger off the paper, leaving it on the signature line below the word spelled out in all caps: SUSTAINED.
What?
Check That Box
“Don’t you even want to read my memo?” I asked in disbelief with a smattering of shock and chagrin.
In what seemed like a somewhat obligatory fashion, he stretched out his arm, took the memo from my hand, and grunted. I can’t remember exactly what was said, but it was some sort of justification for his decision and then reiterating that it was just a written warning and nothing to worry about. It seemed the memo was just a box to check and something to paperclip to the file to beef it up a bit.
Well, how do you like that!?
Of course, the thing that bothered me most was the sense of injustice I had walking out of that lieutenant’s office. I felt wronged. Wasn’t justice about weighing things in a balance? This sure felt one-sided.
How did it end? you might be asking. I signed. I had about three years on the job at the time and didn’t know what else to do. Was it the right decision? I’m not sure. Did it ruin my career? Certainly not. Did I learn some stuff? Yup.
What Makes You
The mere fact that he had bars on his collar did not make him a leader. He was a boss, a supervisor, a manager, but not a leader. Rank does not equal leadership, nor does leadership equal rank. The only thing necessary to be a boss is to have a title. The only thing necessary to be a leader is to have followers. In that moment I knew I didn’t want to follow him.
It is true that I have not walked in his shoes as I have never been promoted, but I know what leadership looks like. I have been on the receiving end of both leaders and bosses and can personally attest that there is, in fact, a glaring difference between the two.
Wherever you are on your leadership journey or whatever rank you hold, here are some things to consider:
Leadership Is Service
As a leader, your job is to remove obstacles from your team, not create them. You are the lead blocker, the windshield, the plow. Being a leader also means putting your team’s needs in front of your own and treating them the way you would want to be treated. To put it simply, in the words of best-selling author and speaker Simon Sinek, “Leaders eat last.”
Leadership Is Influence
Casting a vision of where you are headed, starting in that direction yourself first, and then living a life that makes others want to follow your lead is how you begin to influence people. It is not something that is forced or coerced, but rather will be a natural byproduct of how you treat people.
With that said, be the kind of person you would want to follow. Don’t be a box-checker, a Kool-Aid drinker, or a hypocrite.
Bosses are many, leaders are few. Be a leader.
__________________________
– Have you been wronged by a supervisor?
– How did you handle it?
– What could you have done differently?
– How did that experience impact your view of what leadership is?
__________________________
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