Overconfidence vs. Over-competence
Considering the wrong metrics to define a leader
He's out there right now. The guy that's stronger, faster, smarter. He's getting opportunities you never had. He's making more money than you ever will. He has a nicer house, car, clothes. He's out there right now.
Usually, that's the intro to some weight loss plan, workout routine, or financial gamble for you to be involved with because some of the best ways the world tricks you is by making you believe that who you are right now is not good enough; if you just did xxxxxxxx you would be "better" in your life. And we believe it to be true! That's why our country alone spends billions of dollars each year on these things. Look younger! Be more fit! Have more money! Oh, and the catch is that once you've achieved "it", (you know, the goal you let someone else set for you in your life), then you find there's somebody else out there right now...stronger, faster, smarter.
The genius of marketing and advertising is centered around this concept. Get you believing your life is better with whatever they are selling. How do we respond in our world? We work harder, longer, for less money just to get "a chance" to experience the opportunity to be the guy "out there right now" to someone else. Here's the rub, though, working harder to be more "successful" does not equate to bringing you more happiness! And yet, people spend their lives pursuing a manufactured sense of success while never actually achieving it! We work, promote at our jobs, get the next best thing, and keep working for the next best thing. It seems our culture wants more and more while giving less and less.
The wrong guy for the right job
World history shows nations crave leadership defined by strength, bravery, intellect, charisma, money and power. People somehow feel safer with someone to look to representing them as they want to see themselves versus how they are. This leads to a push for overachieving publicly to garner support politically. That support translates into approval for choices made. So, if you can get people to believe what you’re selling, then they will prop you up into leadership. What you will do once you're in the role doesn’t come into play. “Get the job, then make it better” is what seems to be the motto.
And now prideful incompetence is on display with little recourse for the people represented.
Years ago, I worked with a guy who was extremely vocal about how tactically sound he was after a four-year stint in the military. He touted his participation in “SKT’s” (small kill teams) when rooting out insurgents in Afghanistan. He bragged about how he had led people in real combat. He was a larger guy who regularly would engage in physical confrontations with larger guys on the street resulting in use-of-force incidents to show how tough he was. After a short time, he put in for a Sergeant position. He went through the selection process in the assessment center and didn’t pass. Fortunately, the process identified his overconfidence was an extreme liability to policing leadership in our society. Unfortunately, that process doesn’t always catch people and the outcomes produce supervisors at all levels without the positional competency to be effective in their role.
How often in the workplace do people fall victim to the Peter principle? You know, when someone is promoted to a position they have no competence to complete effectively. They have promoted beyond their ability to effectively do their job well. This is the real pandemic in law enforcement. Agencies that prioritize tenure over temperance, personal relationships over personal character, or “wealth of knowledge” over wisdom fall victim to this inevitable outcome of disappointment at best and betrayal of the oath at worst.
Uncommon Sense
The path forward is not complex, but as I’ve written about in numerous articles before this path requires a sacrifice. Leaders need to base their metric on elevating people to differing positions of authority on the intangible measure of that person’s character evidenced by their actions, and by the foundation of courageous nobility that person has to see the panorama of opportunities that come from not simply towing an imaginary line.
This is as straightforward a solution as any I’ve seen. Real change occurs when line-level supports the directives of leadership driven by a sincere desire to build into their lives and not treat them as a number to be used up and thrown away. Very few leaders actively on the job today are talking about this concept. That, in itself, is telling. Commander Travis Yates, Ph.D is putting his money where his mouth is through his writing, podcasts, and training in Courageous Leadership. Sheriff Mark Lamb in Pinal County, AZ is another such leader in this field. The point is this: John F. Kennedy challenged America in his 1968 Presidential campaign that “one person can make a difference and that every man should try.”
Look past comfort because it’s in the tough choices where greatness lives.
It’s not enough to anchor to the cheap seats of career safety turning a blind eye to the cowardice overrunning our profession anymore. Default aggression to not having your needs met is a childish and immature response. Take every opportunity to be an ambassador for what it is you stand for and others will follow. For the leaders out there reading these words - You are on notice. Notice that every day presents an opportunity for you to change the life of one person in your organization and community for the better. The destination of where we go from here rests squarely on your shoulders. Step up, and don’t let us down.
Sergeant Jeff Daukas is committed to the principles of Courageous Leadership and is the lead instructor for the foundational principle of Courageous Nobility. You can listen to Jeff discuss this vital principle on a recent Courageous Leadership Podcast at Courageous Leadership. He has over 20 years in law-enforcement working through patrol, investigations, and special operations both at the line level and as a supervisor. Through the last 20 years, Jeff has embraced his passion instructing officers and civilians through the nobility of policing. He is a certified FranklinCovey Nobility of Policing instructor, as well as a certified instructor for the Blue Courage curriculum. Jeff holds a master’s degree in criminal justice with a focus on terrorism and homeland security and teaches in that discipline at the college level. He is a graduate of the FBI-LEEDA Supervisor Leadership Institute program consistently implementing servant-leadership into training the next generation of law-enforcement professionals in both courageous leadership and followership.
For clarification, the typographical error on the date of the John F Kennedy quote is a transposition error only. The date was not 1968, but rather 1960. President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.