Leadership Isn’t Rank: It’s Showing Up for People
People ask me sometimes what makes a good leader. After 27 years in law enforcement — including serving as Chief of Police in Union Point, Georgia — I can tell you what it is not. It is not the rank on your collar. It is not the title on your door. I have seen people with impressive titles who could not lead a team through a hard week, and I have seen quiet people with no title at all whose teams would follow them anywhere.
A good leader shows up for people, especially when it’s hard.
That sounds simple, and in a way it is. But showing up is not the same as being present in the room. Showing up means your people know, before the crisis ever comes, that you will be there when it does. It means you answer for the team when things go wrong instead of pointing down the line. It means you tell the truth when the truth is uncomfortable, and you listen — really listen — when someone brings you a problem instead of a report.
I learned this the hard way. I did not grow up with leadership handed to me. I grew up in poverty, and the lessons I carried into my career were learned through controversy, conflict, and obstacles nobody warned me about. When help is far away, you learn quickly what people actually need from the person in charge. They don’t need perfection. They need consistency. They need to know the standard doesn’t move depending on your mood, and that you’ll stand next to them when the pressure is on.
Here is what I tell the leaders I work with now: your rank gives you authority, but it doesn’t give you influence. Influence is earned in the small moments — the conversation you didn’t have to have, the credit you gave away, the mistake you owned in front of everybody. People watch those moments. They remember them. And when the hard day comes, those moments are the reason they trust you enough to follow you through it.
That’s also why I believe leadership has to be purpose-driven. Showing up can sound like a cliché. But when your showing up is tied to a purpose — when you know why you serve and who you serve — it changes everything. Purpose is what keeps you standing in the hard places long after the motivation runs out.
Today, as Associate Director of Safety with the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, I work with staff who show up every day for young people at a turning point in their lives. The principle is the same there as it was on patrol: leadership isn’t rank. It’s showing up for people, especially when it’s hard.
If that way of leading speaks to you, I wrote down everything that road taught me in my book, From The Barn To The Badge. You can find it here: https://a.co/d/05kdpflV — and you can learn more about my coaching and speaking work at https://globalpanaceasolutions.com.