About the Book
Leadership is demanding and challenging. How do leaders cope? How do they remain fit and strong, and thrive? The authors of Leadership Resilience, a business school academic and a police officer, suggest that many challenges faced by leaders are similar to the challenges experienced by police officers. The isolation; the pressure not to show personal emotions; the expectation that they will deal effectively with confused, frustrated and angry people; and that they can deal with delivering bad news; all contribute to the pressures bearing on leaders and police officers everywhere. The authors argue that these challenges are more pronounced in policing and so more readily identifiable than in other leadership situations. They explore challenges experienced by police officers, look at how they cope with them, and draw lessons for those undertaking leadership roles more generally. Leadership Resilience provides accounts from police officers, in their own words, of difficult experiences they encounter. They describe their feelings about what was important and how they coped with it. Each account is followed by an analysis highlighting what is discussed, and not discussed, in the accounts and identifying lessons that can be drawn by leaders in other situations. All is presented so that it is relevant to different cultures demanding different styles of leadership. Analysis of the engaging experiences featured will help leaders struggling with the gap between leadership education and capability and the demands made of them to survive and thrive, while maintaining their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction; Part 1 Case 1; Chapter 2 Peak Experience at Gunpoint, Ginger Charles; Chapter 3 Peak Experience at Gunpoint: Analysis; Part 2 Case 2; Chapter 4 Hurricane Katrina—a Police Officer’s Experience, Wendy Kipple; Chapter 5 Hurricane Katrina—a Police Officer’s Experience: Analysis; Part 3 Case 3; Chapter 6 Assistance Required – Can You Respond?, Andrew. A. Malcolm; Chapter 7 Assistance Required – Can You Respond?: Analysis; Part 4 Case 4; Chapter 8 Emotions on the Sidewalk, Ronald J. WalshJr; Chapter 9 Emotions on the Sidewalk: Analysis; Part 5 Case 5; Chapter 10 Eyes Wide Open, Sergeant Eric Kellogg; Chapter 11 Eyes Wide Open: Analysis; Part 6 Case 6; Chapter 12 Leadership in Crisis, Sir Peter Fahy; Chapter 13 Leadership in Crisis: Analysis; Part 7 Case 7; Chapter 14 Policing for Peace in Northern Ireland – the Four Voices, Tim Meaklim; Chapter 15 Policing for Peace in Northern Ireland – the Four Voices: Analysis; Chapter 16 Conclusions;
About the Author :
Dr Jonathan Smith is a Senior Lecturer at the Lord Ashcroft International Business School at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK, where he has led a number of innovative master's level leadership and HRM programmes. Externally, he also coaches and supports leaders and HR professionals. Smith has experience in public and private sector organisations. He was a Director of Studies at the UK National Police Training and Development Authority and his PhD explored the relevance of spirituality within police training. Smith is widely published and a co-author of MisLeadership (Gower 2010). Dr Ginger Charles has worked as a police officer in the United States since 1986. She has recently retired as a sergeant from police work after 27 years of service. Charles received her PhD from Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in the field of Health Psychology. She now researches health risk factors in the law enforcement community. Ginger Charles, Wendy Kipple, Andrew A. Malcolm, Ronald J. Walsh Jr, Eric Kellogg, Sir Peter Fahy, Tim Meaklim.
Review :
'Leadership with integrity and effectiveness has always been a major challenge, and never more so than in the global crises we face today. Leaders need resilience, and editors Jonathan Smith and Ginger Charles are in a prime position to enlighten us on its importance and how to build it. With a focus on the police service, who are so often walking the boundaries of society, the authors provide us with vivid narratives and practical ways of moving forward to meet challenges with purpose and inner strength, through experience and reflective practice. I welcome the holistic approach, bringing mind, body and spirit together to lead people into the future.' Peter Gilbert, Emeritus Professor, Staffordshire University, UK 'Such a rich collection of powerful case studies on resilience amongst the police. Immediately, by using the reflections and questions, I could see the learning and application to Principals in FE Colleges. The editors' approach to understanding spirituality in the workplace is clear, insightful and opens the territory more widely. A refreshing, practical and thoughtful contribution to leadership in the public sector.' Lynne Sedgmore CBE, Executive Director of the 157 Group of FE Colleges 'A compelling book, bringing together the personal and very affecting accounts written by police officers, with analysis of these accounts. The analysis - like the best literary criticism - helps us return to the police narratives with new eyes, and learn even more from them. The police service, like most professions, can be dominated by accounts of efficiency and effectiveness. Yet real police officers can be driven by personal motivations, a sense of purpose or duty, a commitment to care. Resilience is indispensable, as the police face life and death experiences, and social pressures - from colleagues and from the public - tempting them to a combative or cynical approach to their work. Smith and Charles show how the police account for their lives and careers, and thereby provide lessons for all professionals in dealing with their responsibilities.' Julian Stern, York St John University, UK 'Ever wonder how those in policing do what they do, or what we might learn from them? We so often call upon them to go behind the societal veneer and deal with problems most of us choose to close our eyes to. We don't want to know about it, we just want them to fix it. How do police officers and the police community build the resilience to deal with these difficult problems, and what is the personal cost to the officers that serve our communities? Ginger Charles and Jonathan Smith address deep-rooted issues faced by the law enforcement community and the role spirituality plays behind the thin blue line. Is this just a job or is it a calling? You may be surprised by the answers you will get from this book. The authors dare to create their own path, researching the ways policing deals with the enormous challenges they face, and drawing lessons from this about developing resilience that are applicable to a wide range of leadership roles. They unabashedly look at the role spirituality plays in policing, leadership and resilience, and the lives of law enforcement officers. This will make you look at policing, leadership, those that do it, and resilience and spirituality in a unique and fresh way. It's a book that will stretch your mind and make you think.' Link Strate, Commander, Criminal Investigations, Arvada Police Department, USA
