Clues of Leadership

The Leadership that Loves. From the Switchboard to Headquarters | Dr. Rhonda Glover Reese

Dr. Rhonda Glover Reese is a retired FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge, executive leadership coach, founder of Noble Youth, and one of the most direct leadership voices in public safety today. She joined the FBI as a switchboard operator, spent four years in pre-agent positions, and built a career that spanned counterintelligence, undercover drug investigations across the U.S. and abroad, and senior executive leadership. In this conversation, Dr. Reese is precise and unsparing: about the relationships leaders fail to leverage, the comfort that stalls careers, the danger of blind trust, and why loving your people isn't soft leadership — it's the job. She also shares the moment she cried in a bathroom stall at FBI headquarters and finally understood her purpose. For law enforcement leaders at every level, this is an episode worth returning to. Key themes include intentional positioning, mentorship as a leadership obligation, sponsorship vs. mentorship, and the real dynamics behind closed-door promotion decisions.

Meet People where they are - Director Larry L. Johnson

Larry L. Johnson is the Director of Public Safety for the Johns Hopkins Health System — one of the largest and most complex healthcare security operations on the East Coast. His career spans the Orlando Police Department, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, and the Defense Intelligence Agency OIG. In this episode of Clues of Leadership, Director Johnson discusses what he misunderstood about leadership early in his career, why his first supervisory assignment failed, and how he rebuilt his approach from the ground up. He breaks down the three things every emerging leader needs — a mentor, a teacher, and an advocate — and why none of them are interchangeable. The conversation covers networking as a professional discipline, the habits that make leaders visible before they have a title, and what it means to meet people where they are rather than where you expect them to be. Practical, direct, and grounded in three decades of public safety experience.

What a Jersey City Cop Taught a 10-Year-Old About Leadership | Col. Orlando Lilly

Colonel Orlando Lilly — head of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police and 32-year law enforcement veteran — sits down with host Dominick Watters for a direct, detailed conversation on the realities of leadership in public safety. The episode begins where his career did: a 1979 hospital room, a box cutter wound that nearly killed a 10-year-old boy, and a police officer who showed up and cried. That moment of vulnerability from a stranger in uniform permanently shaped how Col. Lilly understands command, service, and purpose. Topics include the five levels of leadership in a law enforcement context, emotional intelligence as a career skill, navigating race and institutional bias in policing, the difference between relational and transactional leadership on the street, and a framework for decision-making under pressure. He also addresses mentorship, critical incident preparedness, and the specific books and training programs that shaped his development. Practical, direct, and grounded in 32 years of real experience.

Lt. Morales: Servant Leadership in Law Enforcement: What It Actually Looks Like

Lt. Juan Morales has 17.5 years on the job with the Charles County Sheriff's Office in Southern Maryland. He is the first Latino lieutenant, a former traffic unit commander, and the current deputy director of the Southern Maryland Criminal Justice Academy. His father served 30 years in law enforcement. Leadership runs in the family — but it was tested hard. In this episode, Morales discusses what it actually means to take care of your people, how to hold someone accountable without destroying the relationship, and how he rebuilt his career and his squad after being scapegoated and transferred by a non-performing commander. He also breaks down the moment he challenged a room full of chiefs on recruiting strategy, his five-pillar framework for servant leadership, and why he believes the culture of officer wellness is not a new concept — just a formalized version of what good leaders were already doing. Direct, credible, and practically applicable. This episode is built for public safety professionals who lead or intend to lead.

John D. B. Carr: Heavy Is the Head that wears the crown: Real Talk from an Elected Sheriff

Sheriff John Carr served 26 years in the Prince George's County Sheriff's Office before being elected to lead it. In this episode, he delivers unfiltered insight into what most people get wrong about leadership: it's not about rank, politics, or paychecks. It's about developing those who come after you and serving citizens who don't care if you're exhausted. Carr shares why he hand-selects leaders based on servant hearts, not résumés. He reflects on mentorship from three African American sheriffs, the cost of expanding his office beyond evictions and warrants, and the brutal honesty of losing a deputy to suicide. He admits the courthouse assignment he didn't want became his greatest training ground. This conversation challenges the myth that leadership is glamorous. It's a 52-minute examination of what it costs to lead with integrity in public safety. No motivational fluff. Just the truth.