Start With a Win. Adam Contos
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met us on-site and unlocked the church door. By now, we figured this was probably a false alarm—perhaps a bird inside the sanctuary had set off an alarm sensor. We walked around inside briefly without seeing anything unusual.
I decided to take one more lap around the sanctuary and told the other officers I would meet them at the front entrance. I began to walk from the back down one of the long aisles that converges at the pulpit. Suddenly the hair on the back of my neck bristled; my stomach knotted. I could hear the silent voice in my head yelling, “Something is wrong, take action!” As a rookie, I had never been in an armed confrontation, but my subconscious survival instinct must have kicked in. (Pay attention to those instincts, or an opportunity to take action can pass by.)
Over my right shoulder I saw what I thought was a leather purse on a seat. Then that silent voice yelled, “Put a gun in your hand, now!” I drew my weapon, spun around, and pointed it at the face of a man emerging from where I thought the purse had been. He was climbing to his feet and had a silver object that in the dim light looked like a knife. He was so close that I almost shot him right there. (Law enforcement are taught that a knife-wielding assailant can close a 21-foot gap and stab you before you can even react.)
I was scared even though the weapon he was holding turned out to be a silver nail file. He had used it to try to break into the church's cash box; that's what had set off the alarm. I tried to radio for help, but the signal couldn't penetrate the sanctuary walls. We both stood there; he looked at me with that “Now what?” stare.
I knew I had to act, so nervously I ordered him to drop the knife or I would shoot. Thankfully, he complied. He was probably as startled and afraid as I was. What seemed like an eternity passed as I held him there at gunpoint. I think it was actually only a few seconds before my partners showed up. Veteran cops, they handcuffed the man, then gave me a high-five and hugs for catching my first felony in progress.
WINS FOLLOW A PROCESS
That night's mission was a win. I faced the challenge, examined the options, and fortunately, without hesitation, took the actions necessary to safely solve the problem. That night also illustrates how a street cop can end up as CEO of a megacorporation.
Whatever the challenge, to solve the problem takes the right attitude and approach to every mission. That includes:
Recognize the challenge or challenges.
Meet the people involved who don't know or trust you.
Gain their trust and confidence through your attitude and actions.
Solve the problems.
THE POWER OF LEADING, NOT FOLLOWING
Actions got me to where I am today, but I promise you, those missions and those actions came with plenty of fear. That's a cost of moving forward in pursuit of wins.
“We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action.” 4
—Henry Link, PhD (1889–1952), psychologist
That night in the church I was scared, but I wasn't petrified. I took action because I knew I had to. I had prepared well for this, having spent long hours practicing building searches and tactical techniques, understanding potential threats on the job, and talking through all of this with my trainers.
There is a first time for everything in life; don't let that scare you away. Whether a challenge is business-related or personal, we all can learn to conquer the fear (the Beast) and earn the win by approaching problems holistically, one step at a time. That's part of being a leader.
In any situation, leaders:
Assess the situation or the problem and ask themselves, “What is the question that needs to be answered?”
Answer the question and fix the collapsed points, including weaknesses in the framework.
Understand the options available and prepare for action.
Move forward for the win.
IDENTIFY PROBLEMS FIRST
While a deputy sheriff, I also was a part-time entrepreneur. One of the businesses I started was a security consulting firm. At the time, the early 2000s, real estate agents were being increasingly victimized—robbed, assaulted, sexually assaulted, and even murdered while doing their jobs—which was the problem I was addressing. I examined the situation and identified the security vulnerabilities they faced (assessed the problem), looked more closely at the situation, and theorized that the reasons agents were targeted—the collapsed points—included their lack of training or focus on safety. Primarily, many were unaware of their available options if they encountered bad situations, or they didn't know how to avoid them altogether and still do their jobs. They were meeting unknown people in unfamiliar places and not building any avoidance or response options into the process. Agents essentially were going where the police wouldn't go without protection, training, or a partner.
So my company came up with the answer—S.A.F.E.R. (Safety Awareness for Every REALTOR©)—a program that taught individuals the four fundamental concepts of personal safety: awareness, avoidance, de-escalation, and response if action is required.
Eventually I pitched S.A.F.E.R. to RE/MAX, and it was a big hit. More importantly, the solution helped others. S.A.F.E.R. was also my introduction to the real estate and franchising industry. I traveled around North America, speaking to agents and brokers and learning about their industry and challenges. It turned out that many of their challenges weren't safety issues; rather, they were business issues that put them in poor safety situations. Remember, success lies in deconstructing the challenges into smaller, more manageable pieces, and then fixing the problems one at a time.
About a year after instituting the S.A.F.E.R. program, RE/MAX asked me to join the company as a franchise consultant. It meant a pay cut and leaving law enforcement—at the time I was a SWAT leader—as well as trying something new and different. Momentarily my Beast—fear of the unknown—reared its head. Others told me I was making a big mistake by leaving law enforcement. But I believed in my abilities, as did my friend and mentor Dave Liniger. I also recognized that, at best, this move could be a new career and, at second best, an incredible learning experience. Beast be damned.
EXPECT THE FEAR
The first time I addressed a large crowd—1,500 people—I was nervous and a little afraid. I understood suddenly why so many people are afraid of public speaking. Like many public speakers before they go on stage, I worried about a number of issues: whether people would listen to me, whether they would care about what I had to say, whether my message would be clear, whether I would embarrass myself, and all those other little and not-quite-so-little fears that can nag at each of us.
A mission. But I approached my speech as another mission, and that enabled me to separate it from my fear—the Beast. It's the same approach I used as a SWAT officer or on a sheriff's call. I had a script and I knew the mission; I had practiced the speech many times, and so I walked on stage confident that I could do the job right, and I did.
Nearly two decades and literally thousands of presentations later, I still get a little nervous. I consider it my quality-control awareness. But today, just as then, I know my material, practice my presentation over and over and over again, and address people I care about, so my words come across as genuine and caring. Admittedly though, my speeches are a little more comfortable and conversational now as opposed to those early speeches.
Everyone thinks there's a secret to public speaking, but there's not. Faced with presenting, follow the principles