Elevate Your Call To Service

Are you the leader you think you are? Or is there a difference between how you see yourself and how others experience you? In law enforcement and public safety, leaders make decisions, manage pressure, and communicate with people every day. But even experienced leaders can miss how their tone, facial expressions, emotions, and behaviors affect those around them. In this episode, Mike and Cathy McI...

What if your agency could develop its next generation of leaders without starting over every time a promotional opportunity arises? In Episode 70 of Elevate Your Call to Service, Mike and Cathy McIntosh introduce Integrity Leadership Development's Leadership Readiness Program—a practical approach to strengthening today's supervisors while preparing tomorrow's leaders. They explore why leadership t...

What makes a team worthy of trust? In this episode, Mike and Cathy McIntosh are joined by their son, Chris McIntosh, to explore what public-safety leaders can learn from high-performing sports teams about building trust. Together, they unpack why trust has to be earned through consistency, preparation, clear expectations, communication, and leaders who show up alongside their people. They also dis...

What happens when a promotional opportunity opens—and you realize you haven’t prepared enough people to step into leadership? A good employee does not automatically become a prepared supervisor. Yet too often, leadership development begins only after someone applies for promotion—or after they’ve already earned the rank. In Episode 68, Mike and Cathy explore what public-safety organizations can do...

Your mission and vision shouldn’t be just words on a wall. They should help people understand why their work matters and what they’re helping build. In this episode of *Elevate Your Call to Service*, Mike and Cathy McIntosh explore how leaders turn mission and vision into something employees can actually see, understand, and experience. Cathy brings the organizational perspective: why people want...

What does emotional intelligence actually look like in leadership—and can you lead with empathy without sacrificing accountability? In Part 2 of our conversation with Karen Collins Rice, co-founder of Heroes Active Bystandership Training and architect of Trust-Centered Leadership, we explore why the human side of leadership is essential to building strong, adaptable organizations. Karen challenges...

What if the people with the greatest influence on your organization’s culture aren’t sitting at the executive table? In Part One of our conversation with leadership expert Karen Collins Rice, we explore the powerful role first-line leaders—especially sergeants and field training officers—play in shaping police culture. They are often the people teaching new employees what is valued, what is tolera...

How to Build Trust as a Leader and Strengthen Your Team | Featuring Matt Davis of True Bold Leadership Trust isn't built by a title—it’s earned through consistent leadership. In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, Mike and Cathy McIntosh welcome Matt Davis, founder of True Bold Leadership, to discuss why trust is the foundation of every high-performing team. Drawing from his experience a...

Being successful in your current role doesn't automatically mean you're ready for promotion. Leadership readiness requires understanding how your responsibilities, decisions, and leadership expectations will change at the next level. In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, Mike and Cathy McIntosh discuss the signs a leader may not be ready for promotion yet—and what aspiring leaders can d...

LLeadership isn't built in a single moment—it's shaped through years of service, challenges, mistakes, and the willingness to keep learning. In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, Mike and Cathy McIntosh sit down with Retired Police Chief Leon P. Jones to discuss the leadership lessons that defined his career. From beginning as a young police officer to serving as Chief of Police at Okla...

Leadership standards shouldn't change based on rank, assignment, or personality—but in many organizations, they do. In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, Mike and Cathy McIntosh explore how consistent leadership standards create stronger organizational culture, improve trust, and develop future leaders across every rank. Why do employees have vastly different experiences depending on wh...

How Great Leaders Build Resilience and Confidence Before Promotion Confidence and resilience are not leadership traits that magically appear after promotion. Yet many organizations promote people into leadership positions and hope future leaders will figure it out once the pressure arrives. In this episode of the Elevate Your Call to Service Podcast, Michael and Cathy McIntosh explore how leaders...

In this episode of the Elevate Your Call to Service Podcast, Michael and Cathy McIntosh unpack why mentoring is important in leadership and how structured leadership mentoring helps agencies prepare future leaders before promotion. Good leadership ideas matter. Training, books, conferences, and leadership development programs all play an important role. But leadership knowledge alone does not auto...

Most law enforcement leaders believe they’re listening to their teams—but what if your officers don’t feel heard? In this episode of the Elevate Your Call to Service Podcast, we break down one of the most common and costly leadership blind spots in policing: the gap between listening and actually understanding what your team needs. If you’re in command staff, executive leadership, or preparing for...

Are you leading your team—or just staying busy? Most leaders don’t fail because of lack of effort. They fail because they stay in the weeds and lose focus on what actually drives results. In this episode of the Elevate Your Call to Service Podcast, we break down the leadership trap of busyness vs effectiveness and what it really means to lead at higher levels. At some point in every leadership car...

Law enforcement is inherently complex—but confusion doesn’t have to be. In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, we break down what operational clarity really means for today’s law enforcement leaders—and why the absence of it is often the root cause behind hesitation, frustration, and misalignment within teams. Many leaders assume issues come down to effort, attitude, or capability. But m...

In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, we break down a powerful leadership concept that transforms how law enforcement organizations operate: the relationship between police leadership and teamwork. Drawing from real-world experience, we explore how high-performing agencies don’t rely on one unit or one leader to carry the load. Instead, they operate through a dynamic model where teams c...

At a recent leaders conference, one leadership theme surfaced again and again in conversations with sheriffs and command staff from across the country. Leaders often see problems developing in their organizations long before they become serious incidents. A deputy who pushes the edge while driving. An employee whose comments cross the line. A pattern of behavior that everyone notices but no one ad...

Welcome to the Elevate Your Call to Service Podcast! 

How Leaders Shape Culture: Why Modeling Matters More Than Words Culture doesn’t change because of a memo. It changes because of what leaders consistently model. In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, we move beyond personal leadership and turn the lens outward—examining how individual discipline, consistency, and behavior shape the culture of an entire organization. Through real-world la...

How Leaders Shape Culture: Why Modeling Matters More Than Words Culture doesn’t change because of a memo. It changes because of what leaders consistently model. In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, we move beyond personal leadership and turn the lens outward—examining how individual discipline, consistency, and behavior shape the culture of an entire organization. Through real-world la...

In today’s climate of heightened scrutiny and internal pressure, leadership credibility starts long before public decisions are made. It begins with personal leadership. In this episode, we explore how command-level officers—lieutenants, captains, commanders, chiefs, and sheriffs—shape organizational culture through the way they lead themselves. From emotional discipline and accountability to serv...

In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, we pause to reflect on the kind of leadership that truly lasts. Leadership isn’t defined only by rank, results, or recognition—it’s revealed over time through patterns, consistency, and the way leaders invest in people. In this episode, Mike and Cathy explore what it means to take the long view of leadership and why everyday interactions often shape...

Effective communication can elevate a leader—or quietly sabotage their influence. In this episode of The Elevate Podcast, Mike and Cathy reveal the five communication mistakes that cripple leadership impact in law enforcement and public service. If your briefings go long, your messages get lost, or your team seems disengaged, the problem may not be motivation—it may be communication. Drawing from...

Wellness & Resilience — Building Stronger Officers, Leaders, and Teams Wellness and resilience are no longer “nice to have” in law enforcement—they are essential to protecting lives, families, and careers. In this episode of Elevate Your Call to Service, we’re joined by Buddy Johnson and Vinny Greany, instructors in the FBI National Academy Associates Wellness and Resilience curriculum, for an...