From LinkedIn

The Conversation Someone Carries

This was originally posted on my LinkedIn on July 31, 2026.

I’ve always been an introvert.

Most people are surprised when I say that because my job requires me to spend a lot of time speaking with people, building relationships, and representing our department. Over the years, I’ve learned how to be professionally extroverted.

Walking into a room full of people I don’t know still isn’t something that comes naturally.

This week I have been attending the LEMIT - Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas Police Chief’s Leadership Series with police chiefs from across Texas. The presentations were outstanding, but one conversation on the last morning has stayed with me.

This morning at breakfast, three chiefs who had worked together years ago were sharing stories, laughing, and giving each other a hard time. In the middle of the conversation, one chief thanked another for a lesson she had taught him years earlier. He said it was something he had carried with him throughout his career.

The conversation continued, but I kept thinking about what he had said.

It made me think about how many conversations have shaped the way I lead. Some came from people I admired. Others came from leaders who showed me exactly what I never wanted to become. I still remember many of those conversations years later.

Hearing one chief thank another for a lesson he had carried throughout his career reminded me that we never really know when an ordinary conversation becomes part of someone else’s story.

It’s made me think differently about the conversations I have with the people I lead.

I hope that years from now, someone remembers one of those conversations because it made a difference to them.

Thank you to John M. Ray, Ph.D. Scott McCollum, MJur Vicki Renee Johnson and Tammy Douget, MS for a great week of training. A special thank you to Chris Havens, Christopher Cook, Will Johnson, Kim Lemaux and so many others for letting me listen and learn.

Want to see the conversation? Read the comments on LinkedIn.