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Speech Transcript

0:00  

Hey, this is Danny Lang loss and if you really want to learn how to level up your life

0:03  

you should be listening to the time to shine today podcast with my good friend Scott Ferguson. Time to shine today podcast squatted to Scott Ferguson and we are at Episode 163. This episode absolutely blew my mind. It’s with my really good friend from the Midwest, the city of Dixon, the chief of police, they’re a true leader Danny Lang loss and I again I have notes after notes after notes in the knowledge nuggets that he dropped regarding leadership and living your values. It just blew my mind so I’m going to shut up right now I’m going to stop talking and turn it over to my really good friend Danny Lang loss. Let’s level up time to shine today varsity squatted a Scott Ferguson and I

0:55  

got my guy.

0:56  

Danny Lang lost my fellow Midwestern er even though I’m down here in South Florida, but I love talking to Midwest people. Just because they’re my kin they’re my what I feel and what I vibe with in you want to talk about leadership. This cat here was chief of police of Dixon in Illinois when he was 33 years old. I mean you look at him he doesn’t even look 33 right now and that was 12 years ago I believe. And now he’s also the city supervisor of dicks and and if you want to talk about leadership this guy is like on the lines of he’ll humbly say no way but he just reminds me as I went through embedded him out to his commitment to excellence. With like Rudy Giuliani, man, he’s way on his way whether you’re a fan of God or not, I mean, this guy is always leveling up. He’s always helping people. He’s the host of the leadership excellent podcast, which will be in the show notes. Make sure you check it out after you listen to his show, of course, but he’s 18 year leadership experience with a combined 13 years executive leader ship experience a city manager and retired police chief at Dixon, Illinois which we have mentioned before, he’s a leadership keynote speaker, writer leadership excellent podcast host, which we mentioned before in more information be found. And it’s About Me page at Danny Lang lost calm. So Danny, welcome to the show. Please come on in you’re douce yourself the time to shave shine today varsity squad. But first, what’s your favorite color? And why?

2:18  

Scott, thank you so much for having me. I mean, first is thank you very much for your service. Thanks, brother, our great country. Okay. And I heard you say this Saturday on your podcast, there’s a lot of issues and problems and challenges that we face, which are challenges or opportunities, right. But this is the greatest country when you said that. It just really resonated with me saw now. But thank you so much for your service. Thank you so much. My favorite color comes from my love of Dixon and my passion for Dixon. And that’s purple. That’s the color of our of our high school of our you know, of the Dixon Dukes? Yeah, purple is my color. And I talk a lot about the idea that I bleed purple, just love Dixon through and through

3:00  

purple is awesome, because blue is kind of like that cool color laid back and red is guts get fired up when you have to. So like purple kind of meshes them a little bit, right? Because it’s blue and red. And then you have, you know, purple is regal. And it’s royal, you know, you know, so that’s, that’s awesome. So let’s get to the origins man, I believe you say you started in the police force addiction, you’re 21 or 18 or 21. So let’s let’s start there. Let’s work our way forward to leadership because the knowledge that you’re going to have on leadership from what you’ve experienced, and that 20 so or so years is people can really learn from,

3:32  

there’s been a lot of challenges. And I say, you know, you can’t have the experience that they had the experience. So ever since I was nine or 10 years old. I wanted to be a police officer, I was drawn to the uniform I was drawn drawn to the fact that they were to help people and to serve people. And later on I found that that draw the policing is what really drew me to leadership. At 21 years old, I became a street cop. That’s all I ever wanted to be was a street cop. And then as things started to evolve, and going along in my career, I was a detective I was on the SWAT team I got promoted to sergeant became the police chief. And really what drives me now Scott is just being in a position where I can make a bigger difference and have a bigger positive impact on people’s lives. And so in Dixon, you know, I’ve dedicated my entire adult life to serve in this great community, help moving us forward, making us a great community. We are with so many great people. This is just a great place. And then the transition and what I’m doing and speaking and the leadership excellence podcast is just continuing in and helping other people and continuing to drive that impact and sharing and giving back so much as what’s been given to me and through my career.

4:40  

So I got to ask you that you wanted to be a street Beat Cop, which was just awesome. I think a lot of us when we were kids want it to be right at our age. We saw a lot of those TV shows growing up from rookies to you know, TJ hooker and stuff like that. Be cops

4:56  

right I can pie right man. It’s

4:58  

exactly and So then I heard you say I want to talk divin SWAT, like what was there going on in your brain that made you can continue to level up and add to your repertoire.

5:11  

You know, it really was about being in a position to grow my current skill set to be, like I said, in a position to make the biggest impact. You know, one of the things that I kind of live by and I talk about whenever I speak is preparation plus opportunity equals success, you’ve always got to be prepared, because you never know when that opportunity is going to come. And in our department, the opportunity for detective came around very rarely. And the reason my opportunity came was because somebody actually got hurt in a flag football game. So I got tapped on the shoulder. I’ve been, I was completely bought into the pith purpose of the mission of the department go the extra mile, community service, all these things. So I got tapped on that shoulder when nobody thought there was going to be any opportunity whatsoever. And that turned into a major success that really started to pave the way for my career.

5:58  

Talk about like, love him or hate him at a tom brady moment. And what happened to him with Bledsoe getting hurt. And then he moved in and took off and ran with it, brother. And I got a bunch of kind of similarities between Rudy Giuliani and then now Tom Brady, this guy, he’s a total Boss, I love that preparation, plus opportunity equals success. So Ben, what do you think Danny makes a great leader.

6:20  

You know, humility, vulnerability, service, and true caring and passion for other people. I think those are four key components. And one of the things I’m glad you asked that question, because one of the things when I’m presenting to leaders, and the future leaders is I asked them the question early on, why do you want to lead because the reason you want to lead directly transitions and how you lead. And so understanding where that comes from? What are the values that guide you that want to land you in this position, and then breaking that down, and then talking about the laws of leadership and leadership mindset, and how to be successful from that, that next step? Because everybody you know, sees the glory of leadership and the glory of status and title. Leadership is anything but glorious, and it’s anything but status. It’s all about putting other people first, there’s no destination. People never to be a leader, Edward chesky was on my podcast a few weeks ago, he’s the executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, he said, to be a leader is to be misunderstood. So it’s also to really know why they want to be a leader, but then to help them understand of what’s to come from leadership and being in those formal leadership roles.

7:37  

So Danny, why do you want to leave?

7:38  

I want to lead. So I’m passionate about leadership for this reason that somebody asked me this a couple weeks ago, there are so many challenges facing our country, right? racial inequality, gender inequality, lack of equal opportunity, education, mental health, substance use disorder, food insecurity, like there’s all these different things. And they’ll all be solved by one common thing. And that’s leadership. You see, leaders understand, they don’t have to know all the answers. They don’t have to have all the solutions, but they got to have vision. And they got to know how to pull people together. Right. And so that’s why I’m so passionate about leadership, and then it just drives back into I’m very purpose driven. I want to be in the position where I can help people the most is a detective, I helped create our Children’s Center that serves children of sexual abuse. I saw how they weren’t believed I saw how they didn’t have the proper services, I saw how they weren’t supported even by their own family. And I and being becoming the police chief, gave me an opportunity and a platform to give these kids a face and a voice. We presented the 6000 people in three years 360 $5,000 a year for our Children’s Advocacy Center, I met this amazing woman named Aaron Morin, who had a vision for Aaron’s law to give kids a face and a voice help run a state task force we got connected there, we pass this law, that’s real, like passion, purpose, and impact. And for me, that’s what it’s all about. And now it’s transitioning, not just for the difference in the impact that I can make, but that I can help other people develop within themselves. So they can fulfill their passion, their purpose, their impact.

9:13  

So Danny, how, what is your secret sauce than, to me your very, two pretty powerful positions for the area that you live in? What was What’s your secret sauce than to keep your ego in check? I mean, you got to realize when people get into leadership positions come up, you know, they get a little high on their horse and stuff. But what do you do to keep that ego in check?

9:35  

Well, again, it comes back to why do you lead and if you truly lead from a position to help others to serve others to help others become the best version of themselves, when you’re motivated and fueled and driven by seeing the successes and other people? That that’s what it’s all about? Sure. You know, that’s what it’s all about. And, you know, for me coming up through the department. I never had my eye set on being the police chief. No I became a detective, the opportunity came to become a sergeant, I thought I had something to offer and get back there from what I’ve learned. And then I really thought I’d max out at the lieutenant rank, and then got an incredible opportunity to be the police chief and serve there. And again, it’s just about, you know, and you got to stay humble, you got to stay humble. It’s always got to be about other people. And then I think there’s three things that are the foundation. If you are humble, and it is about service that gives leaders an edge, you’re going to be above average in leadership, at the understand these three things. The first is everybody wants to be cared about, right? They want to feel cared about. The second is, is everybody wants to feel important. They want to feel like they’re important, where they’re at, like they belong. And the third thing is everybody wants to make a difference. And that’s more important now than ever, you know, you listen to a lot of what Simon Sinek talks about, and finding your why and your purpose. People don’t want to just be on a great team, they want to be part of what makes the team Great. So again, everybody wants to be cared for. Everybody wants to feel important, and everybody wants to make a difference. And as a leader, if you’re fulfilling those three things, you’re well on your way to leadership, excellence, Love it. Love it. So

11:14  

when you’re Are you are you grooming anybody right now? Or are you mentoring,

11:19  

we’re, you know, we’re always mentoring, we’re always developing. So always preparing for the future. And we’re doing that with many people across many levels. So that one of my beliefs is, is that when you talk about leadership, people generally get that confused with CEO or Executive Director or city manager, there are formal leaders and their informal leaders. And we have to be developing all leaders. And I believe, and it’s a concept I’ve written about create a call creating a culture of leadership, that instead of waiting for somebody to get promoted, and then giving them leadership training, right, we need to start training our people as leaders, leadership, mindset, laws of leadership, leadership concepts, leadership principles, trust, building all these different things very early on in their career, because when people come into the organization, they come in with a me mindset. And very early on, we want to open up that bigger picture to them, and transition that to the we mindset. And you do that through leadership training, you do that through clear expectations, you do that through identifying and aligning clear values, you do that through identifying and aligning the mission and purpose of your organization with the mission and purpose that drives them. And one thing I tell people who you hire, and who you bring on board is so important. If you can’t align the mission and purpose the organization with the mission and purpose of the individual. It says nothing about the quality of that individual, but they’re in the wrong spot.

12:42  

They’re in the wrong spot.

12:43  

Yeah, we got to

12:44  

get right early on great leader can strategically put people in the right spots, too. So the people that you’re kind of grooming or you’re bringing into different and fitting them into different leadership positions. Is there any good questions that are good question that you wish they would ask you, but never do? You got a plethora of leadership experience. And as you’re bringing these people up, what are any notion you wish they would ask you?

13:08  

I say, I don’t know if it’s as much about what questions they would ask me. But But what I would hope is that I’m always leading by example. I’m always, I’m always displaying the leadership values of service in empathy, and caring, in excellence in teamwork, right? That I’m displaying those things, and they’re seeing those things, and that those things are becoming part of who they are. So it really isn’t as much about questions they would ask me, because I’ve got a ton to learn. One of the things about the podcast is I’m learning so much every day. But it’s more about leading by example, involving them, asking them good questions. And as we’re helping them become the best versions of themselves, then it’s helping me become the best version of myself. Because the thing about excellence in that value is excellence isn’t a destination, it’s a place we can visit from time to time, there’s always a better way, absolutely committed to that value. And that value within strong leadership principles or that value within strong service from our government or that value, you as a coach, right? Sure, as a professional coach, being committed to that value to always deliver the very best you can for the people you serve. That’s really what it’s all about.

14:20  

So I’ll just ask you tell me about a fail. I mean, you’re you you accelerated to where you are very quickly compete no matter what anyone was, whatever you think you excitedly accelerate very quickly. So tell us, you know, kind of quickly about a field that you kind of encountered along this past 22 years or so.

14:36  

Yeah. So I think one of the biggest fails or challenges or struggles so one of the things people don’t know is very early in my career to almost three years in. I was second or third from the bottom on evaluations within the department. Yeah, second or third from the bottom and it was disheartening. I couldn’t really figure it out. I was disgruntled I went in and talked to Luke Instead, what what do I got to do? Like, I feel like I’ve got good knowledge and providing good service. I’m a team player, I’m active. And he said, Danny, he said, he said, this is just a perception problem, what I want you to do is I want you to go talk to each of the sergeants tell him, you’re trying to do the best job, you can ask him for advice and feedback on how you become the best officer you can be. It’ll change everything. And it’s funny, Scott, because I went, and I did that. And I talked to each of these supervisors. And, and honestly, none of them gave me any feedback on what to improve on. But from that moment, the very next evaluation, I was number one in evaluations, and I was never anything but number one moving forward. But that was a real Crossroads for me, because I am a believer, if you’re not happy where you’re at, you can’t fix it, like you drive your own car. Sure, the best way to predict your future is to create it. So go predict your future. And so I was thinking about leaving, because I’m like, if I’m just not the right fit. And it’s funny, that power of perception, right, and some of the things Lieutenant shared with me in that strategy. And I honestly wanted feedback, I thought I was going to get feedback, he knew I wasn’t going to get me. Um, you know, and, and it just changed everything. So that’s a time we’re faced, you know, incredible struggle and challenge and overcome that.

16:16  

Wow. And think thanks to that Lieutenant to really kind of plant that exercise, if you will, to go get the feedback. I do that all the time with my clients that I coach, you know, to ask for the feedback as to where you can improve. A lot of times, like you said, they’re not going to tell you anything, but they remember that you cared it to ask for that. That’s fantastic. So, Danny, how do you want your dash remember that little line between your life day and your expiration date? How do you want that? Remember? How do you want your legacy your epitaph to be?

16:50  

Yeah, I think I think and that’s, that’s a big deal. You know, I’ve had time to perfect just a little bit because I’ve listened to a podcast, incredible job on the show here. But but I think I wanted to say, devoted husband, loving Father, community servant. Well, I think I think that succinct, because that’s what I strive to be able to do every day, and I don’t do a great job of it every day. But I’m always striving to and to bring, you know, my a game in those three areas every day. Wow.

17:21  

Wow. So what kind of what books do you read? And you recommend when that being asked?

17:29  

Yeah, so I think one of my favorite books that I’ve read Scott, is Rene browns, dare to lead. Okay, yeah, great

17:35  

book,

17:36  

great book, you know, she talks about something that’s really important. And that is courage over comfort. And what I’ve seen is, is that leaders who get caring for others and making others feel important, and and showing others how they’re making a bigger difference. leaders who align mission and purpose leaders who have great vision, if there isn’t accountability. Yep. A lack of accountability, destroys cultures, destroys teams, and destroys organizations. And so Bernie’s message there about being vulnerable, being courageous, and doing it in a very positive way. When, when there is a problem. You don’t have to come in and yell at people or downgrade people, you can approach that from a very positive place with with 100% mindset shift instead of being mad and upset, saying, I’m here to help you. Right? What we’re saying help us understand it. How can we help you What’s going on here? You can do that in such a powerful way. Sure. That leaves everybody united and charging forward. Love that. Love it.

18:41  

So Dan, if you were to lose everything you ever built, what would be the first step you would take to rebuild it?

18:48  

You know? Mmm, hmm. Wow. I haven’t heard that question. Yeah, no, I

18:53  

got 40 questions. Listen, yeah.

18:57  

So I think the first thing, Scott, is if I lost everything I had built, like anything money, monetary property that that can be replaced? Sure. I think you have to find solace and peace. And the idea of the incredible foundation that your family is that your friends are right. And I think you just got to stay aligned to your mission and purpose. And then the number one thing that because what you’re talking about is how do you eat an elephant? You eat it one bite at a time. Sure. You take one step after another and you just start moving forward and you stay true to yourself. inch by inch. It’s

19:31  

a cinch by the yard. It’s hard like you said stay true to yourself inch by inch. So love

19:35  

that. I love that.

19:37  

There you go. I saw it from rod Harrison from envision you he’s fantastic. He’s one of my coaches. So what’s one thing you know for sure, Danny.

19:46  

The one thing I know for sure is that the only person that can stop you is you. As people, we got to get out of our own ways. And the other thing I know for sure is the best way to predict the future. is to create it. Look, you can’t change the past. Right? You can’t live there we can learn from it as people say, you know, experience is the best teacher experience you learn from is the best teacher, I don’t know that experience is the best teacher because a lot of people walk away from an experience, and they don’t have the emotional intelligence enough to process what really happened to make them better moving forward. Right, you can’t live in the past, the best way to predict the future is to create it. You drive your own car, and you can take your life wherever you want to take it. It all begins in the six inches between your ears.

20:30  

Beautiful, beautiful, and I know you’ve heard this question, but let’s, let’s hang out with Marty McFly. Let’s go back to the 22 year old Danny what kind of knowledge nuggets are you dropping on him? To help him level off and shorten the learning curve? Just a little? I mean, you blew you blew through to Chief and then into city supervisor. Was there anything else that you would have fed him?

20:49  

Well, yeah, so I think Covey’s fourth habit, seek first to understand and be understood. That’s my laws of leadership. And so this is what happened to me when I came into the department. I should have come in listening more instead of trying to prove myself and when you’re building relationships, the harder you try, the worse you make. And that’s really what happened to me there. So there’s so much power and listening and coming in. And just being a sponge seek first to understand then be understood. And really understanding that relationship building a little bit better. I mean, that that is the advice that I would give my young self coming into this profession.

21:31  

Love it. Love it. So give us I think I think as we wind stuff down just a little bit, we’re going to go into our leveling up lightning round. So you’ve heard some of these questions before. So you got five seconds. I want them rattled off. So I’m sure you’re already ready for him. All right, brother. Let’s see Let’s go to level up. All right, what’s the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

21:51  

The power of perception the the idea that you know, there’s so much into shaping and creating perception and perception is reality. And in that example, I gave about going speak. sergeant’s was was gold.

22:03  

Beautiful. No explanations ready. You’re just going to fire off the answers. Here we go. Sure. Sure. What are your personal habits that contributes to your success?

22:12  

I’m riding my bike. It gives me peace and clarity.

22:16  

Love it, other than your own website. And of course, time to shine today. That’s my shameless plug. What other websites do you go to the level up?

22:25  

I go to Simon senex website. I love so john Maxwell’s website, Rene Browns website.

22:30  

All great. Absolutely. Favorite movie.

22:35  

Back to the Future.

22:37  

Man. What’s your most commonly used emoji when you text? A smile? Smile, big smile or just the kind of you know no teeth smile.

22:46  

It’s the regular plain smile.

22:48  

Yeah, beautiful, beautiful. Not not wisdom wise. And you can’t say your age now. But if you could stay one age for the rest of your life and still continue to learn and gather wisdom, what would it be

23:02  

33 me to

23:03  

do nice always say 32 awesome. What’s your favorite charity in organization you

23:08  

like to give your time and or money to shining star Children’s Center?

23:12  

Beautiful, beautiful last question. You can elaborate a little bit on this one what’s the best decade of music 6070s 80s or 90s

23:19  

you know Oh see? Probably the 80s

23:22  

There you go big hair don’t care plus you have the you to invasion and the British invasion and rap I mean it’s the best decade to me I grew up I’m four I’ll be 49 so we’re like writer in that same generation so absolutely. So Danny How can we find you

23:37  

so if people want to find me they can find me at you know discover Dixon that org they can find me at Danny Lang loss on LinkedIn Danny Lang loss calm. I’m at Danny Lang loss on Twitter. So just about anywhere you just Google it and there’s their stuff that comes up so love it love it and we’ll have all of that in the show notes so Danny

23:58  

what’s your definition of a life well lived

24:02  

you know a life well lived is is a life lived based on your values while pursuing your purpose but it’s really about living your values every single day. And and looking back and having no regrets.

24:13  

Love that. So let’s live your values every single day. Did you hear that squad that we just had basically a free masterclass with my really good friend Danny Lang loss. And you know, he’s gonna tell you can’t have experienced until you have experienced. So get busy. You know, I always tell people that you know, I don’t give you advice. Just to do it. I just did a lot more stupid, excuse my language shift and you have this coming up and I can kind of pass that along. He’s gonna remind you that preparation plus opportunity equals success. You know that he lives a life of humility, vulnerability service and to care for other people. You know, you got to ask yourself, why do you want to lead if you’re if you’re looking to level up your leadership, ask yourself your why that’s very, very important. He’s very purpose driven. He helps people fulfill their passion. You know, he’s gonna remind you that everybody wants to be cared about, made them feel important and make a difference. That’s what people want to be cared about feel important and make a difference. He’s going to tell you to lead by example, to his younger self, he’s going to say, Be proactive, and ask for feedback. So if you’re stuck in a precarious situation, you don’t know how to blast through, ask the certain questions of people that you respect, or maybe even people that you work under work for how you can level up better in like Danny said, they might not tell you anything, but they’re going to appreciate the ask, it’s gonna put you in a spotlight in a certain part of their brain. You know, the only way to stop you is use, the best way to predict the future is to create it. And he went with the fourth law of Covey, they’ll seek first to understand then to be understood. God gave us one mouth in two ears for a reason. So shut up, listen, learn, and then take action on it. And Danny lives, his values. He’s fantastic. He’s humble, yet he’s hungry. He levels up as healthy levels up as wealth. I can’t wait to collaborate more with Dan, you have to check him out on LinkedIn, get on LinkedIn, and get connected with Danny because I try to comment and look at his stuff every day, because talk about leadership and I hate to use the word guru, but he kind of is maybe I’ll call him a leadership junkie, because he lives it every single day. So Danny, thanks so much for coming on. I’m humble, immensely grateful that you did. Thank you, Scott. It’s

26:27  

been a great opportunity. Just thank you so much for all you’re doing. And thanks again for your service to our country.

26:32  

Absolutely. Thank you so much. Talk soon. Hey, thanks so much for listening to this episode of time to shine today podcast. Proudly brought to you by southern New Jersey real estate real estate excellence, who can be reached at 561-249-7266 and online at www dot Sutter and nugent.com. If you’re a business owner or professional who would like to be interviewed on time to shine today, please visit time to shine today.com slash gust. If you liked this episode, please subscribe on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. There’s a link in the show notes to our website. Also there you will see our recommended resources. We hope that you will support our show by supporting them. If you like what you’ve been listening to, it’d be great if you could just give us a five star rating and tell your friends to subscribe while you’re at it. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. And until next time, let’s level up. It’s our time to shine.

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