First Responder Leadership Podcast

LIVE a Legacy: Why Leadership is About WHO you Build, not About What you Build with Chris Cowan

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 04:00:00 -0300

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003 - LIVE a Legacy: Why Leadership is About WHO you Build, not About What you Build

What if the goal of leadership isn't to leave a legacy—but to live one every day?

After 34 years in public safety, Chris Cowan has learned that some of the most important leadership lessons come through failure, loss, and the willingness to change.

In this episode of the First Responder Leadership Podcast, Chris joins Conrad Weaver for a candid conversation about moving from transactional leadership to relational leadership, building human capital, creating healthier organizational cultures, and choosing significance over success.

Chris shares the deeply personal story of Officer Drew Barr, whose line-of-duty death became a defining moment in his leadership journey. He also explains why leaders need to "hunt the good," why people should be treated as team members rather than employees, how leaders unintentionally contribute to burnout, and why wellness must begin with the example set at the top.

From listening to the newest person in the room to creating systems that protect the physical and mental health of first responders, this conversation challenges leaders to rethink what leadership looks like in practice.

Because leadership isn't ultimately about what people say about you after you're gone.

It's about how you show up today.

IN THIS EPISODE

Why Chris believes leadership is a journey rather than a destination
The difference between transactional and relational leadership
Why first responder leaders can become overly mission-focused
The leadership lesson Chris learned while standing where Alexander the Great once addressed his troops
Why every interaction is an opportunity to influence someone's life
The death of Officer Drew Barr and the lesson that changed Chris's leadership
Why leaders should "live a legacy" instead of trying to leave one
Choosing significance over success
Why first responders need to think more like professional athletes
The importance of building human capital
Why Chris calls leaders to "hunt the good"
Appreciative inquiry and reinforcing positive behavior
Creating environments where people are allowed to make mistakes
Why leaders must listen to everyone—including the newest person in the room
The difference between listening, hearing, and acting
How leaders unintentionally contribute to burnout
Culture versus organizational climate
Warning signs that an organization's climate is deteriorating
Why wellness initiatives must be modeled from the top
Physical exams and mental health check-ins as leadership responsibilities
How leaders can make the case for wellness investments
The importance of "drafting partners" and people who will challenge you
Protecting your physical, emotional, and spiritual health
Why reaching out to three people could potentially change—or save—a life

ABOUT CHRIS COWAN

Chris Cowan has spent more than three decades in public safety leadership. He served 29 years with the Richland County Sheriff's Department, leaving as deputy chief, before becoming the first police chief for the newly established Cayce Police Department.

Today, he serves with the University of South Carolina School of Law's Excellence in Policing & Public Safety Program, an initiative focused on advancing the policing profession and developing current and aspiring public safety executives.

Throughout his career, Chris has coached, mentored, taught, and worked with public safety leaders across the United States and internationally.

His leadership philosophy centers on developing people, choosing significance over success, "hunting the good," and living a legacy every day.

https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/law/faculty_and_staff/directory/cowan_chris.php

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First Responder Wellness Solutions

The First Responder Leadership Podcast is presented by First Responder Wellness Solutions, equipping first responder leaders to lead better, live healthier, and build stronger cultures.

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Connect with other first responder leaders in a facilitated leadership development experience focused on growth, wellness, accountability, and becoming the leader your people deserve. Learn more about the Leadership Mastermind

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Access leadership development resources, training, community, conversations, and opportunities designed specifically for leaders throughout the first responder community.

The Leader in the Mirror: Why Self-Leadership Comes before Leading Others with Max Gomez

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 04:00:00 -0300

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004 - The Leader in the Mirror: Why Self-Leadership Comes before Leading Others with Max Gomez

The Leader in the Mirror Why Self-Leadership Comes Before Leading Others

What if the hardest person you'll ever lead is yourself?

In this episode of the First Responder Leadership Podcast, Conrad Weaver sits down with Canadian law enforcement professional Max Gomez for a candid conversation about leadership, emotional intelligence, identity and the personal responsibility that comes with leading others.

After nearly 20 years in policing, Max has experienced both good and poor leadership—and says he's learned from both. But one of his biggest lessons has been recognizing that leadership development ultimately begins internally.

Max shares how years in law enforcement affected the way he viewed other people, his relationships and even himself. He describes the moment he realized he was looking at the very people he'd sworn to protect as though they were the enemy—and why failure ultimately forced him to reconsider the man, husband, father, officer and leader he was becoming.

Conrad and Max also explore the tension between servant leadership and accountability. Caring about your people doesn't mean avoiding difficult conversations. In fact, good leadership requires both compassion and clear expectations.

They also discuss what happens when leadership fails. Max explains why unclear expectations create organizational dysfunction, how unresolved conflict becomes a “lumpy rug” that everyone can see, and why poor leadership can become a serious wellness issue for first responders.

For aspiring leaders, Max offers an important warning: examine why you want the promotion. Leadership isn't a reward for being good at your current job. It's a responsibility to the people you're being asked to lead.

In this episode:

Why leading yourself may be harder than leading a team
The connection between emotional intelligence and effective leadership
How first responder culture can reshape identity
Reacting versus responding under pressure
Why vulnerability can strengthen leadership
Servant leadership without abandoning accountability
Why leaders must establish clear expectations
How to lead up when your boss isn't leading well
The danger of toxic leadership
Why unresolved conflict damages teams
How leadership and first responder wellness intersect
The danger of seeking promotion for status or validation
Why a great officer doesn't automatically become a great supervisor
The daily practice of becoming the leader your people need

A question to consider:

Am I becoming the person—and the leader—I want to be?

Leadership isn't simply about rank, title or authority. It's about influence, responsibility and the willingness to continually examine the person in the mirror.

Listen to the full conversation and share it with a first responder leader who needs to hear it.

First Responder Leadership Podcast
Helping first responder leaders lead better, live healthier, and create cultures that thrive under pressure.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxgomeznet/

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First Responder Wellness Solutions

The First Responder Leadership Podcast is presented by First Responder Wellness Solutions, equipping first responder leaders to lead better, live healthier, and build stronger cultures.

Take the 30-Day Healthy Leadership Challenge

Are We Ready? Preparing to Lead When the Unthinkable Happens with Kristen Ziman

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 04:00:00 -0300

001 - Are We Ready? Preparing to Lead When the Unthinkable Happens with Kristen Ziman

Former Aurora, Illinois Police Chief Kristen Ziman spent 30 years in law enforcement and led her department through the 2019 Henry Pratt Company mass shooting—an event that killed five people and left five officers wounded.

But Kristen is quick to reject the idea that great crisis leadership begins when the crisis starts.

It begins years earlier.

In this conversation with Conrad Weaver, Kristen shares how asking one simple question—“What’s the worst thing that could happen, and are we prepared?”—changed the trajectory of her department.

She explains why leaders must prepare for what they cannot predict, why organizations drift toward crisis when leaders ignore warning signs, and why every leader eventually faces what she calls a “moment of reckoning”: the point where you know something needs to change and must decide whether you have the courage to act.

Kristen also speaks candidly about something she got wrong: taking care of everyone around her after the shooting while failing to take care of herself.

This is a conversation about crisis preparation, courageous leadership, organizational culture, mental health, vulnerability, accountability, and what it really means to take care of the people in your charge.

IN THIS EPISODE

You'll hear Kristen and Conrad discuss:

Whether leaders can truly prepare for something they've never experienced
The question Kristen asked her command team after becoming chief
Why her department admitted it wasn't prepared for a major crisis
How preparation before 2019 affected the Henry Pratt response
Why preparation is often mundane, uncomfortable and unpopular
The difference between practicing for a crisis and actually living through one
Making decisions in the middle of chaos
Hearing officers being shot while responding to the scene
The emotional aftermath that begins after the tactical incident ends
Kristen's struggle to take care of herself while taking care of everyone else
Challenging the “suck it up” mentality in first responder culture
Communicating with officers, families, media and the public during a crisis
Why “I don't know” can be one of a leader's most credible answers
Kristen's Blind → Aware → Moment of Reckoning → Crisis framework
Why fear keeps leaders from acting on problems they already know exist
Courage as one of the defining characteristics of leadership
Why technical competence doesn't automatically translate into leadership
The importance of loving your people more than your position
Why leaders need dissent rather than silence
How asking “What do you need?” can reveal organizational vulnerabilities
Why every leader should ask: What do I need to know that I don't want to know?

GUEST BIO

Kristen Ziman spent 30 years with the Aurora Police Department in Illinois, rising through the ranks and becoming chief of police in 2016.

During her tenure as chief, she led the organization through the 2019 Henry Pratt Company mass shooting, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the civil unrest and protests following the murder of George Floyd.

After retiring at the end of 2021, Kristen turned her experience toward helping other leaders and organizations. She is an author, keynote speaker, consultant and coach focused on leadership, culture, courage and the moments of reckoning that shape organizations.

She also co-hosts the Hollow Bunny podcast.

https://kristenziman.com

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First Responder Wellness Solutions

The First Responder Leadership Podcast is presented by First Responder Wellness Solutions, equipping first responder leaders to lead better, live healthier, and build stronger cultures.

Take the 30-Day Healthy Leadership Challenge

Break the Pattern: Self-Leadership, Servant Leadership & Fire Service Culture with Jason Yerkovich

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 04:00:00 -0300

Fire service leader and author Jason Yerkovich joins Conrad Weaver on the First Responder Leadership Podcast for a candid conversation about self-leadership, servant leadership, firefighter wellness, organizational culture, and breaking the generational patterns that influence how we lead at work and live at home.

Jason shares how a personal crisis forced him to examine his own leadership blueprint—and why becoming a healthier leader begins with three things: awareness, ownership, and action.

What if some of the traits that make you successful on the job are the same traits creating problems at home?

That was one of the difficult realizations fire service leader and author Jason Yerkovich faced after separation and divorce forced him to examine his life.

Jason began looking at the patterns he had inherited—the ways he communicated, responded to stress, handled conflict, and related to the people closest to him. Eventually, he came to a powerful realization:

The fire service didn't create his unhealthy patterns. It exposed them.

In this episode of the First Responder Leadership Podcast, Jason and Conrad Weaver explore the connection between personal wellness and professional leadership. They discuss servant leadership, trust, micromanagement, empathy, family, culture change, emotional health, and the danger of becoming highly successful at work while struggling with the people who matter most at home.

Jason offers a simple framework for changing those patterns:

Awareness. Ownership. Action.

He also challenges first responder leaders to think beyond their own careers. Sometimes leadership means planting seeds for a culture you may never personally get to enjoy.

Because ultimately, leadership isn't about rank, authority, or being the person in charge.

It's about serving people.

And sometimes the hardest person you'll ever have to lead is yourself.

In This Episode

How separation and divorce became a turning point in Jason's life
Why the fire service can expose patterns that existed long before the job
How childhood experiences influence communication, coping, and leadership
Why traits that help first responders excel professionally can create problems at home
Jason's Awareness → Ownership → Action framework
Why unhealthy leadership patterns repeat from generation to generation
Servant leadership versus command-and-control leadership
Why micromanagement destroys trust
How leaders can develop people who eventually become better leaders than they are
Why humility and empathy belong in the firehouse
Building trust after people have experienced poor leadership
Why leaders need to train alongside their people
The importance of decompression after a difficult shift
Therapy, exercise, communication, and other healthy habits
Why leadership doesn't stop when you leave the station
How to influence culture when you're not the person at the top
Why culture change requires patience
What it means to plant trees whose shade you'll never enjoy
Why “I'm fine” can become a barrier to getting healthier
Breaking patterns of silence and emotional distance
Why taking care of yourself isn't selfish—it's part of taking care of your people

Key Takeaways

1. Self-awareness is a leadership skill.
You can't change patterns you don't recognize. Understanding how you operate gives you the opportunity to choose a different response.

2. What works at work may not work at home.
Hypervigilance, control, emotional compartmentalization, and toughness can sometimes be rewarded professionally while damaging relationships personally.

3. Leadership is serving.
Jason's philosophy isn't about extracting performance from people. It's about helping people thrive and developing leaders who may eventually become better than you.

4. Trust requires giving people room to lead.
Train your people, support them, and then let them do their jobs. Constantly looking over their shoulders communicates that you don't trust them.

5. Culture change is bigger than your career.
Great leaders are willing to plant seeds even when someone else will eventually sit in the shade.

6. Wellness isn't selfish.
Taking care of yourself affects your crew, spouse, children, and everyone else you lead.

About Jason Yerkovich

Jason Yerkovich is a fire service leader, author, and advocate for servant leadership and personal growth. Drawing from his career in the fire service and his own experiences with divorce, therapy, family, and personal transformation, Jason explores how inherited patterns can shape the way first responders communicate, cope, build relationships, and lead.

He is the author of Carrying the Fire: Break the Pattern, Lead with Purpose and is developing the Built Not Inherited podcast, focused on leadership, families, relationships, and the patterns people carry through life.

His leadership philosophy centers on self-awareness, personal ownership, empathy, service, and helping the next generation become better leaders.

Connect with Jason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-yerkovich-7783882b1/

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First Responder Wellness Solutions

The First Responder Leadership Podcast is presented by First Responder Wellness Solutions, equipping first responder leaders to lead better, live healthier, and build stronger cultures.

Take the 30-Day Healthy Leadership Challenge

First Responder Leadership Podcast Trailer

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:38:46 -0300

Introducing the First Responder Leadership Podcast!

This show is built for the men and women who lead in public safety — from emerging supervisors to seasoned command staff.

Hosted by filmmaker, leadership coach, and First Responder Wellness Solutions founder Conrad Weaver, the podcast features candid conversations with leaders from law enforcement, fire, EMS, 911 communications, and beyond who understand what it means to lead when the stakes are high.

Each episode goes beyond leadership theory to explore the real challenges leaders face: making difficult decisions, building trust, navigating crisis and change, developing people, protecting their own health, and creating cultures where teams can perform — and thrive — under pressure.

Through practical insights, hard-earned lessons, and honest conversations, the First Responder Leadership Podcast will challenge you to grow from the inside out and become the kind of leader your people want to follow.

Lead better. Live healthier. Build resilient cultures.