Jal's former Harvard colleague, Dr. Neil Gross, joins the podcast to take us on a journey that compares the world of policing to the world of education. The conversation explores themes of leadership, culture change, and most importantly, trust through the lens of Neil's latest book, Walk the Walk: How Three Police Chiefs Defied the Odds and Changed Cop Culture.
Neil Gross, a sociologist best known for his work on policing, higher education, politics, and pragmatism, is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology at Colby College in Maine. A frequent contributor to the New York Times, Gross holds a bachelor’s degree in legal studies from UC Berkeley and received his PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining the Colby faculty in 2015, Gross taught at the University of Southern California, Harvard, the University of British Columbia, and Princeton. Highlights from the episode include: a history of Neil's journey from cop to college professor to author; samples from his book that show how former police chiefs worked to improve the culture of policing; why trust is the most important factor in a community and how to begin building or repairing it; comparing the challenges in policing to the challenges facing those in education; difficulties both police chiefs and school principals face as they work to manage their departments while also being ambassadors in the broader community; and a closing lightning round that compares Vancouver to Maine!
Check out Neil's Book: https://neilgross.com/walk-the-walk-1
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