Elevate Your Call To Service

About Elevate Your Call To Service

Elevate Your Call to Service is a leadership podcast for law enforcement professionals who want to lead with greater clarity, readiness, and purpose. Hosted by Michael McIntosh, a career law enforcement leader with decades of experience, and Cathy McIntosh, a longtime law enforcement wife and business leader, this podcast brings together field-tested leadership experience and the human side of service. Each episode explores the real challenges facing today’s law enforcement leaders, including leadership readiness, communication, trust, mentorship, culture, wellness, resilience, and service-driven leadership. Michael and Cathy help current and future leaders think beyond the title, prepare before promotion, and lead in a way that strengthens their teams, agencies, families, and communities. Whether you are preparing for your next leadership role, mentoring future leaders, or responsible for developing leadership within your agency, Elevate Your Call to Service will help you grow as a leader and stay connected to the purpose behind the work.

Publisher

Michael McIntosh

Category

education · government

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 Apr 2023

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

70 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026

   Championship Teams are Built on Trust: Leadership Lessons for High Performing Law Enforcement Teams

   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 discuss what it takes to rebuild a struggling culture—and why those small, repeated actions on “Monday” ultimately determine how a team performs when Friday arrives. If you lead a shift, unit, team, or organization, this conversation offers a practical reminder: strong teams aren’t built in the critical moment. They’re built in everything you do before it.View our show notes at https://www. leleaders.com/elevate/building-trust-law-enforcement-teams

2. 

   22 Sept 2026

   Leadership Shouldn’t Be Left to Chance: Preparing Law Enforcement Leaders Before Promotion

   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 differently. They discuss the difference between identifying potential and intentionally developing readiness, how modeling shapes future leaders and organizational culture, and why mentorship needs to be more than simply pairing two people together. You’ll also hear practical ideas for giving emerging leaders opportunities to practice judgment, receive feedback, take on greater responsibility, and grow before the vacancy arrives. The goal isn’t to lower the bar. It’s to prepare more people to clear it—and to prepare them not just to win the promotion, but to lead well after they earn it. Leadership shouldn’t be left to chance. Explore this episode and additional leadership resources at:leleaders.com/elevate/leadership-development-before-promotion

3. 

   8 Sept 2026

   Beyond words on a wall: How leaders give work meaning

   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 to contribute to something meaningful and why simply having a mission statement isn’t enough. Mike brings it into the everyday realities of law enforcement leadership, from briefing and answering radio calls to coaching, recognition, accountability, and culture. They break vision casting down into three practical responsibilities: Point to the horizon. Explain why it matters. Give people a role. Because people can know exactly what they’re supposed to do today and still have no idea what they’re helping build tomorrow. Leadership closes that gap.In this episode: * The practical difference between mission and vision* Why employees need more than tasks—they need meaning* How first-line leaders cast vision in ordinary moments* Connecting everyday work to organizational purpose* Using recognition and accountability to reinforce mission* How today’s leadership decisions become tomorrow’s culture and legacy Leadership Foundations: Leadership Readiness • Trust & Communication • Culture & Mentorship View our show notes at https://leleaders.com/beyond-words-on-a-wall-leadership-mission-vision

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.6 / 5

10 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 24 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

36

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

Contact Elevate Your Call To Service

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.