No Ordinary People: How Gift-Spotting Sets People and Teams up for Extraordinary Success

By Linda Haley

Discover your best traits
and find extraordinary success

What are your unique gifts and strengths? What makes a good leader? The answers to these questions are exactly the same.

No Ordinary People provides a funny, straightforward look at twenty-three "ordinary" people across three decades who got the job done right, each in their own way. Spanning careers in business, military, and law enforcement, these extraordinary leaders prove that you don't need any special training to bring out the best in people. And that you don't need to do things in any way but your own.

Through one success story after another, each one vastly different from the next, you'll walk away from No Ordinary People with a new plan to make the most of your team's unique gifts, and with a new role model for the very best person to lead them—YOU.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781544528038

Book preview

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Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1.  

Core Values, aka the Golden Rule

Chapter 2.  

Types of Personal Gifts

Chapter 3.  

Unique and Challenging Personalities

Chapter 4.  

Embracing Generational Perspectives

Chapter 5.  

Respite and Self-Care vs. Indulgence

Appendix

About the Author

Copyright © 2022 Linda Haley

All rights reserved.

No Ordinary People

How Gift-Spotting Sets People and Teams up for Extraordinary Success

ISBN   978-1-5445-2802-1  Hardcover

978-1-5445-2801-4  Paperback

978-1-5445-2803-8  Ebook

To Terry, my hero.

Acknowledgments

To Patrick, for supporting me in everything I do, for being the kindness in my life, and for being the best sous-chef ever.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this book—for your stories, cards, and pictures—even those who were too private to send photos.

Foreword

—Sergeant JR (Retired)

I  first met Linda Haley in 2010 when I was an administrative sergeant at the Temple Police Department (TPD) and was interviewing her for a job as a Community Service Technician II (CST II). They are people who answer nonemergency calls (and in some cases, emergency calls, but not by design) coming into the Temple Police Department. Linda was a well-educated person with a lot of life experience. She had been in the navy for many years. On paper, Linda was an overqualified applicant. During her interview, I perceived Linda as a fearless person who didn’t let anything stand in her way. She had curly hair, loved to talk, and was easily identifiable as a type A personality.

Multiple people assisting with the interview suggested that we pass her by because this job was a big step down for her, and she wouldn’t last long before she moved on. I even remember bringing it up during the interview. Linda said if we would give her a chance, she would do everything not to let us down and that she was ready for a career change. It was easy to see on paper that Linda was a person of her word and that she had the ability to do anything she set her mind to do.

How could I say no to this applicant? She was perfect for us; I could just tell it with everything I had in me. So, I took a chance and hired her. Linda stuck to her word and gave the police department (and me) everything she promised and more.

Eventually, Linda left the CSTs after a serious car accident she sustained commuting to work. She left a big hole within the CSTs. I never worried when she was there to work her shift; she gave us more than we could have ever asked from her. Calling her a valuable asset is an understatement. Linda is a fun, vibrant, give-it-her-all, and caring person whom I have continued calling my friend well after we both left our employment with TPD.

If you are reading this foreword, that means you took a chance on Linda as well, and I know she will not let you down either!

Before semi-retiring from the Leander Police Department in 2019, a dear employee said that I was the best supervisor she ever had. Her mother even sent me a card thanking me for taking such good care of her daughter. It was an honor that set me thinking.

Why was I the best supervisor she ever had?

My habits are simple: work hard, show up early, do my best to kick butt, get along with others, and go home. Admittedly, I can be outspoken and opinionated. So, what was gained over the decades that turned me into someone’s best supervisor? And, how could it be passed on to others without sounding like a myriad of how-to books already in circulation?

I thought back, from my earlier mentors to the more current influences: my parents, coaches, previous supervisors, and business owners—all left an indelible mark on me for the better. They share a common thread of success, yet arrived there by varied personalities, styles, and approaches.

There are numerous books on leadership and motivation; this book is a collection of snapshots of people whose specific gifts made them spectacular leaders. I hope you are inspired to connect with your own unique gifts of leadership to bring out the best in yourself and others.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on great leadership. This book offers thirty years of military, business, and law enforcement experiences. After a childhood of many moves, thanks to my DEA dad, I served five years in the navy, put myself through college with a bachelor of arts in criminal justice, paid off student loans, climbed the business ladder, and then created and ran my own business for almost ten years.

When the finance industry failed in 2009, I moved to Texas, returned to my criminal justice roots, and joined law enforcement. Let me tell you, no one goes into law enforcement for the money. The first job paid eleven dollars and ninety-two cents an hour. Seeing that first paycheck, I wondered, Who lives on this? Oh yeah, me. The following years, I managed two police department front desks and spent a year as a 911 dispatcher (Challenging job. God has a special place in heaven for dispatchers). My last job in law enforcement was as the Records Supervisor for the Leander Police Department (LPD) in Leander, Texas. LPD values continuing education and leadership training; it’s where I first took interest in putting my leadership experiences (and those of others) in book form to benefit others wanting to grow into areas of leadership. Even if my writing lacks the polish of a professional writer, I hope my admiration for these people comes across quite clearly. Flashback with me now to my earliest influencers.

Chapter 1.

Core Values, aka the Golden Rule

It’s not hard to make decisions, once you know what your values are.

—Roy E. Disney

Ethics are everything, but how do you teach them? Isn’t that what parents, grandparents, or guardians are for? Standards, practices, and behaviors in the workplace can be taught and insisted upon. Ethics, however, develop further back. I know a man who was raised by his grandmother and turned out great. Me? I never knew either of my grandfathers. I trace my ethics back to my parents, who were both raised by strong single mothers.

My mother’s father died of a heart attack when she was two years old, leaving her mother, Maggie, to work full time to support my mother, Kay, and her sister, Maryann. Maggie worked, of course, for a fraction of the salary her male counterparts earned. She outperformed them and won awards, but when she asked about the pay discrepancy, Maggie was told, The men have families to support. What did they think Kay and Maryann were? Household pets? Yep, those were the good old days. Though much has improved since then, gender income disparity still exists in our society. What Maggie lacked in income, she made up for in four strong, Irish-Catholic sisters. Mom always said she was raised by five mothers.

My father’s father also died when my father was young (more on him in Chapter 5), and his mother, Nellie, raised six children on a nurse’s salary during the Great Depression. She came from a long line of overcomers; Nellie’s mother almost starved to death when she came to America from Ireland because of the No Irish Need Apply signs and the unwelcome atmosphere of the times. That was after she nearly starved to death in Ireland during the potato famine. Before Nellie weathered the Great Depression, she lived quite the life. She was a suffragette and found other ways to embarrass the family. She cropped her hair short, wore spaghetti-strapped dresses that revealed her arms and shoulders, and rode the family cow as if it was a horse (the horror!)—all things frowned upon in her conservative community. Now let’s meet the parents, the products of these two colorful women.

My parents, Kay and Bill.

Kay (aka Mom)

The biggest influence in my childhood. She was a straight-up, no-nonsense, loving, Irish Catholic, stay-at-home mom of three girls.

Positive

No matter how crummy the day, Mom reminded me tomorrow would be a fresh start—make it count. She didn’t indulge self-pity but always offered hugs and encouragement.

In eighth grade, my friends dumped me because I wasn’t popular. Mom assured me that when I got to high school, I would make new, better friends. She was right; she usually was right about most things. Mom was also over-the-top fun—she loved the Michigan State Fair, face painting, top hats, sharing a glass of wine or two, and was always a good sport.

Mom and me.

Selfless

Mom rarely spent any money on herself. Even when Grandma sent her birthday money, Mom found ways to spend it on us. A birthday was the only day one sister got singled out over another; Mom always made sure she provided for all three of us equally. Mom was selfless to a fault; her worst nightmare (while raising us) was her kids waking up on Christmas morning to an empty tree.

Encouraging

All my life Mom told me I was beautiful, and in middle school, I needed to hear it. I grew a naturally curly blonde afro when long, straight hair was the fashion. Being dumped by my friends didn’t help. Mom never wavered. The next year in high school, she encouraged me to get involved in extracurricular activities and be a good friend to anyone who needed one. I joined the choir, theatre arts, the First Aid Squad, field hockey, and the Varsity Club. I excelled and brought home trophies: All Conference, All State, All North Jersey, and Most Valuable Player.

By the end of sophomore year, I had new, less shallow, genuinely nice friends. And an unpredictable perk? They were the popular teens, and I had found the popularity that eluded my previous friends. Popularity is a mixed bag. It can be handed out for superficial attributes like clothes, beauty, wealth, or connections, or it can be the just reward of talent and acknowledgment of good character. No doubt Mom wanted her daughters to find it for praiseworthy reasons.

Standards

Mom cared