May 2, 2020
Brandon:
"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." Ralph Nader. I am Brandon Anderson and I'm a Tri-Cities influencer.
Speaker 5:
So to be a go-to guy or a go-to girl, you must push through your fear of failure.
Introduction:
Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast, where local leadership and self-leadership expert, Paul Casey, interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives, to hear how they lead themselves and their teams so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience.
Introduction:
Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success.
Paul Casey:
Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Shawn Sant. He is the Franklin County Prosecutor. And when I asked Shawn for something quirky or funny about himself, he had a fun little story that I'm going to let him tell.
Shawn Sant:
All right, well you asked about a story and I was just thinking of something recently just because the nicer weather coming out and it's bike riding time and I've always enjoyed riding the bike. And on this particular year, this was just a couple of years back, I got a new bike, new pedals, new bike clips, so still kind of getting used to the idea that I'm attached to the bike in a different way, and going for one of my favorite rides along the river on the Pasco side, it was time to take a break. I think I had to grab my phone out or something like that. So, rather than unclip and everything else, there was a nice little road sign along the path so I figured, "Oh this is great. I'll just grab onto that and lean against it."
Shawn Sant:
Still hooked in with my pedals and then lo and behold, I'm getting ready to go, I went to kind of push away but pushed a little too much and because I hadn't had forward momentum yet, I kind of tipped right on over and I was looking around to see if anybody saw this embarrassing moment, to see if I was going to be on a YouTube channel or whatnot. But anyway, that was my introduction to bike clips. So I was glad, at least, that I fell on the grass side so it wasn't too bad. Other than damaging my pride, I guess, of thinking I was an avid cyclist, so I guess anybody that saw found out otherwise. But maybe others had a worse-
Paul Casey:
That's awesome. That's awesome.
Shawn Sant:
So, I'll take the fall in the grass and learn that way.
Paul Casey:
That's right. That's right. I like bicycling too, but it's very recreational and I haven't taken the plunge with the clips yet.
Shawn Sant:
Yeah, it was a new experience for me, so.
Paul Casey:
Well, we'll dive in after checking in with our Tri-Cities Influencer sponsor.
Paul Casey:
The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings, during which 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Additionally, members receive a 90-minute personal coaching session each month. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at C12Easternwa.com. Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities.
Paul Casey:
Well, welcome Shawn. I was privileged to meet you, I think it was at a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce event, but I've seen you in the community of many networking things and with some of my other attorney friends and just great to finally get to spend some time with you today.
Shawn Sant:
Yeah, glad, thanks for the invite.
Paul Casey:
So our Tri-Cities Influencers can get to know you, take us through some of your past positions and what led you up to what you're doing now?
Shawn Sant:
Well, I guess going back, even back in high school, I guess, one has an experience with the law of maybe driving a little too fast, as most a young teenage drivers do. So I guess I'd always been kind of having an interest in law enforcement. My grandfather was a retired police officer from Richland back in '69. He was actually a part of the original Richland police force when they transitioned from the Hanford site into an incorporated city in '59, and so I guess it's kind of been in the blood of having that interest, seeing his badges on the wall and things like that from his days as a Richland officer. So, I guess it started with me going for a ride-along with one of the Richland canine officers. And that really kind of got me hooked on what the profession was all about.
Shawn Sant:
I've always been a social kind of individual. Loved coming in contact with different people, and obviously in law enforcement it's a little different of the types of contacts we would have with people. But that was always something that I liked. I liked the job where every day was different. And so that kind of just caught my interest and I pursued the Reserve Academy at the recommendation of a couple of the officers that I rode with as a ride-along, and that was kind of it.
Shawn Sant:
You know, in my Reserve Academy class back in '92 I remember several of our participants, they've gone on to long careers and many are still in law enforcement today as full-time law enforcement officers. So that was kind of my start in that interest. It allowed me time to do that part-time as I went through school, working at UPS to get me through at CBC.
Shawn Sant:
I don't know why they call it a two-year degree because it seemed like I probably spent four or five years working at it between two different jobs. And of course I was trying to put in as much hours as I could. So there was times when I was putting in 40 hours a week with the officers writing on their shifts and getting my hours so I could eventually be qualified to be out on my own. Because once you have so many hours, you kind of progress from a third- to second- and first-class officer. At least that's how they did it at the time. And then once you had had enough hours, your training officer felt you were capable of going out on your own, you could basically do all the things that regular officers would do.
Shawn Sant:
And so that was a great start for me. That caught an interest and eventually I decided to pursue full-time law enforcement about three-and-a-half years later, hadn't quite finished up my degree yet and got married in '95 and so now I'm just starting a job as a new police officer out in Prosser now and did that for about two-and-a-half years and just decided that I always had that interest in law. I've always enjoyed the courtroom. I've gone to court a couple of times as a law enforcement officer to testify, and I always thought, you know what, I'd like to be the person in the room and being the one kind of directing the show, so to speak. And so that was kind of my thought and I was looking at opportunities of Do I go off to get a four-year degree somewhere.
Shawn Sant:
I always had been an admirer of many of my colleagues that had served in the military and I thought, you know what, I'm not too old, definitely not the younger of the guys that would go in right out of high school. So I actually got into the Air Force just before my 28th birthday and that was the cutoff. You'd have to get kind of special permission if you get older than that. So, of course, that was a new challenge for me. Now, I'm kind of referred to as Pop's among my young airman that I was with and as a former police officer. So that was kind of going backwards, contrary, I guess, to a lot of other people's job or career progression. Usually they get two or four years in military service out of the way when they're younger. So here I am almost 28 and joining.
Shawn Sant:
And so that was a great opportunity for me. We really enjoyed it, the family enjoyed it. We had one child at the time, got an opportunity to be deployed overseas a few different places, and I was able to finish up my degree during that time and looked at the possibility of going either to the JAG or something I had a passion for, which was going back to a prosecutor's office. So that worked out.
Shawn Sant:
So after the military, returned back to Moscow, Idaho, straight out of the military and began law school there in 2001 and that took me through for three years. And then we came back to Pasco and started as a deputy prosecutor in the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office. And so I got to now be in that position of handling all those cases that I had done previously out in the field of being the officer arresting folks for DUI or domestic violence or other felony crimes, and now I got to do that in district court and juvenile court as a young deputy prosecutor.
Shawn Sant:
So, anyway, I enjoyed that and I was looking for, you know, even in our office today, we don't have a lot of transition, which I think is a good benefit. People enjoy the work that they do for us in the office. And there wasn't a lot of movement and I knew that I needed to gain some experience handling more challenging cases. So I ended up leaving the Prosecutor's Office after a couple of years and went into private practice, and that gave me a great opportunity to be on kind of the other side of things. And I never thought, many of my law enforcement friends that are like, "What, are you crazy? You're a defense attorney now? What are you doing?"
Shawn Sant:
And it's like, well if you figure it out, it's like we all have an important role. We have an important role to ensure justice. And whether you're on the defense side or the prosecution side, we each have that important responsibility. And that's something I've really enjoyed. And sometimes it's hard to explain to people because they think that you're kind of aligned somehow with the representation of your client. And as anybody knows, if you're representing a client through the divorce process, of course you've got to zealously represent your client's position. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to agree with them philosophically or otherwise, but you have a duty or responsibility to serve them and make sure that they feel that you're giving them 100% to their cause within, of course, the ethical rules and in everything else.
Shawn Sant:
So to me it was a great opportunity. I was glad I had that opportunity to be on the other side, to be on the defense side. It has its own different challenges, but I enjoyed it. I thought, "Hey this is something I enjoy." I've always kind of taken a passion of meeting people and sometimes you're meeting people that have made a mistake and obviously they violated the law, but in that moment, you're able to kind of sit down and be almost like a counselor. And that's why oftentimes lawyers are referred to as counselors.
Shawn Sant:
And so I really enjoyed that part of it and that gave me experience representing people that are accused of homicide all the way down to low level DUI cases that I took. And so that just kind of gave me a good well-rounded experience. And you know, I always had wanted to be the prosecutor, to be the elected prosecutor, and I thought, you know what, I know it's kind of early in my law career, but you know what, I'm going to throw my name in, I think I've had a well-rounded experience up to this point. I had been on the law enforcement side, I've been on the defense side, I was a prior DPA and yeah, certainly never would claim that you know everything because the joy about the job is that you constantly get to learn something new.
Shawn Sant:
And so I decided to run for the elected prosecutor position in 2010 and I thought, "Hey, even if I don't make it, I'm letting people know that this is where my passion is." And at some point I would want to run again, even if I didn't make it in 2010. I was fortunate and blessed to have made it in 2010 and so I took office in 2011 and have been doing that since that time.
Shawn Sant:
So yeah, it's kind of been a ride with as far as the different experiences and opportunities. As a prosecutor you handle not just the criminal, those are usually the matters that catch up with the media and kind of what most people will follow, but we're also doing a lot of things behind the scenes. We're navigating employment issues, civil claims against the County. We're trying to defend and represent the County on various civil matters as well. We have the risk manager that's in my office and so I work closely with her and trying to navigate and limit risk to the County, which ultimately will protect the taxpayers both with security but also protect their financial interests as well.
Shawn Sant:
So that's been kind of a joy of continuing to serve in that capacity. So yeah, it's, it's been a great opportunity and I've enjoyed every kind of, I think everything that I've done over my life, from experiences in high school through being a reserve officer, they all kind of built up and given me a unique perspective on society. And I think that's an important part as a role as a prosecutor is being able to kind of understand the big picture.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. What a fascinating journey and I'm sure along the way you've been able to use your talents, your strengths. I'm a very big strengths-based leadership, kind of coach myself. What would you say are your key strengths that you've used all along the way and how do you use those to help those around you be successful?
Shawn Sant:
I think one of the things that I really appreciate with the way we do in our office is many times people might think, "Oh, you're the lead prosecutor, so you're really directing." Now certainly I am involved in all of our big cases, but I can't do that alone. I rely on a good team and I think what has worked best for us is empowering the deputies of my office to kind of have ownership of the course of a case. And so if they're working a case, for good or bad, I want them to have that experience along the way as well because that makes us all better attorneys. When you get a fall on the sword, so to speak, if like, you took it in a direction that maybe didn't play out, well, that's kind of a learning lesson.
Shawn Sant:
So my job of course is to make sure, one, we're doing everything legally and ethically in line and kind of creating a culture of trying to look at kind of a holistic approach for, what are the best ways we could protect our community? What are some of the best ways we could resolve cases? Because we have limited resources, we continue to grow, our population continues to grow, which means our crime rate is dropping because we have more law abiding citizens moving into our community. Right?
Shawn Sant:
But at the same time when you have more people, that just means necessarily you're going to have more cases. And so the office is busy and so we've had to kind of adopt a different kind of a strategy. And so we've looked at a program that my predecessor started, the Felony Diversion Program, and we kind of took it to a new level of trying to put a priority for when first time felony offenders as an adult when they come through, if it's a non-violent offense, non-sex offense, we're looking to really question what's the reason why this case should not go to that Felony Diversion Program?
Shawn Sant:
And I wanted to do a study to kind of evaluate is this an effective program? And so we pulled statistics from 2011 to 2017 to see how effective this program is. And what we found is that 84% of those individuals completing the program, they remained crime-free. So to me, I thought that was a great statistic. As I think what it does is it just like, I try to empower my individual deputies that are handling a case to have that ownership. If you put that kind of ownership on defendants, yeah, they're an adult, they're 18, but we all know, I mean I was 18 when I was still a senior in high school, and I know for certain I was not an adult by the means that you would think of as a mature individual, right?
Paul Casey:
Brain's not fully developed yet.
Shawn Sant:
Absolutely. And so I recognize that, there's been a lot of studies, I know a lot of the defense started doing that, but even prosecutors recognize that individuals, especially males probably that are 18 to 25, the males still lead the criminal majority, those committing crimes are males age 15 to 24, so that's still a very large age bracket. You've still got kids and you have kids transitioning to adulthood.
Shawn Sant:
So what we want to do is we want to be able to catch those individuals that may not have had an opportunity through the juvenile court system that is focused on rehabilitation or counseling and give those individuals an opportunity. If they got a first time felony offense, let's say someone did something stupid, went to Walmart thought it was a good idea to walk out with a big screen TV because it was super bowl weekend and they thought they could get away with it, but they didn't. And so now we got to figure out, well, let's see, what can we do? If we charge them with a felony, maybe they lose their job, maybe if they have a young family, now the person that's working is no longer able to provide for the family. And so what are the kind of the consequential impacts that really harms us as a society?
Shawn Sant:
So we tried to look at that and figure out that, you know what, that Felony Diversion Program can really fill a void that I think we have in the criminal justice system. So it gives the accountability, that ownership, back on the individual because at that point, if they are entered into the program, they have to pay back restitution in a shortened timeframe. In the traditional model, if someone steals something like $2,000, $3,000, they might only pay $25, $50 a month, if that, depending on the circumstances afterwards.
Shawn Sant:
But if they want to get the benefit of having this felony charge dropped through our district court in the Felony Diversion Program, they have to fully pay back the victim for restitution. So it's a good win for victims. They're getting their value in a much quicker manner, especially if we're talking about property crimes. It also puts the onus back on the individual, the one that found themselves in the predicament that they are. Because let's face it, it's not easy going through the court system. They're going to have to take time off from work. They're going to have to sacrifice time away from the kids. They're going to have to do a community service hours. They're going to have to give back to the community with their time. And I think that's essential and hopefully it reinforces the message that, "Hey, you screwed this up and only you can have ownership if you want to see this case go away."
Shawn Sant:
So I think that's been very successful with that 84% number. We continue to see individuals go through that program and so that's something that everybody in our office now has kind of from that culture mindset of, well, can we adjust our workloads, can we take resources out of the superior court and resolve these cases in our Felony Diversion Program. That saves the taxpayer money as well because it's a cheaper process. Still takes this same lawyering time, but it's a cheaper process rather than going through the trial process through superior court.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. It's so creative. What a creative program to get at the heart of the issue and realize the volume is bigger of people, the community impact taking in all the views of who's affected by these crimes, but keeping the ownership on the person who made the bad choice, and that's good.
Shawn Sant:
Yeah. We hope they learn that lesson and hopefully that first offense is the last offense as well.
Paul Casey:
Yeah, they're getting a second chance, which is really awesome and it's cool that many have learned their lesson as a result of that and go crime-free. I love how you also said about how you empower your deputies and you're the upfront guy, but all this work is getting done behind you making you look good, so to speak, up front and to really, you know, you must have a lot of trust in your team.
Shawn Sant:
And that's one of the things, and I guess that's kind of the challenge for me is because I really like to meet with my deputies. You know, I'll walk down the hall and I'll drop in because each of them has their own unique workload or cases that they're working. And I like just kind of brainstorming, you know, "Hey, how's it going on this case? Do we need to look at something different as we prepare", where we know we have a trial coming up, it's like, "Okay, let's now talk." And it's not just me, it'll be my criminal chief, we'll be doing the same thing. Or sometimes we have a meeting where I'm calling everybody, "Hey, conference room, we need to discuss a brand new case and kind of brainstorm because we have some time sensitive issues."
Shawn Sant:
So I really like that part and I really like making sure everybody feels that they're contributing, because really they are, it's something that they feel like they're doing, it's actually an active and interactive process. And I enjoy that. You know, we're a small office, there's 26 of us in the office, and you know, just working together like that, it really builds good relationships. And I think that's one of the things that, even when I was there as a deputy, we didn't have a lot of people leaving. I think they enjoy that kind of work. Yes, you could make more money on the side in the civil world. But I think it's the commitment to public service that every individual, including our staff members, that they have a little bit of that pride of making a difference in the community that we live in. And I think that's why it's a great place to work.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. The purpose is that's their big "why" for coming to work every day. And it's the ultimate in serving your community is awesome. And also, they say the key to engagement is connecting to that big purpose and feeling like you're contributing. And you've got both of those things working with your staff.
Paul Casey:
Well, hey, before we dive in and find out what some of Shawn's life hacks are to make him a success, let's check in with our Tri-Cities Influencer sponsor.
Paul Casey:
If you could trade one day each month for targeted application of biblical business practices, purposeful accountability and Godly pure counsel, would you consider it a wise investment? The C12 Group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings where 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues. Biblically information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at C12Easternwa.com. Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities.
Paul Casey:
So Shawn, what are some of a few of your life hacks that you do on a day-to-day basis to keep you successful?
Shawn Sant:
Yeah, that's a tough one, because when I think of life hacks, I think of hack on a computer, you know, what's the hack on a computer and how does that relate to a hack in life? But no, I think really what the driving force behind that is, how can we be successful in the workplace, especially in the work environment that we are in? We're dealing with some very stressful and kind of dire situations, especially when you get into crimes involving children. That's extremely stressful on our people. And one of the things that I got to say was a great, you know, just kind of the culture that we have in the office.
Shawn Sant:
I've always invited people to propose ideas and one of our ideas that was proposed by a staff member, she's our crime victim witness coordinator and she got involved with using the Go Team Therapy dogs. And so that was a great opportunity for me a few years back to kind of become acquainted with that and we eventually were able to get approval to have them be associated essentially with our office where they will come in when we have young children that have been victims of crimes and these dogs are great. They just bring relaxation to a person, especially young people. But honestly, sometimes when they come into the office it's good for the attorneys because they kind of get to relax a little bit as well. It's kind of therapy for my employees.
Paul Casey:
You've got to post that on social media, the attorney's petting the dogs, that would be awesome.
Shawn Sant:
I'll tell you that because some of the attorneys have actually said, "Hey, can we have these dogs come into the office?" You know, because they're going through some stressful cases and you know, it does bring a joy and you know what, if it could bring joy to us and kind of release our stress, think about the stresses that are on our young victims especially. So we found some great success.
Shawn Sant:
There are people that didn't really want to talk about what a tragedy had happened to them as they have to share and almost relive that trauma again as we're preparing for trial. But they've been able to do that with the assistance of a therapy dog. The Go Team dogs are great, they're very calm. I've never seen the variety of different dogs that just had their own personalities, just like we as people have different personalities, but each one of them just is able to bring in some relaxation and comfort to these victims.
Shawn Sant:
And so again, I think about a life hack, I'm like, you know what, that was a great opportunity because someone proposed that in the office and we wanted to make sure that we made sure we ran through with our risk management and made sure that we're not doing anything to jeopardize the health and safety of our people or the people that would be coming to visit our office. And we got through approval with that. So we're grateful that the commissioners approved them being able to be a part of that program within our office. And it's just been a great opportunity. And to me, I think that's been really a great life hack because, frankly, I can't think of a better way to relieve stress than having the dogs visit the work day.
Shawn Sant:
You know, during the work day, it's kind of hard because you're going through cases. But as soon as you hear the leash or the collar kind of rattle, you know, everybody likes to get up from their work and come greet the dogs.
Paul Casey:
So they had the recent, I went to the National Speakers Association Conference last year and they had a pet, the local adoption agency came and brought these dogs that we could just take a pet break. And it was awesome in the middle of a long day of listening to seminars to pet the dogs. I really loved that. That's very cool.
Paul Casey:
So who influences you? How do you keep growing yourself outside the courtroom? Who do you surround yourself with, whether that's afar, through books or videos or mentors, who influences you?
Shawn Sant:
You know, I think a lot of people. I mean I like to interact with a lot of different groups. I'm a member of the local Kiwanis Club in Pasco, I am a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Pasco Chamber of Commerce, Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce. You know, going to these different functions, you get to interact with a lot of professionals. People I look up to and I think, you know, I can't put a finger on any one of our local leaders, but I really think and believe that all of us, whether you're a kind of an elected leader or in a prominent position in your work life, I really think it's just the everyday interactions with all of us together. I think everybody has something to offer and I think that gives me a positive outlook every day that I go to my a job.
Shawn Sant:
You could really think that it could be a very depressing work dealing with some of the things. But I think when you look at it of looking around and seeing young families raising kids and thinking about, hey, what are the challenges that they're going through now compared to when we were raising our young family in the 90s, and you know, our kids didn't grow up with a cell phone in their hand and knowing how to play games on a phone under the age of one years old. You know, they learned that later, but it's just a very different environment. So I think one of the things I've enjoyed doing is I love our local libraries. The Mid-Columbia Library has a great app on there for listening to books. And sometimes I find myself where if I don't have the time to have a book, a physical book in front of me, I could be able to, if I'm traveling for work or other things, I can listen to an audio book. And there's some great audio books out there.
Shawn Sant:
I like listening to some of the historic stories. I typically like more accounts on the nonfiction side, the history that maybe I didn't know enough about. One of my favorite books was from Adam Makos, A Higher Call, about World War II pilots, a German pilot that encountered a downed B-17 aircraft and just was wondering how can that plane fly because the way it was damaged, it shouldn't fly. And of course, you know, as a private pilot myself, I was interested in anything revolving around aviation.
Shawn Sant:
But that book just kind of inspired me because what it really showed us is that you think about how horrific World War II was, it talks about the reality that hey, these Germans were fighting for what they believed in or for their country. The Americans were trying to fight to liberate Europe and fighting for their cause. But deep down we were all the same. We all had families, people sacrificed and lost loved ones on both sides. And I think that book just kind of brought that reality of how we could look at life better today of realizing that hey, despite the political differences we may have, can't we all just get along and sit down and discuss like we used to.
Shawn Sant:
It seems the opportunities where people used to go and have coffee or breakfast at their favorite breakfast spot and being able to sit down and even they could believe different perspectives on politics or whatever, they could talk issues out. And I think those are the circumstances I enjoy. I like meeting with people on different perspectives because I find I walk away from that learning something new or recognizing, you know, I haven't thought about that before but that's really important to consider, thank you.
Shawn Sant:
Because I think all of that helps build up what my resources are now as in my job it's like, okay, I have that perspective now I realize this is not just a cut and dry, this is one side. Because I've learned from being on both sides of a case representing defendants as well as being on the prosecution side, there's always two sides. Let's make sure that we hear both sides out and maybe we can resolve things by meeting somewhere in that Venn diagram. You know, that little spot in the middle where each side has to give something up, but still walk away with the best interest of all parties. And I always believe in trying to look for that win-win.
Paul Casey:
Yeah, seeking to understand before being understood. I love this concept of respectful dialogue, for sure.
Paul Casey:
Well finally, Shawn, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone that wants to keep growing and gaining more influence?
Shawn Sant:
I guess just looking at what I think has worked well with our office or from my observations, because that's one of the things I really enjoy. You know, not just interacting with people but kind of observing what are successful businesses doing that really empower people. And I think it's really giving that ownership or giving that responsibility. So, regardless of what kind of position someone does, recognizing that hey, you're part of this team. I mean if you're running a big office building, let's say if it's Amazon in Seattle, you know from the person that's cleaning the building, they're a part of making that organization successful.
Shawn Sant:
And I think looking at our office too, we don't really have, yes we all have our different responsibilities, but we really are all dependent on each other to really succeed. And I think we have that great relationship and I think that's something always to remember is no matter what position you are in the company, if you're not able to empower people from, I guess your more entry level positions, because I've always looked at it as, if people get opportunities to go to another job, if I could say, "Hey, I hope that I've given them some opportunities or experiences while they were here with us for a short time that it allowed them to succeed elsewhere", to me, I think that's great.
Shawn Sant:
It's kind of like I think being a teacher. I think teaching has got to be one of the most rewarding professions for that reason because they are doing something to share their knowledge, share their wisdom, and teach and inspire kids, and then they get to see those kids many years later doing whatever.
Paul Casey:
And to be part of the journey, right?
Shawn Sant:
Yes, they were part of that. I think as long as we can make sure that regardless of what profession you're in, if you could just make sure that you treat everybody as an equal opportunity to succeed, regardless of that position in the company, I think that'll make that person successful.
Paul Casey:
Yes. So Tri-Cities influencers add value at whatever stage of the journey you interact with people so that they can be better and you've left just a little imprint on their life. So Shawn, how can our listeners best connect with you?
Shawn Sant:
Well, I'm on Facebook. That seems to be a great way to connect or LinkedIn, the two primary, it seems like for a business folks, always at my office, I'm pretty transparent. I have my contact information there. If people want to reach out or have a question on a case or kind of an idea that they have for criminal justice reform. I've always been open and I've always met, even with people that have been upset with me at times, but we've been able to walk away in the end and realize I think have an appreciation for each other's viewpoints at the end of the day and that's something that I think, again, is a part of the successful part of being a successful leader is being able to hear those that don't necessarily agree with you and see what you can learn from that.
Paul Casey:
Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading well.
Shawn Sant:
Thank you very much.
Paul Casey:
Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend, and it's my Leader Launcher Program. Leader Launcher is for young professionals and emerging leaders here in the Tri-Cities who really are motivated to take their leadership to the next level. You may not have that leadership position yet or maybe it's a mid-level manager position, but you want to go to that next level. It's a two-hour seminar on leadership once a month and then two weeks later there's a mastermind group with people from other industries to get together and find out how to apply that teaching to your day-to-day job.
Paul Casey:
Also, you set some goals and keep each other accountable and we're forming a little community here in the Tri-Cities, so you go to leader-launcher.com, leader-launcher.com. We'd love to have you as part of the tribe, and again, we meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays.
Paul Casey:
Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guest, Shawn Sant from the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer podcast. We also want to thank our TCI sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so that we can collaborate and help inspire leaders in our community.
Paul Casey:
Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. It's Ralph Marston and he says, "Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude."
Paul Casey:
Until next time, KGF, Keep Growing Forward.
Introduction:
Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams, so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results.
Introduction:
If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org, for consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward.
Introduction:
Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done every day by offering you his free Control My Calendar Checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalender.com for that productivity tool, or open a text message to 72000 and type the word "growing".
Speaker 6:
Tri-Cities Influencer podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.