Cops Are Better Communicators Than Many CEOs: Here's Why - Brad Zeeman

I have done quite a episodes of KneeToKnee at this point, and every now and then one of

them catches me off guard in the best possible way. This was that episode.

Brad Zeeman and I go back several years. We worked together at a staffing company that eventually became a software company, and I was famously the guy breaking the software on a regular basis while Brad was the one patiently walking me and everyone else through it. Again. Every time. With the same level of calm and kindness as the time before.

That pattern is actually what inspired the conversation. I noticed years ago that Brad handles the same question from the tenth person the same way he handles it from the first: with full attention, no condescension, and genuine care. I used to compare him to Larry Sagers, a KSL gardening show host my wife and I listened to on Saturday mornings. Caller after caller, same questions, and Larry answered every one like it was the first time he'd heard it. Brad operates the same way.

His explanation for that is simple: meet people where they are. He can't expect everyone to come in with the same background or experience, so he does not. He figures out where the other person is and starts from there. If they know more than he does, he says he is going to learn so much. If they know less, he says he is going to grow so much by helping them. I had never heard it framed exactly that way, and it stuck with me.

A lot of that philosophy was shaped by his mentors in law enforcement. Brad started in the Utah Highway Patrol at 22, and he was the first to admit he thought he knew everything and absolutely did not. He had a sergeant who insisted everyone get better, and a lieutenant who was a strict grammar and writing coach: the kind who sent reports back covered in red ink. Brad said that lieutenant never talked down to anyone for not knowing the rules. He just helped them learn. That distinction mattered to Brad, and you can see it reflected in how he operates today.

We got into mentorship in a real way during this episode, and I ended up sharing my own story. When I was early in my sales career, my boss at the time was a disaster. We literally got escorted out of a building together. My actual mentors turned out to be my parents, both of whom had been incredibly successful in sales in their own fields. I remember calling my dad before walking into a tough client meeting and asking him to take the dad hat off and put the mentor hat on. He was in Alaska at the time, sitting in a rental car because there was a moose blocking the office door. He gave me advice from a parking lot in Anchorage that I have used and passed on to other salespeople ever since.

Brad's career transition out of law enforcement is its own story worth telling. He said one of the biggest traps officers fall into is thinking they are only cops, that law enforcement is the only thing they know how to do. What they actually have is a full toolkit: conflict resolution, writing skills, leadership under pressure, interpersonal communication, the ability to be the calm voice in a chaotic situation. Brad had a trusted friend review his resume when he was transitioning out, and that friend helped him see what he actually had to offer. It changed everything.

His answer to our one closing question is the part I keep thinking about. I ask every guest the same thing: what is one thing our listeners can do today to build deeper connections with those around them? Brad said: ask yourself what Mark Marrott would do. I was not expecting that. He clarified quickly: he meant the version of me who puts the phone down, stays fully present, and makes the person in front of him feel like they are the only thing that matters in that moment (the exact advice my dad gave on that call). He had seen that up close over the years and said it was real, not a technique.

I was genuinely humbled. And a little embarrassed, if I am being honest. But the point stands for all of us. There is someone in your life who does this well. Not because they read a book about it, but because it is genuinely who they are. Think about who that person is, and start asking yourself what they would do.

That is the one thing from this episode. Be that present. Every time.

Listen to the full conversation here: https://youtu.be/ohJpsp6Howc