I’m delighted this week to speak with Jean-Michel Blais, former Chief of Halifax Regional Police. Chief Blais spent 25 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
During that time, he completed his first mission with the United Nations in Haiti as a civilian police officer and following his return, worked predominantly on organized motorcycle gangs and Colombian drug Cartels.
He worked as an adjudicator in Ottawa and in 2008, was assigned to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti as the Deputy Police Commissioner in charge of over 1,700 international police officers.
In January 2010, following the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti, he was dispatched to locate, recover and repatriate the bodies of Sergeant Mark Gallagher and Chief Superintendent Doug Coates.
For a year prior to his appointment as Chief of Halifax Regional Police, he was the officer in charge of Halifax District RCMP.
Chief Blais has two degrees, one in political science and economics from McGill University and the other in law from Université Laval.
He’s an avid reader and has also published several works on international and national police-related topics.
He has been decorated with medals by both the UN and the Government of Canada. We spoke when he dropped by my Halifax office.
Below the Soundcloud file, I’ve also included links for you related to a fairly extensive bibliography, provided by the chief, of some of his go-to leadership books. There are books, articles, Youtube videos and a few Ted talks to check out.
JM Blais’ Reading list
On leadership:
Be, Know, Do by Frances Hesselbein & General Eric K. Shinseki
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness by Stephen Covey
The 50th Law by Robert Greene
On values:
Integrity: The Courage to meet the Demands of Reality by Dr. Henry Cloud
Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
On interpersonal relationships and understanding people:
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene
Mastery by Robert Greene
Driven: How Human Nature Shapes our Choices by Paul R. Lawrence et Nitin Nohria
On thinking skill development:
The Opposable Mind by Roger Martin
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Ingenuity Gap by Thomas Homer-Dixon
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
On effective people management:
The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
The No Asshole Rule by Robert Sutton
The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working by Tony Schwartz
