We were lucky to catch up with Dr. Shaun Ward recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dr. Shaun, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I got my resilience from my upbringing. I am originally from Newark, New Jersey. While growing up in Newark, I had to quickly mature at a young age because I was the oldest of seven children: four siblings on my mother’s side and two siblings on my father’s side. I mainly lived with my mother, which required me to take on many responsibilities by supporting her while caring for my siblings. She was a single mother doing what she could to keep us fed, sheltered, and nurtured. We were faced with many trials and tribulations throughout my youth because of our time in Newark and surrounding cities because of the high levels of violence and poverty. This caused me to develop the capacity to solve my family’s problems with various circumstances we faced. We were a family of faith, so many of the struggles we dealt with were addressed in faith and by faith among the support we received from family members and close friends.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Personally, as mentioned, I am originally from Newark, New Jersey, and am the oldest of seven children between my mother and father. The core of my existence is because of my grandmother, Margaret L. Ward. My mother gave birth to me at a young age, and when I was born, my grandmother promised her that she would step in and help raise me. She kept that promise, and because my mother was young, my grandmother and I had more of a mother-and-son relationship. Although I had my mother with me while growing up, our relationship was not as strong as with my grandmother. However, our relationship has become much healthier, happier, and more transparent over the last ten years.
When I was 15, my grandmother, mother, and father wanted me to have more opportunities for success, so they all agreed to send me to South Carolina to live with my uncle and his family. In those years, I began to gain identity and realize there was more to me and what I could achieve. My uncle was in the military, so my time living with him was structured and disciplined. It was a tough and long adjustment for me; however, I needed that level of structure and consistency in my life and exposure to what a complete household was like. Although I didn’t realize how much I needed it then, looking back often, I am forever indebted to both of my families for making this decision because it impacted my life, the person I am today, and who I continue to aspire to become.
Professionally, I have been surrounded by a sense of service throughout my entire life. The service-like purpose was founded on my mother raising my siblings and me in church, where we learned the value of faith and doing for others more than oneself. In addition to our faith and serving others, other families in the church did so much for us. My father served in the military in two branches; my uncle and cousins were in law enforcement in NJ, and my uncle in SC served in the Air Force. This created a love of service for me. While in college, I had a mentor I considered a part of the family, guiding me by defining my professional career.
This is why I have a passion for people and performance. I am still active in law enforcement and have served 21 years between two law enforcement agencies. Entering the profession was undoubtedly because of my experiences and background, but it evolved into what it is today. I am focused on enriching the lives of the men and women of law enforcement so they can be physically, mentally, and psychologically prepared to reduce crime and fear of crime and improve the quality of life for those they serve.
This drove me to develop a management consultancy firm, SLW Group LLC, focusing on investing in people, informing policy and practices, and improving professional and organizational performance. This has led me to travel nationwide, encouraging people to work together and representing different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. I’ve had the privilege to be a regular guest speaker for the FBI National Academy, authoring numerous academic and industry articles and speaking at national and international conferences and research symposiums. I am a NIJ LEADS Scholar, a policing fellow with the National Policing Institute, and a subject matter expert for the US-DOJ COPS Office – IACP Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center. The firm has evolved into working with organizations in the non-profit and private sectors.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey would be resilience, adaptability, and excellence.
The advice I would offer folks who are early in their journey is to seek to discover more about yourself. This country has over 330 million people with a world population of approximately eight billion. There is so much to learn and explore, offering us endless possibilities. We are doing ourselves a disservice when we allow what we do to identify who we (think) are. We are so much more; we deserve much more. I recommend folks not to allow anyone to place you in a box. Feel free to go after anything you want, and when faced with setbacks along the way, don’t stop. Instead, redirect your approach and seek others to become mentors, sponsors, and coaches. Allow these individuals to surround your interests and even what you are not interested in – because we don’t know what we don’t know, so now we must seek!
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I am constantly looking to partner and collaborate with people. People who are like-minded and might disagree with some of my positions. I am always looking to learn and grow as a person and professional because my passion is to learn more about myself every day. I advocate for evidence-based outcomes, so research is essential to my mission of investing in people, informing policy and practices, and impacting professional development and organizational performance.
I am willing to meet, help, and learn from people. The best way to connect with me is on LinkedIn.
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunlward/).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.slwgrp.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunlward/
