Every morning, I walked through the police squad room and saw the department’s core values posted on the wall. I knew what the public saw when they saw those words on a pretty little website or recruiting ad. I also knew what was actually happening behind closed doors.

It felt like a narcissist: polished, convincing, and committed to looking good from the outside while the people closest to it knew a very different reality.

“It seemed as if I had become demonized for leaving because I no longer wanted to be a part of an agency that treated its employees that way. I rolled my eyes at the core values posted on the wall each day I walked through the doors.”

“Courage: Nope, most were cowardly.

Professionalism and Integrity: Sure, maybe in the public eye, but behind closed doors, definitely not. There’s zero integrity when you can’t apply the same rules equally to all of your employees.

Accountability: Accountability was also not equally applied to all employees. Some got away with ‘murder,’ while others were punished for simply saying the wrong thing.

Compassion: The worst of them all. We were taught to give more compassion to the people we dealt with on the street than our own brothers and sisters in blue, who we worked next to. Officers had zero compassion for each other when they constantly judged, criticized, and tore each other down. Administration rarely showed compassion to their subordinates in times of need or struggle.” -An excerpt from "Stand Tall & Take No Sh*t"

That was the environment I was expected to show up and perform in every day. The organization could talk about being a family, but behind closed doors, people were tearing each other down while still being expected to put on the badge, do the job, and carry on as though nothing was happening. The person behind the badge didn't seem to matter nearly as much as the performance expected from the person wearing it.

That disconnect took a toll on me, and I ultimately left that organization to preserve my own mental and physical health.

I wasn't the only one leaving. People continued to walk out the door, and the organization continued to replace them. They didn't care they had the right people for the job because they continued to operate inside of an environment that made it impossible for the right people to stay.

In 2025, U.S. employers recorded 62.8 million total employee separations, including 38 million voluntary quits. Quits accounted for 60.6% of total separations.

Last week, I asked, What if your organizational turnover problem is actually an employee health problem?

This week, I'd take that one step further.

What if your turnover problem is actually a “you don't give enough of a shit about the human being in front of you” problem?

You can't separate the employee from the human being.

I remember one day when a coworker was getting labeled as difficult because he was short with people and losing his patience. Instead of judging him, I took a few minutes to ask what was going on. He told me he had to put his dog down that week.

That was it. Ten minutes of listening gave me the context I needed to see the human being behind the behavior. Completely free.

This is what happens when you actually give a shit about your employees. You invest in your employees, and they invest in you.

I believe organizations need to start looking at employee health through the same lens, not as a separate initiative or another benefit, but as part of the infrastructure that allows people to perform and stay.

If you want to reduce turnover, improve performance, retain the people you worked so hard to recruit, and make employees feel valued, supported, and respected, employee health isn't a side issue. It's a business strategy.

“One similarity between my two academic and two (full-time) agency experiences was that there was absolutely no real education on how to stay mentally and physically healthy throughout an incredibly stressful and taxing 20+ year career.” An excerpt from "Stand Tall & Take No Sh*t"

This is exactly what I do now as a Human Performance Consultant, and it's one of the biggest missing pieces I see in otherwise successful organizations.

Research from the CDC and NIOSH connects workplace health and organizational conditions with outcomes including improved productivity, morale, recruitment, retention and reduced absenteeism.

The foundation is simple. I call it the Pyramid of Health

Sleep: 7–9 hours per night.

Self-care: 15 minutes a day to do something that fills your cup, gives you peace, or brings you joy.

Nutrition: Whole, minimally processed foods using my Balanced Plate Method at least three times a day, plus snacks as needed.

Exercise: Move your body for at least 30 minutes, three times per week.

None of these concepts are revolutionary. The problem is that most people have never been taught how to actually build them into the reality of their lives, and many employees are working inside organizational structures that make doing them unnecessarily difficult.

You can't tell an employee to prioritize sleep while rewarding the person who answers emails until midnight. You can't tell someone to take care of themselves while their workload leaves them no margin to breathe. You can't encourage healthy eating when the only realistic option during a twelve-hour workday is whatever can be grabbed between meetings. You can't talk about physical health while creating a culture where taking time to move your body is viewed as being less committed to the job.

This is where organizational leadership and individual responsibility have to meet.

The employee has a responsibility to take care of themselves. The organization has a responsibility to create an environment where doing that is actually possible.

That's the part I wish more organizations understood. Employee health isn't just something you hand employees a benefit package for and then send them on their way. The infrastructure surrounding the employee either supports healthy behavior or makes it harder.

When both sides do their part, everybody wins.

The organization gets healthier, more engaged employees who can think clearly, perform consistently, lead effectively, and are more likely to stay.

The individual gets better energy, greater clarity, stronger physical health, and the capacity to show up fully at work and still have something left for their life outside of it.

Together, they create stronger teams, better performance, healthier workplace cultures, greater retention, and the capacity to scale revenue and expand the impact they have on the people they serve.

That is human performance.

So I'll leave you with this:

💭 What would change inside your organization if employee health was treated as part of the performance strategy instead of something separate from it?

My leadership philosophy is simple:

Leadership starts with leading the person in the mirror first.

Healthy leaders build healthy organizations.

Leadership capacity drives individual and organizational performance.

If this is a conversation you'd like to bring to your organization, I'd love to be part of it. You can learn more about my speaking, workshops, and my book,"Stand Tall & Take No Sh*t," at www.five0fierceandfit.com

Leadership doesn't stop with one conversation.

Every week I share practical insights on human performance, leadership, and health to help high performers build success without sacrificing their health. If you'd like these lessons delivered straight to your inbox, you can join us >>HERE<<