Guest: Jerry Monier, Retired Associate Director of Research & Development, LSU National Center for Biomedical Research & Training
Episode introduction and close: Lacy Dicharry, Senior Director & Executive Coach, LSU Leadership Development Institute
Published: May 26, 2026
Run time: 21:45
Jerry Monier has spent 33 years in public safety, and he traces the whole of it back to a food bank in Raceland, Louisiana, where a woman named Miss Emma taught him why the groceries went home in supermarket bags.
In this episode he talks about the move from buddy to boss, why he can answer almost any question in three phone calls, and what happened when a room full of law enforcement chiefs was handed a strengths assessment. He is the [retired] Associate Director of Research & Development at LSU’s National Center for Biomedical Research & Training, and a partner with LDI on the Sergeants Leadership Academy.
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Jerry Monier: We get into these ruts as older guys, to where we've just got to prove something, right. And we've got to be either the smartest or the toughest person in the room. I've come to a point where that doesn't need to be me anymore.
Lacy Dicharry: [introduction] Welcome to Teams That Win, a podcast of the Louisiana State University Leadership Development Institute, where we explore what makes teams win and get to sit down and talk with leaders who help get those teams there. I'm Lacy Dicharry, your host and Senior Director and Executive Coach of the Leadership Development Institute. Geaux lead.
Today we have a very special episode. Jerry Monier, who is the [retired] Associate Director of Research & Development at LSU's National Center for Biomedical Research & Training. He leads research and planning initiatives that support emergency preparedness, response, training, and collaboration with public health and first responder partners. The highlight of this episode, hosted by our [former] Assistant Director, talks about the importance of relationships and collaboration.
Host: Hey, Jerry, how are you doing today?
Jerry Monier: I'm doing well. How are you?
Host: Good. Thank you so much for being here with us for the podcast today.
Jerry Monier: Hey, I appreciate the invite.
Host: We've known each other for a couple of years now, and the journey to get to this seat today started two years ago, right on a couch, a brown couch in an office. It's the last LDI offices. You remember what we were talking about?
Jerry Monier: So we were talking about solving a problem that we consistently saw with the promotion of line level officers in law enforcement to the rank of sergeant. And we had a problem statement, and we were looking for a solution. And we had a great meeting with Ed. And Ed says we need to find the money. So I said, well, I'll take that on as a challenge.
And then we partnered with Chief [Marshal Walters] at LSU Police Department, and we were successful in applying for a COPS grant, Community Oriented Policing Services, through the Department of Justice. But what impressed me was the amount of support that we received from our local law enforcement leadership here in the capital region of Louisiana. And we were able to put together a very effective program, delivered the pilot three times, and now we're ready to bring the product to market. And with LDI.
Host: This has been my first experience with first responders, law enforcement. It has been one of the most rewarding of my career. To meet the servant leaders behind the work in our community has been transformational for me. Can you tell me a little bit more about your experience of going from that individual contributor to leading people, and just kind of your leadership journey?
Jerry Monier: That first transition from buddy to boss is often the hardest transition for many of us to work through in our professional careers, or even personal careers. Because of that buddy to boss.
Host: That seems so important in this field especially. You've got to trust your people.
Jerry Monier: I tell folks often my leadership journey began along the banks of Bayou Lafourche, down in a small farm community in Raceland, Louisiana.
Jerry Monier: On the bayou. Not all the way down the bayou, but almost down the bayou. We grew up on a family farm. Everybody had their responsibilities. My parents, my grandparents believed in this philosophy of others before self. So if a neighbor needed help penning cattle or picking a field, we were there. Members of the church, and growing up down there at Saint Mary's Nativity in Raceland.
I think my leadership was influenced by volunteering early on at a local food bank. That was back in the 1980s, 1985, '86. The [oil] field experienced a bust. Lots of folks with need. Miss Emma, who worked at the food bank, her son and I went to high school together, [Central] Lafourche High School, go Trojans.
I always wanted to see who our clients were at the food bank. I always wanted to see who's coming to the door. And the food bank was set up purposely so that you never really saw who was coming in. So one day, we were on a Saturday, we were filling shelves, and Miss Emma came over, and I said, Miss Emma, why do we not see who's coming through the doors?
And she looked at me and she goes, [Now, Jerry Junior], right? So it's always, growing up down on the bayou, it's either Junior or Jerry. So, Junior, some of those parents who are coming to pick up food are parents of kids who you and her son Derek go to school with. And she says, there's a reason why we pack the bags in supermarket bags. I said, why is that? She goes, because they're going home and they're going to walk into a home with groceries, and the folks who are in their household won't know that they came to the food bank.
So pride is something important. And that's just not a Cajun cultural issue, that spans a lot of cultures, the pride for needing service. So I think that influence, that others before self, that putting, helping folks in need, influenced my leadership.
Jerry Monier: Back in 1993, I joined the [Lafourche] Parish Sheriff's Office there in Thibodaux, started my law enforcement career, worked for Sheriff Craig [Webre], who had an agency motto of, we will do whatever it takes to properly serve the public. And that stuck. That really stuck with me.
Spending about ten years there, moving. In 2003, I came over and worked with the Office of Public Health and their preparedness program. In 2008, moved over to the Governor's Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness. Always looking at building capabilities and strengthening capacity. Because there's a difference. Capacity is the ability to absorb and respond. Capability is the ability to achieve what needs to be done. And I've always used that as my backbone: others before self, and doing whatever it takes.
Growing up in public safety, I mean, I've been in public safety now for about 33 years. So we've seen a lot of transition. We've seen things change. We've seen context and perception change. So it's all working towards that.
When folks ask about the leadership journey, I'm always inclined to mention to them that the journey should never end. It's still going. I use the term still going quite often when I'm speaking about certain things, because it's an ongoing process.
I think our leadership journey, there's tons of literature out there. There's great speakers, there's poor speakers, there's medium level speakers in the leadership space. I think sometimes what we forget often with leadership is that our own leadership style is influenced by our own personal experiences, both good and bad. We often try to replicate our good bosses that we've had throughout our careers, but we always remember that one that you didn't jive with. So it's working through that. So the journey continues.
Host: Can you tell me some lessons you've learned about leadership? Because that's funny, this is one of them, coaching young people. A lot of times it's hard for them, what does good leadership look like. They have trouble coming up with that. But whenever I ask, tell me when you experienced that leadership, they can immediately tell me how they don't want to be.
So tell me what you learned from your experiences with leadership that wasn't so great, and what you decided you wanted to do different?
Jerry Monier: I don't want to say the experience has been not so great. I think it's just personality driven. There are instances where your personality and the personality of your supervisor just won't get along. But you still have a function to do. You still have to properly serve. You still have to do whatever it takes.
So you've got to do whatever it takes to figure out, how do I adjust how I'm working, what inputs I'm asking, what's the expected outputs. So I think we often focus on that.
But I will tell you, there are so many great leaders who I have had the opportunity to work with over the years. Some are compassionate folks, some are empathetic folks. And that's all good, because depending on where you're at in your career, depending on what you're dealing with, you may have to make quick decisions. So how do you size up that scene? How do you make a quick decision? That takes into account any number of factors, from safety of the public to safety of officers to any number of things.
So how do you make the very decisive decisions? We often use the term strategic and tactical. There are strategic decisions that impact what's going on three days, four days, five days, weeks, months ahead of time. But there are tactical decisions that have to be made.
Host: So tell me a little bit more about your work at NCBRT and your role at NCBRT.
Jerry Monier: So I'm the Associate Director of Research & Development for the National Center for Biomedical Research & Training, Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education, here at LSU.
Host: It's a mouthful.
Jerry Monier: It is. It is, but a very, very valuable organization, both nationally. So we have been around for about 20, 25 years plus as NCBRT here on the campus, providing specialized law enforcement and public safety training to responders throughout the United States. That work has often been done originally as part of the US Department of Justice, and then after 9/11, with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
We have worked through a number of funding cycles with that. We have some other projects that we're working on outside of the DHS portfolio. We have been partnering with the Louisiana Board of Regents over the past two plus years to conduct vulnerability assessments on all 32 of the higher education institutions throughout Louisiana, and then developing some training packages to go along with that. And then, of course, partnering with you guys at LDI and LSU Police Department on the Sergeants Leadership Academy.
Host: And what I'm hearing you say is, there's a big thing that we have in common, and that is really bridging theory to practice. And I feel like the connection that we've had has really been around, we respect the evidence based, the theory, the researcher in the tower doing the research. But what I think I was feeling in that room during Sergeants Leadership Academy is that we're all super passionate about getting that information into the hands of the practitioners in the field.
For us at LDI, that's the leadership best practices, evidence base, that we can give to somebody that's working in the organization across workforce sectors. For you guys, I mean, that translates into sometimes life and death scenarios, right? So can you tell me about some of your favorite projects where you saw that you were able to be impactful from bringing that theory to practice?
Jerry Monier: So you mentioned Sergeants Leadership Academy. I think that's probably one of the more recent examples on bringing that. You reach a point in your career where you start looking more to, you're closer to retirement than you are starting off as a rookie. And what are you passing along? What are you giving to the next generation? How are you providing the lessons that I learned over 30 plus years working around and within public safety, and then giving that to the next generation coming up? I think that's the critical piece there.
It's understanding complexity and thinking through complexity. We often forget about that. I was having a conversation a couple of weeks ago with a colleague who works on the behavioral health side of public safety. And we have reached a point, I believe, where because we have so many data inputs coming in from social media and technology and everything else, that we've almost forgotten how to synthesize information.
Host: To use it.
Jerry Monier: To use it. Yes. We make decisions either critically at the moment or strategically. So it's kind of stepping back and asking some of those questions now of folks, not to second guess anybody, but to see if we're actually critically thinking through certain situations and circumstances.
Host: So what I'm hearing is you're talking about specific leadership competencies in the changing, evolving state that we live in. What would you say that you're seeing as the most important competencies to focus on in your line of work right now?
Jerry Monier: I would say, now I'm full time [at moment of podcast recording] at LSU. I work part time for the Sheriff's Office. When we look at competency, I think that's what you were asking. Understanding, and it's not a technical competency, but it's understanding the value of relationships.
Host: Yes. Collaboration.
Jerry Monier: Collaboration, whatever term you want to put to it. Because we are so fast paced with information, we forget the value of the relationship, the interpersonal relationship. We forget about the relationship of knowing that we have to create a network. And how do we work through that network?
I tell folks all the time, I crafted this a couple of years ago, and I don't know if it sticks or not, but I should be able to, in most instances, answer a question for somebody after making no less than three phone calls in my network. If it's something public safety, emergency management, crisis related, even leadership wise. After all these years, I should have a relational network that I can reach out to and ask, hey, do you know anybody?
Host: And I want to commend you there, because that's something that I've seen in you and that I've learned watching, is that cross-functional collaboration and building those deep relationships. I know it was a rewarding piece of this project, and working with LSU PD and our surrounding agencies as well, because the great equalizer is that we all don't know it all, and can't, with this [speed] of information.
Jerry Monier: Thank you. If you ask me the leadership question again, my response, based off of what you just said, would be: admit that you don't know it all. Because I think sometimes, especially with new frontline leaders, or even, we get into these ruts as older guys, to where we've just got to prove something, and we've got to be either the smartest or the toughest person in the room.
And I've come to a point where that doesn't need to be me anymore. It's kind of sitting back and kind of working through and figuring things out.
Host: And that brings me to digging in a little bit here about one of the things that we noticed while we were working through the Sergeants Leadership Academy. We had subject matter experts, and we worked through content for a year and a half before we got it really finalized. And part of what we built into the Sergeants Leadership Academy was the strength based leadership development that we used, CliftonStrengths.
We did a little portion with the chiefs and the frontline leaders to basically dig into what are their natural talent themes and how can they apply those. And what was surprising to me was that that was a form of professional development that really happens not at all in the field.
Jerry Monier: And kudos to LDI and y'all for bringing CliftonStrengths into that discussion. Because I graduated from my initial post academy in 1993, 19 years old, living on the bayous. And if you would have told me at that point that I would have taken a personality based exam, I'd have looked at you like, what you talking?
Host: Let's back up to the day whenever I was presenting it to y'all, saying this is what we're going to use. And some of our subject matter experts, bless him, was like, they're going to eat you alive. And I was like, oh no. Well, it changed, but it also took a collaborative network of people to get that content ready to be disseminated to this audience.
Jerry Monier: But I think what you guys did there was that you were able to take an evidence based academic strategy, such as CliftonStrengths, and put it into a context where folks understood that it was relational.
Because the data that you received through CliftonStrengths helps you understand your team. I think years ago we would have said, the team is mission focused, and the team should still today be mission focused. But we should be taking a look at, you have different traits as compared to your colleagues. Those traits interact both positively and negatively.
Host: Right.
Jerry Monier: And I'm the dad of teenage daughters. I know how that all [goes].
Host: We know this, right?
Jerry Monier: But it's understanding that. And I think CliftonStrengths, I have taken a number of other types of those profiles over the years. And I think you were sitting in the room when I read mine. And I said, holy smokes.
Host: Strategic.
Jerry Monier: Yes. It said that I was a strategic thinker and planner at the top of the list. I'm like, oh, this is the first time that I've taken one of these where it, like, hit the nail on the head.
Host: And I feel like that was where our friendship was born. In that moment, I was like, this is who I'm calling whenever I need to think through any problem. And let me tell you, you do a great job of thinking 20 steps ahead. How do you see yourself using some of the strengths that you saw in the work that you do? And likely you were already doing it, you just didn't have language for it. Anything you'd like to share there on your type of leadership through the lens of your natural talent?
Jerry Monier: Yeah, I think it was understanding how those talents interact with others. And being able to put a title to that. Trying to define that. Why do I get along with this person better personally but not professionally? And then, with the [strengths] now: oh, it's not them. It's probably me.
Host: Yeah. It is eye opening. In the bottom part of that, it's not that we ignore the places where we're not so strong, it's that we find complementary partnerships. We find networks. We find collaborators to make the bigger things happen. So I love that. I think you're a great example of it.
Jerry Monier: We have a great team here. We've got a great team of instructors and staff, curriculum developers, curriculum designers, operational coordinators and logistics coordinators, a great media team. If you're watching this, shout out to the media team for all of the work that they're doing.
Host: I wanted to jump in and give them a shout out too, because y'all got a special crew here.
Jerry Monier: We do, we do. They have done great work. We produced a lot of products for the Board of Regents and other sponsors over the years, and kind of merged and worked through that whole transition from what traditional training was pre-COVID to what some of the more technology based training opportunities are these days. So we continue to look at challenges. We continue to support our first responders.
Host: I think that what shaped you, though, whatever it takes, that you've really taken that with you. Because every experience I've had with the team, from the curriculum developers working on the grant together, this team and in the room recording us now, I see that in everybody that you're leading. So thank you so much for your time.
Jerry Monier: Thanks for the opportunity. This was fun.
Host: It was great. You're easy to interview.
Lacy Dicharry: [close] Thank you all for listening. If you want to partner with LSU, send us an email at ldi@lsu.edu. Now, geaux lead.