Union Leaders – Ken Roske

Ken Roske

Union Institute & University’s historical commitment to ethical and creative leadership and the insights gained over the past 50 years as a leader in adult learning is the inspiration for the monthly series, Union Leaders.

This month, in recognition of National Police Week, Captain Ken Roske is featured. Captain Roske is an experienced law enforcement professional with a diverse background in supervision and leadership. He is a graduate of Union Institute & University with a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Management. His son has followed his father into law enforcement and is a CJM student at Union.

Q. How do you define leadership?

A. The ability to have or take a vision and guide a team to achieve the vision. As the leader you have to find unique ways to motivate and keep the team on track. The leader has to have a good understanding of the vision and be open to input on how to accomplish goals and stay focused on the mission

Q. Share an example of how you’ve put leadership in action.

A. Recently I guided my agency through an in-depth review of policies and practices to meet accreditation standards. This required assigning tasks to my team and delegating assignments with short deadlines. By staying focused on the goal and leading the process we were able to achieve agency accreditation in a short time frame.

Q. What leader do you admire most and why?

A. I don’t know if I have one that I admire most. Ronald Reagan comes to mind. I appreciated his ability to move into the political arena with no real political experience. He was known as the great communicator which, if we think of it, is key to being a successful leader.

Q. What is your favorite inspiring leadership quote?

A. “The future doesn’t belong to the faint-hearted; it belongs to the brave” – Ronald Reagan

Q. When did you first feel that you were a leader? What was the experience?

A. WOW — what a question; I think achieving promotions and ranking high on promotional tests shows your commitment. However, actually knowing that you can lead people during a challenge or crisis is another matter. For me, that came during the tragic fatal shooting of an officer and having to lead a team who just watched another law enforcement officer die in the line of duty. At that point I knew I could probably lead through any crisis.

About Ken Roske

Captain Roske is an experienced law enforcement professional with 31 years in the profession. He has held positions ranging from police officer to sergeant and is currently a member of the senior management team. He is a strong believer in professional development and has striven to develop employees to attain the highest levels of personal performance and served as a mentor and coach to fellow officers. Captain Roske is a volunteer with the National Memorial Committee and a past state president of the Fraternal Order of Police. He is a graduate of Union Institute & University with a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Management.

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