We were lucky to catch up with Edward McGovern recently and have shared our conversation below.

Edward, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Having a two-decade career in Law Enforcement, I had the benefit of learning so much about leadership. Without a doubt, leadership is the number 1 quality needed for success, especially for a new startup building from the ground up. Leaders provide direction to guide the mission and team. Without leadership, the gears grind to a halt. The hardest part of being a solid leader isn’t taking control, it’s giving control to the team. Solid leadership requires empowering your team to to be decision makers, idea builders, and lateral thinkers. The leader is the facilitator and guide. Solid leaders know being humble is the quality, and micromanagement is the failure. I started a software company with no background in software development. That means I had to surround myself with people who had the experience, people who know more than me. I needed to understand that while I had a great deal of knowledge in the problem we were solving, I was never the smartest person in the room when it came to building it. Bosses get uncomfortable with admitting that, it hurts their ego. Leaders enjoy it, because they know as long as they guide and empower the team, the goals will be reached. There is a paradox in leadership in that there is no success without without a leader, but the “win” never go to the leader. It goes to the team.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I spent 22 years in Law Enforcement, retiring as a Police Commander and former SWAT/Sniper. After responding to both the Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting in 2017 and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas attack in 2018, I began a quest to change public safety communications failures that plagued critical events. During my police career from 1999-2020, we saw the biggest growth in technology in history, yet almost none of it reach the Public Safety sector. Most agencies today still respond to a mass attack with nothing more than whiteboards and two-way radios. There were no visuals, and communications always failed. I wanted to change that. CERA, Critical Event Response Applications, was the resulting platform designed to quickly respond, manage and end a critical event, saving lives.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Resilience is an ongoing ability needed throughout the Founder journey. It seems like just when the clouds clear, another storm pops up, and every storm affects your business. Even now, with inflation and economic uncertainty, if a business doesn’t know how to adapt, it will go in the tank. Probably the hardest lesson in resilience for me was the Covid pandemic. My entire plan to retire from Law Enforcement and go full time into CERA was already set in motion, and the pandemic was the proverbial “fly in the ointment.” No one knew how long or how much worse it would get, and the nationwide business world came to a halt. We were pre-revenue when we started, and our main clients were Public Safety and schools. Then, Boom! Covid-19 goes from being a couple weeks to over a year. Public Safety is solely focused on their own resilience and survival, and schools go virtual. Our two main clients are now off the radar. We adapted, scaled back and changed focus. It was also why we pivoted to events. We knew we would need more verticals and revenue streams to bounce back as soon as we got the green light.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I am a firm believer in constant learning and evolution. With my hectic schedule, e-books and podcasts are my main source. I can fit them in during travel and gym time, so it is effective and convenient. My favorite would probably be “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. The book is instructional for leadership and accountability. Written by Navy SEALS, they apply leadership lessons learned first-hand on the battlefield to practical applications in life and business. They are big proponents of decentralized command, humble leadership, and ego-checking, so it naturally resonates with me. Their leadership training is amazing, and I would urge anyone in a leadership position to read it or listen to the Audible version.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ceraapp.com
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/ceraapp

Image Credits
Kneeling hug photo- Michele Eve Sandberg