UK only: Tipping Point Leadership - Tonight, BBC2, 9PM

For UK residents only.

Today's Financial Times recommends watching LAPD: Protect and Serve at 9PM this evening on BBC2.  It's a documentary about a year in the life of Chief of Police William J Bratton as he attempts to turn-around the LAPD and tackle Los Angeles' horrific crime levels. 

Bratton was famous for turning around the NYPD and for getting New York's crime under control. The april 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review have an article about his New York exploits:

When William Bratton was appointed police commissioner of New York City in 1994, turf wars over jurisdiction and funding were rife, promotion bore little relationship to performance, and crime was out of control. Yet in less than two years, and without an increase in his budget, Bratton turned New York into the safest large city in the nation. And the NYPD was only the latest of five law-enforcement agencies Bratton had turned around. In each case, he succeeded in record time despite limited resources, a demotivated staff, opposition from powerful vested interests, and an organization wedded to the status quo. Bratton's turnarounds demonstrate what the authors call "tipping point leadership." The theory of tipping points, which has its roots in epidemiology, hinges on the insight that in any organization, fundamental changes can occur quickly when the beliefs and energies of a critical mass of people create an epidemic movement toward an idea. Bratton begins by overcoming the cognitive hurdles that block companies from recognizing the need for radical change. He puts managers face-to-face with operational problems. Next, he manages around limitations on funds, manpower, or equipment by concentrating resources on the areas that are most in need of change and that have the biggest possible payoffs. He meanwhile solves the motivation problem by singling out key influencers--people with disproportionate power due to their connections or persuasive abilities. Finally, he closes off potentially fatal resistance from powerful opponents.

You can save yourself a little cash by taking a look at an article about zero tolerance (pdf) written by the man himself.

It sounds like LA didn't quite as well as NY though.  Tonights show should be interesting.