My Company Makes Body Armor for Police Officers. When This Happened, My Whole Business Strategy Changed. I realized I hadn't fully understood my job.

When I was 17, I founded a company to save police officers' lives. We distribute and manufacture body armor and other protective equipment. And yet, I will admit: For the first eight years, this work felt abstract — like watching war unfold on the nightly news. I understood its importance, of course, but it wasn't personal.

Then, an officer in a nearby town was killed. It changed everything.

His name was Louis Pompei. He was 30 years old, served in Glendora, California, and was killed while off duty, as he heroically tried to stop a grocery store holdup. We'd never met, but we had many mutual friends. When some of them invited us to his funeral, my wife, Melissa, and I immediately accepted.

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We were joined by our late friend Joe Bale, who was a hulk of a man — 6 feet 3 inches tall, 300-plus pounds, and with an even larger personality. I'd never seen him be anything other than happy and laughing. But as we all sat among the officers — hearing the eulogy, watching the flag get presented to Louis' family, listening to Garth Brooks' "The Dance" — Joe disintegrated. He sobbed almost uncontrollably. It was one of the rawest emotional experiences I had ever witnessed.

When the services ended, Melissa and I walked out of the church together. I remember her taking my hand and quietly saying, "My God, that was horrible." I also clearly remember my response: "For the first time, I truly understand that if I fail to do my job, that is what happens."

Entrepreneurs cannot just do something. They must know it. And on that day in 1995, I finally knew this: My job, as CEO, was to lead a team that felt this critical mission. The safety of our users had to be the most important thing we did. To start, I researched how elite military and police units (many of whom we worked with) built their mission-critical cultures. That led me to three concrete steps, which I still use: Establish and communicate clear values for the organization, ensure our training and procedures address potential failure points, and align the things we inspect and measure with our preventative strategies. In other words: Everything we say and do must align with our mission, and we should double-check it.

Over the decades, we've collected thousands of police department patches at our office — typically from departments we work with. This includes the Glendora Police Department, where Louis Pompei worked. I see that patch on our wall every day. It always reminds me of the way Louis' funeral felt, and the mission I can never take for granted.

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