Tab W. Cooper is quickly becoming internationally recognized for his skills-based approach to modifying participant behavior to enhance a wide range of interpersonal skills, personally and professionally.
During his 20-year law enforcement career, Tab served as patrol officer, interviewer, firearms instructor and commander. He held a Master Peace Officer certification through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. Tab earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Criminal Justice - Law Enforcement and Police Science from Sam Houston State University. While working as a police officer, he completed a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from SHSU. He later completed additional post-graduate courses in management, communication studies and business communication.
Tab is a graduate of the 9-week Texas Leadership and Command College (LCC). While a police captain at SHSU, he expanded the required LCC research paper “Crime on Texas University Campuses” and created a statistical model that could predict the number of Part I UCR offenses on individual University campuses based on specific demographic characteristics of the University and the local community. The study was designed to help University police departments refine their crime prevention strategies. The results of the study and the statistical model were published in 1995.
In 1997, Tab joined the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), a Texas state agency, as Project Coordinator developing and coordinating the first mandatory police chief management and leadership training program in the U.S. He also helped develop and coordinate the New Chief Development Program and the Command Staff Leadership Series. Tab finished his 4½ year tenure with LEMIT as coordinator of the 9-week Leadership and Command College (LCC).
As a result of thousands of conversations with police administrators and thousands of hours of personal leadership and management training, Tab began a quest to develop an innovative new leadership training course. The goal of the leadership course was to close the gap between management and leadership theory and their practical application for police supervisors on the street.
In 2002, Tab left LEMIT and began working with Dr. Stephen Sampson, renowned Counseling Psychologist, social intelligence instructor, and protégé of Dr. Carl Rogers and Dr. John "Jack" Blakeman. Tab travelled with Dr. Sampson throughout the United States assisting with training seminars teaching techniques to enhance social and emotional intelligence skills.
He continued his professional development as a Business Communication lecturer at Sam Houston State University in 2006. Tab taught a variety of business communication courses during his seven years with the College of Business Administration applying his experience, advanced training, research and extensive post-graduate education in the fields of management, leadership, communication studies, business communication and counseling psychology.
Tab has published a number of research articles in police and academic journals. Tab spent over a year conducting the first quantitative research study of its kind and was published in the International Journal of Management & Information Systems, “Constructive Supervisory Confrontation: What Employees Want.” The study identified the most important leadership behaviors from the employee perspective. The study revealed the most important behavior a leader can exhibit that inspires employees to follow.
Tab is also certified as an instructor by the Institute of Analytic Interviewing
