The Chinese New Year commenced on 17th February 2026. With this comes a new season of my popular Rank Success Police Promotion and Leadership podcast. It’s the year of the horse, so I’ll be galloping into 2026, in fine fettle and with loads more content to support your CPD.
In this blog, I recap on highlights from Season 5 (Year of the Snake), while previewing what’s to come for both my free podcasts and more in-depth leadership content for premium subscribers. All of this helps level the playing field of promotion, so aspiring cops can also learn how to become better leaders and ‘match fit’ promotion candidates…
2026 is Year of the Horse…
“When the horse arrives, success arrives.” – Chinese idiom
The date of the Chinese New Year varies each year. 2026 commenced on 17 February. Each year is represented by one of 12 Chinese zodiac symbols, with 2026 being the horse.
The horse symbolises lots of things police promotion candidates could take note from, including moving forward, independence and resilience. For example, are you ready to progress your career ambitions to the next rank? Do you have the motivation to drive your own momentum? Will you endure in the face of obstacles like challenging promotion processes and unclear force guidance?
In Chinese astrology, each zodiac animal has unique traits. These traits are believed to be shared with people born in that corresponding year, but also are lessons to everyone for the coming year ahead. Horse years favour bold, decisive action and independence, while also warning against impulsiveness.
And not only is 2026 the year of the horse, but this year ushers in the Fire Horse, for the first time in 60 years. That’s because in addition to the 12 animal signs, the lunar year also rotates the five Chinese elements: Earth, wood, fire, metal, and water. We’ve just come out of wood dragon (2024) and wood snake (2025).
The key learning from this mythology is 2026 portends personal growth. As Asian Studies Professor Johnathan Lee explains to the National Geographic recently:
“…there will be many opportunities for growth, so individuals are encouraged to push forward with personal goals, embrace change, and endure the process for ultimate reward.”
And with Rank Success, you’ll be supported every step of the way should you want to take bold, decisive action to achieve your promotion. Certainly, every piece of content I put out aims to support your personal growth into police leadership positions and be successful at the gruelling promotion processes officers must endure!
With that in mind, let’s recap the podcast to date…
Recap of Season 5 – Year of the Snake
I’ve finished Season 5 off with another premium episode all about written assessments in the police promotion processes, published on 16 February. That was episode 42 of Season 5, bringing you more supportive free and premium content for your police leadership CPD.
Just to bring you up to speed, here’s the seasons since starting this podcast for you in 2021:
- Season 1: Year of the Ox (21 episodes)
- Season 2: Year of the Tiger (27 episodes)
- Season 3: Year of the Rabbit (30 episodes)
- Season 4: Year of the Dragon (50 episodes)
- Season 5: Year of the Snake (42 episodes)
That’s now 170 episodes, giving you a massive boost to your ongoing leadership CPD.
“I used your podcasts (subscription) for commuting, running, gym, whilst getting baby to sleep and any other chance I got because with young kids I didn’t have much downtime. I found these the biggest help to my learning. They gave me the background knowledge for so many topics and good advice surrounding what to research further. I ended up creating my own acronym after learning quite a few of yours off by heart and my panel specifically commented on how much they liked it in the feedback. I wanted to pass on my praise, specifically for the podcast and the range of topics covered.” – Kev, now Sergeant
In Season 5, I’ve covered a range of topics and conducted more exclusive interviews with senior policing figures…
- Exclusive interviews with Festus Akinbusoye, City of London Commissioner Pete O’Doherty, Sussex Chief Jo Shiner, West Mids ACC Matt Welsted, Notts Chief Steve Cooper, Hants DCC Sam de Reya, and Mike West KPM.
- Leadership book summaries including ‘what makes you tick’, meditations, reframing your brain, and ‘The Chimp Paradox’.
- My new ‘Reel Leadership’ feature, showcasing leadership learning from the movies.
- Policing Report analyses, including The National State of Policing report, the new Leadership Review, PSNI’s efficiency and effectiveness report, the OK Wellbeing findings, national Digital Strategy, and HMIC’s Crime Investigation report.
- Key developments and issues in policing, such as the Police Reforms, the notion of integrity health checks, the influence of and learning from the ‘Bill Bratton effect’, the new SIPP promotion process, how leaders can stem the flow of officer turnover, and a debrief from the Emergency Services Show.
- Force-specific insights, with the Met Police PDR-based promotion process, West Mids Sergeant and Inspector processes, the Met Police staff survey findings, and PSNI’s digital strategy.
- Other promotion guidance covered things like how to avoid sabotaging your ambition, explaining the CVF clearly in plain English, how to avoid the ‘specialist trap’, how an attitude of gratitude can help, the magic of coaching, a trilogy of episodes on The Great Sergeant, and even overcoming the scariest aspects of promotion.
Wow, what a year! Not to mention my more recent epic assessing the Police Reforms and what it means for you. Every episode I publish is geared to help keep your finger on the pulse of policing and leadership matters, while translating what it all means for your development and promotion ambitions.
Please become a premium subscriber for the same great value price of £4.99 per month (here’s more on how). This gives you:
- Exclusive access to all my previous and future content
- Access to a significant discount on the best rank-specific promotion toolkits you’ll find anywhere
- Get priority access to any upcoming free episodes
Your subscription also supports my work, generating free and great-value leadership content like this which simply doesn’t exist anywhere else, such as meaningful and candid interviews with senior police leaders. Thank you.
Galloping into 2026 and Season 6…
“Thank you for your products & podcasts. As I go into my journey as a Sergeant, I’m going to keep listening, to keep my momentum going so I can smash my inspectors 1st time too. Very grateful… Please keep the material coming, it shaped & guided my answers so much.” – Iain, successful Sergeant
The Chinese ‘Fire Horse’ symbolises momentum and taking action, along with personal resilience. This resonates hugely with the plight of police promotion candidates! So what better way to get your 2026 ambitions in order than taking your first step today?
Whether you want to just stick to the free materials or dip your toe into the Rank Success premium content to help you prepare effectively in the quickest possible time, there’s something for every budget. I simply encourage you to START TODAY, because the biggest mistake unsuccessful candidates make is leaving things too late.
I encounter many officers who have faced failure before learning of tried and tested support available. Police promotion is certainly a test of your mental toughness, so learning from experience of ‘what works’ (and identifying people who can help you grow) will build your resilience and reduce the stress that is often associated with promotion selection processes.
“Resilience and stress come from the length of time you can tolerate being in this space (learning space). The longer you can tolerate being here, the more you will ride this.” – Dr Becky Kennedy
Note that these police leadership insights are internationally relevant too, with cops tuning in from Ireland, USA, Australia, Canada, and dozens of other countries. While most of my audience is in the UK, be assured the insights you’ll gain are have helped others achieve success elsewhere in the world.
So watch out for more interviews, more policing insights, and more leadership development materials coming at a canter over the coming year! I encourage you to take your long-term CPD seriously and wish you the very best in your promotion ambitions. And as always, feel free to get in touch if you’d like to share my platform and share your experiences with others.
Kind Regards, Steve
Seeking police promotion? Want a MASSIVE head start right now and a focus on what matters? Hit the ground running with my great value digital promotion toolkits, and/or my market-leading Police Promotion Masterclass and CVF explainers. There’s nothing else like it to effectively prepare you for success and level the playing field of promotion. Any questions? Get in touch for a free call or to arrange more personal coaching support. Tune in to my extensive podcast for regular powerful leadership CPD and promotion insights.
