{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Murphy's Law","title":"The Currency Of Trust A Conversation With Al Gardner","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2285,"description":"In this episode of Murphy's Law, host Murphy Robinson sits down with Al Gardner, Executive Director of the Denver Department of Public Safety, former Denver Deputy Mayor, and a longtime technology executive who once chaired the city's Citizen Oversight Board. Murphy calls him a friend, a confidant, and a brother, and the two former deputy mayors go deep on leadership, trust, government efficiency, and the role of technology in keeping a growing city safe.\nGardner traces his path from Houston's Third Ward, where he attended Jack Yates High School, to Wiley University in Marshall, Texas, the school made famous by \"The Great Debaters.\" He started in IT at the very bottom, as a cable puller, and worked his way up over decades, eventually helping take a company through its IPO after moving to Denver. From there he moved into civic life through city boards and commissions, ran for mayor in 2023, led Denver's Department of General Services, served as Deputy Mayor, and now oversees Denver Police, Fire, the Sheriff Department, and 9-1-1.\nSome of the most candid moments come from Gardner's school years. His family moved constantly; he attended six elementary schools and four high schools, stood in free-cheese lines, and finished near the bottom of his class without walking the stage, earning his diploma through summer school. For years he hid that story. Now he tells it on purpose, for kids who don't see a way forward. Murphy shares his own history as a C-minus student who only found his stride in college.\nThe heart of the episode is what Gardner calls \"the currency of trust.\" He and Murphy revisit the George Floyd era, when Gardner sat on the oversight board and Murphy ran public safety, and how they disagreed hard behind the scenes while keeping a respectful public relationship. They dig into measuring what matters (\"if it doesn't count, it doesn't exist\"), cutting redundant \"belt and suspenders\" bureaucracy while keeping the checks that matter, and using technology like...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/i5VidaAPwui-mkO5QFXggyZtb0zIlg4YR2_FNHsGhxQ/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82ZWZm/YzczODJhMjE0Mjhl/ZWUzYTE0YTI3MGUz/OGVjZS5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}