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All Blog Posts Tagged 'leadership' (28)

Leadership Lessons from a Cold War Warrior

Back in the day – I had the opportunity to do a fellowship that took me to the Ames Research Center of NASA. There, tucked in a small corner office, off of a typically bureaucratic hall was the cluttered office of an aging gentle man, who toiled in near obscurity, surrounded by small mementos of his life – autographed pictures of he and President Johnson, personalized memorabilia from Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and memorial tokens of Gus Grissom – who was a personal friend, lost in the trag… Continue

Added by Chris Carlson, PhD on November 20, 2009 at 1:11pm — 2 Comments

Fire Service Leadership - Micro Managing

Micro Managing The dictionary defines Micro Managing as- "To direct or control in a detailed, often meddlesome manner". To me that pretty well sums it up but lets break it down. Being detail oriented is usually not a bad thing as attention to detail sometimes makes a difference between a mediocre situation to an excellent one. Where is the line that denotes how far is too far? Have you ever driven an officer that is constantly telling you "Go left", "Slow down", "speed up",… Continue

Added by Mike Walker on October 2, 2009 at 11:00am — 10 Comments

From the X-Box to the Box Alarm

As I travel around the country talking with other firefighters, a commonly recurring theme of our chat is the future of the volunteer fire service. The conversation always comes around to the topic of today’s firefighters and the next generation of firefighters. Some “more experienced” firefighters (notice I didn’t use the term older) share that they don’t understand the “kids” coming into the fire service today. The veterans don’t think today’s recruits share the same values as those who are… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on September 6, 2009 at 11:00pm — 9 Comments

Fortune Tellers

In my last blog titled “Dig In.” I talked about the importance of story telling in the fire service and how it serves as a means of sharing experiences, traditions and values from generation to generation. In this article I try to tell a story, and in that story, I hope you can find a lesson to share for generations to come. Almost every firefighter I meet speaks of how they always knew, from the time they were a… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on September 6, 2009 at 10:22pm — 7 Comments

What Is Learned That Is Not Taught?

I have read several, recent articles that ponders whether firefighters and their fire departments function better with leaders/managers or strategists/tacticians. There is an axiom out there that says “leaders can manage, but managers can’t lead”. I guess that could happen if you were foolish enough to hire a fire chief with loads of management skills and no firefighting experience. But, in my management training over the years, I found it to be very beneficial to “know the product”. But agai… Continue

Added by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on August 21, 2009 at 10:02am — 6 Comments

Are You Leading by Example, or Are You Just in Charge?

You Can’t Force It: Are you leading by example, or are you just in charge? By Scott Cook It’s that time of year again: The FireRescue magazine staff and board just selected the 2009 Company Officer of the Year. The list of candidates this year was loaded with people who’v… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on August 16, 2009 at 8:00am — 2 Comments

Let's Talk About Fear...

About a month ago, I got really scared. We were in a smoky first floor above a basement fire. We didn't know it had burned itself out. We had just entered and had the line at the top of the stairs. I had plenty of air in my SCBA. We really hadn't gone to work yet. It wasn't even that hot. All of the sudden, my mind felt like it was 2003 and I was in a bunker with those same missiles being shot at me again. I guess that's what they call a flashback. Fear. A wave of it washed over me. I was p… Continue

Added by Jason on July 30, 2009 at 1:36pm — 3 Comments

It is ALWAYS Political

A COMMON WHINE FROM FIRE OFFICER CANDIDATES IS THAT FIREFIGHTERS ARE NOT POLITICIANS. A "real" firefighter is good of heart, focused on saving those endangered by fire and righteous in suppression skills. That is all that is needed. Only in the movies ... A STARK CONTRAST Dave Statter posted a video showing Engine 848 (West Lanham Hills #2) arriving at a well-involved garage fire (… Continue

Added by Mike Ward on July 1, 2009 at 8:30pm — 1 Comment

A Spartan Attitude for Firefighters

I recently watched the movie “300” and find it to be inspiring and historically interesting. I have seen it maybe three or four times and this most recent viewing it made me stop and think. These Spartans were a proud, honorable and highly trained group of men and society. It was an honor to die protecting Sparta. Sound familiar? The fire service should be a place that we are proud, honorable and in trying to save a life, we are revered for giving our lives to save another. At least that is the… Continue

Added by Jason Hoevelmann on May 17, 2009 at 11:07am — 10 Comments

To The Easily Offended

In my blog at Firehouse Zen today: I mentioned a great homily by Father Chris where he spoke about getting the message out (you know, THE Message). I specifically discussed one of his points about how, when… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on April 4, 2009 at 4:09pm — 10 Comments

Constant Battle

From Firehouse Zen: I am never surprised by the willingness of firefighters to fight for what is right. I have officers that work with me as well as friends throughout emergency services who seem like they are… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on March 14, 2009 at 7:38am — 6 Comments

LEAD! And Get the Lead Out

I have read several books written by many of the excellent leaders in the fire service. I tend to gravitate to books on firefighting tactics and leadership. Don’t get me wrong; I love reading about fire service history with accounts of the big fires or intricate rescues, but tactics and leadership books seems to fit better with what I do and what I want to accomplish. Though tactics are specific to what we do in the fire service, leadership is something that we can use in all walks of life. I… Continue

Added by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on January 20, 2009 at 2:13pm — 14 Comments

Everyone Has Their Parking Lot Somewhere

Like I was discussing in my blog at Firehouse Zen, experience is useless without learning from it. As an officer with a few incidents under my belt, I too have my parking lot somewhere as a stark reminder of my failures and inadequacies (this… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on January 18, 2009 at 10:00pm — 7 Comments

Open Your Eyes in 2009

From my blog at Firehouse Zen: What have we learned in 2008? Are we better off here on the threshold of 2009 having experienced so much in the last year? Or are we destined to repeat our mistakes? Are we advocating better cardiac fitne… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on December 30, 2008 at 4:23pm — 12 Comments

Blogging As A Tool

I’ve said it from the beginning- this blogging project is a work in progress for me, but I'm enjoying it and it's apparently pretty contagious. As far as my writing skills, however, I’m quickly learning about how to catch your interest in sound bites rather than in paragra… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on December 5, 2008 at 12:30pm — 6 Comments

Firehouse Zen

Note: For some reason, I posted this a few minutes ago and the post disappeared into the blogosphere. If for some reason it pops up in duplicate, someone please point it out (if I haven't seen it) and I'll delete it. Nothing like identical blog entries to ruin your credibility. That should be a warning to some of you out there. Inspired by the personal blogs of some of you (and seeing that even Webchief has his own personal blog), I have created my own blog,… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on November 26, 2008 at 11:36am — 9 Comments

Leadership Conference Home Run in Syracuse!

I’ve just returned from Syracuse, NY where I was assisting with running the FASNY Fire Service Leadership Conference. This was an eight hour, one-day program focusing on the needs of our current and future fire service leaders in terms of risk management decisions, the tactics and strategies used effectively by true leaders, and mindful strategic thinking on the fire ground. The day started significantly earlier for me and the FASNY Chiefs Committee than it did for most, as we had been directed… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on November 16, 2008 at 8:22pm — 5 Comments

Rebel or Revolutionary - You Make the Choice

With all of the change going on in the atmosphere, I was contemplating the difference between being a rebel and a revolutionary. It seems to me that there are plenty of firefighters who are a little mixed up and don't understand the difference. The problem is that while revolutionaries effect change in a situation, rebels simply refuse to obey. Why should that matter? When we are agitating… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on November 5, 2008 at 11:11pm — 3 Comments

The Experience of Yesterday and the Ability of Tomorrow

You can't be involved with the fire/ems service and not have noticed the relatively large amount of young people who are now involved in the fire/ems field. My first reaction was “what in the world”, which I now believe was more jealousy than anything else. I waited what seemed like a long time to get started in the fire service; for some reason, in my little corner of the world teenagers were not considered volunteer firefighting material (maybe because they weren’t old enough to legally throw… Continue

Added by Capt 723 on October 30, 2008 at 10:30am — 12 Comments

Consistency and Standardization - Terminology Blog In Extremis

Well, I'm glad that there's been a lot of discussion about the terminology issue, but my point wasn't just about terminology and communications standardization being a problem for the fire service. Without digressing, despite some of the very considerate and well expressed views pointed out by readers in the Terminology blog I wrote, it is a problem- go back and look at the reports of any disaster th… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on October 7, 2008 at 5:30pm — 15 Comments

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