By Jason Ramsdell
If you’re old enough to remember a Super Bowl commercial from 2000 referencing the term “Herding Cats,” I commend you. This commercial was made for a company called Electronic Data Systems (EDS), which was once run by presidential candidate Ross Perot. Whatever you may think of Ross Perot, he provided a very simple explanation of the difference between managing and leading when he said, “Inventories can be managed but people must be led.”1 People lead people … and maybe cats?
A lot of people enjoy their cat videos. What is the fascination? For me, it is the unpredictability, but they ultimately have their own individual personality.
People lead people. A natural progression should lead us to a concept of a few personalities leading multiple personalities.
Cats like to work, sleep, eat, and play, among other things. Think about the following scenario: An order is given to your (human) crew. It can be anything, such as pull a line and put out that fire, start CPR, get that person out of that car, cut the grass, or do a weekly check on that truck. The list can be endless.
One firefighter may look confused. One firefighter may ask how? One firefighter may ask why? One firefighter may recommend doing something else. One firefighter may do nothing. One firefighter may go eat first. One firefighter may get to work. One firefighter may be missing. The list of options is endless, but importantly, the combination of options amongst the crew is endless. Personalities are endless.
The evolution of personalities is not an exact science, but experts in the field of neurology, psychiatry, and psychology provide a generally accepted educated guess that our personality is developed by our brains and conditioning. In other words, our personalities are dependent on nature and/or nurture. There is a large emphasis on the and/or. Just like most things in our professions, laws, cultures, relationships, and personal lives, context matters, and it is almost never one thing.
Nature vs. Nurture. Were they born that way or were they raised that way? I’m sorry, but I cannot answer why your spouse or significant other refuses to agree with you regarding the dishes. I know, most may be thinking about why a certain firefighter goes left or right when everyone else goes straight, although we can keep it simple: Behavior follows personality.
We are born with a very complex web of designs and interconnections given by our mother and father. Our parents conditioned us at a young age that, science has shown, can cause changes in our young brains that may change neuro connections that mold our personality, which dictates our behaviors. This repetition of conditioning continues as it develops our personality into adulthood and dictates our behaviors. The environment also contributes to the development of the brain and our personalities. The environment is a long list of conditions such as resources, locations, cultures, and other people.
There is a consensus that the brain does not fully develop, on average, until the age of 25. The reason for the long period is the pesky prefrontal cortex. This portion of the brain develops at a later stage in the womb, which explains the delayed development once born.2 On average, the brain does not fully develop until the age of 25. Some may develop earlier, some later, and some may not fully develop at all. These are the extreme cases of severe brain impairments and trauma that were either born that way or suffered from extreme life events.
You may say, “Give me a break; my child acts completely opposite of myself and my spouse.” I will not try to explain why this happens other than most things in life are not explained by one thing or we raised our child and reinforced the importance of x, y, and z but they instead focus on a, b, and c. Again, most things in life are not explained by only one thing.
Think of the endless types of different personalities. Whittle it down to firefighters. Whittle it down to your department, shift, and crew.
Personality dictates behavior. It also dictates thoughts that precede behaviors. These thoughts and behaviors are driven by personalities that converge into habits and lifestyles. My grandfather refused to wear sweatpants his entire life. His reasoning seemed silly to me, but we had different personalities born from different parents and were conditioned differently. The world is not going to end because grandpa refuses to wear sweatpants, but we always found a way to get the job done. We worked well together, we laughed together, we respected each other but, most importantly, we shared common personal values.
It’s easy to say that we will get along with our family, but minor cracks develop in all relationships, family or not, that can become catastrophic. Physical walls are very easy to conceal potential problems brewing beneath the surface. Miniscule cracks develop in public and private sectors all over the world. Firefighters are not immune. Personalities dictate behaviors. Behaviors are dictated through habits and lifestyles. People oversee people. Eliminating all extreme freak accidents, people cause problems. The mix of personalities and behaviors create the miniscule cracks in organizations and relationships.
My wife keeps showing me a cat video where a female cat seems to enjoy taunting a chihuahua. It is a beautiful mess! It is evident that this cat’s sole intention is to cause havoc for this chihuahua, but I am positive we are not seeing the good sides of these pets.
All animals, not just us, have individual unique personalities that must cohabitate. The mix of personalities among all animals is beautiful, challenging, poetic, romantic, grotesque, creative, exciting, satisfying, and promising. Good and evil exist with a lot in between.
Let’s focus on good. We are good. We became firefighters to provide goodness. Our passions to become firefighters may be different, but they are good passions. Generations are different, but reasons to become firefighters are similar. If every firefighter in your department wrote down five personal values, I am positive that every firefighter will share at least one common value with another.
Personalities dictate behaviors but decisions, either consciously or subconsciously, are made to act out behaviors. A great majority of our decisions and behaviors are good. Very good. There are also very harmful, confusing, and terrible decisions made by firefighters that sometimes end in terminations, injuries, and possibly deaths.
Think of all the different personalities you have worked with throughout your career. The spider web of personalities makes our job, and life, interesting and challenging.
Now, think of the times a certain someone or group has caused a problem. The problem could be minor or extreme, in the station, during training, or on an incident. Instead of the actual problem itself, try and think of the problem in terms of a clash of personalities.
We all tackle problems differently based on our personalities, which drive our decisions, which dictate behaviors. We all have our own beliefs and value systems. But all firefighters in the world share a common reality of our mission statement and priorities.
Our mission statement is very simple and easy to understand. We became firefighters to accomplish this mission. The priorities to accomplish this mission are very simple and easy to understand.
We love to add complexity to our lives, and I ask everyone to stop adding fuel to the fire. When a clash of personalities formulates, creating a “problem,” try to remove assumptions about individuals and look at your mission statement and priorities. I mean physically look at the words written on a piece of paper. This is the simplest and easiest way to bring everyone back to common ground. Our decisions and behaviors in the station and fireground must be dictated by our priorities and mission statement.
This is easier said than done because the simplest ideas seem to be the hardest to accomplish. Decisions need to be made at a personal level. Remember those lifelong habits and lifestyles? They are hard to break for better or worse. Many minds will not be changed about certain things in the station, on the fireground, or in life, but these minds all have or had a personality that conforms with the overall firefighting mission. Start there. Start with that core value of putting others before yourself. Start with that altruistic thought process and proceed through your problem-solving method. Repeating this process will develop a habit. Habits develop into lifestyles.
Hopefully everyone has found the “Herding Cats” commercial. What are the cowboys facilitating and experiencing? They seem worn down and frustrated, but they ultimately appear to love their job. They are leading these cats in the direction they need to go to accomplish their mission. They are giving the cats the resources they need to accomplish the mission. The crew is working from a mission first mentality and shoring up problems along the way when needed. They get the job done.
Officers may have to change the cat litter, guide a straying firefighter forward, carry a firefighter away from danger, console a firefighter, prevent firefighters from hissing at each other, or do nothing regarding a firefighter’s behavior. The foundation of these behaviors is to accomplish our very simple mission statement of putting others before ourselves. Let’s strive to harness our commonalities and disregard our personality differences to get the job done.
References
- Shepard, Jeremiah. 2022. “Ross Perot: A Modern Inspirational Leader”. Retrieved from
https://jeremiahshepard.com/2019/07/11/ross-perot-a-modern-inspirational-leader-paper/.
- Wallis, Lucy. 23 Sep. 2013. “Is 25 the new cut-off point for adulthood?” BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24173194.
BIO:
Jason Ramsdell is a lieutenant, a 17-year veteran of the Oak Hill (TX) Fire Department, and an Army veteran. He has a master’s degree in public affairs and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.
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