March 2019 Blog Posts (15)

...because sometimes the only point is to be silly.



STAY FIRED UP, and from time to time, lighten up.

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Duty to the citizens we serve is frequently held up as our most basic and sacred responsibility as firefighters, and I couldn't agree more. It motivates us to perfect our skills for the benefit of others, face dangers known and unknown, and even to leave a warm bed to assist a stranger. In short, it inspires selflessness. Still, though that obligation is powerful, it is unfocused; it serves as a compass, not a map. My point in making this distinction is to counter the frequent citation of…

A mentor is defined as a trusted counselor or guide, someone who may be an influential sponsor or supporter. A coach is one who instructs or trains. These are terms that are used everywhere in our culture of leadership and personal development books, podcasts, and lecture series. A mentor is viewed as that old sage who takes us under their wing to give us little snippets of wisdom and tweetable quotes. The personal coaching industry has a large market share in business circles and seems to…

Yep, we all know this instructor... and hopefully it's not you!

STAY FIRED UP, and teach beyond the slide!

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I want to begin this with a challenge to each and every one of you out there reading this, it’s a simple phrase and think about how this makes you feel. “I am not here for me, I am here for we, and we are here for them”. Are these just words to you? Is there any action behind this? For some of you however on the other side this may be your sole purpose for existing in the fire service and for that I say THANK YOU! In the past I have written about Titles, and Own It which are both important…

Leading up to FDIC2019 and our Pre-Conference Workshop titled Extreme Leadership – Building High Performance Teams on Tuesday April 9th, 2019, let’s talk about one of the most challenging leadership encounters… that of having to deal with the bully-type individual.

It seems in my travels a lot of good fire departments are slowly being…

Great leaders know they simply can’t get anything done without people...  And those who do it well know they can get more done by who they know, than what they think they know. So leading up to our pre-conference workshop at the FDIC2019, here is some food for thought on fixing a dysfunctional fire department culture.

As a leader in an organization regardless of the color of your helmet, you must evaluate you and your officers ability to positively engage and influence those in your…

Working in the fire service gives a sense of nobility; a purpose that goes beyond just “clocking in.” It is an established honorable profession. Its members are a tight family, a brotherhood that unites when called upon. However, being a member of this family comes at a price. It is not an easy road, nor is it always appealing. Images of the shining fire apparatus and polished uniforms are replaced with images of destroyed homes, patients with horrific burns,…

What is marriage?  Webster’s dictionary defines marriage as, the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship.  Partners, remember that.  It also states that marriage is a combination or mixture of two or more elements.  For example “a marriage of jazz, pop, blues, and gospel.”  This sounds more like a marriage than anything…

Within the fire service, each of us has a duty and responsibility to leave the service better than when we came in. This includes bettering ourselves along the way. Each generation firefighter receives the theoretical baton from those who came before. The baton symbolizes the rich history of the fire service, where we came from, where we are today, and where we’re headed. Modern fire science, through the work of Underwriters Laboratories – Firefighter Safety…

No use complaining about a bad crop when you sowed bad seeds. So, what kind of firefighter are you and your training program creating?



STAY FIRED UP, and own your baby!

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Hello, everyone! My name is Lauren Wintle. I am a 21 year old student in my last year of college at Rogers State University. I have conducted a survey on occupational identity, coping mechanisms, and stress among firefighters. My dad is the Deputy Chief in Owasso, OK and my grandfather was a Tulsa firefighter, so I wanted to conduct this survey for them! It is short & sweet -- shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes to complete. 

Thank you so much! The survey is…

Its visibly clear that high rise fires offer a special set of circumstances and challenges that we will have to overcome and be prepared for. Just look up; elevation alone adds to the complexity. Now pile on building systems, multiple stairwells, complex stretches and floor layouts that will easily drain your resources. All these things are going to have to be controlled throughout the…

From the book Building Leaders the West Point Way by General Joseph P. Franklin US Army (retired)

Page 41... “From the last rung of the ladder to the top, everyone has to have faith in their mission.”

But what happens when you don’t have faith in your mission? How do you have faith when you don’t believe in the leader? Check that, not the leader but the person in charge. Big difference there. How do you continue on when the whole organization is on edge,…