David DeStefano's Blog – October 2016 Archive (2)

     Vince Lombardi once said "the strength of the group is the strength of the leader."  Great advice for a football team and possibly life-saving advice when applied to the fire service.  The leadership role played by the company officer can not be over-stated.  This first level of supervision is the closest to the action, the first to spot potential problems on and off the fireground, and the first to mitigate these issues.   In order to have a strong company the officers must…

     Leadership in a levels of the fire service is in a constant state of transition.  Yesterdays' firefighter is today's company officer and last week's battalion chief assigned to operations is the new assistant chief in administration.  No matter what level in the chain of command, retirements, promotions, and transfers may all create change in an organization.  Whether or not that change causes turmoil and a major disruption in operational performance is largely a result of the quality…