Dealing with cowardice from the cheap seats

I was standing in the parking lot of our training center shooting the breeze with a few guys when one of them said, "Hey man, you've got to see this!" He whips out his cell phone, dials up Youtube, and proceeds to show me a video of two firefighters over zealously practicing a push of a 1.75" line in a parking lot. I quickly recognize the tone of the video is more satire than instructional, basically knocking the Nozzle Forward program. In…

      Have you ever had a conversation with someone whose outlook or attitude was so crappy about the topic that it exhausted you just listening to them?   As leaders, we are often tasked with realigning people's perspective and/or performance to the expectations of the organization.  Accomplishing this typically involves having to have "hard" conversations with people whose values and interest about the fire service may not resemble much of our own.  This becomes especially…

So let's talk about...power.  Power is a gift we are given by either the formal recognition from an organization,  the informal recognition of our peers, or at times from both.  Power often has a negative connotation, perhaps because we often see leaders using it for selfish reasons.  We've all seen a boss or two throw their weight around hiding behind their badge.  This is usually accompanied by the likes of "do it because I said so".

 …

“Problems are what make us grow. Problems are what sculpt our soul. Problems are what make us become more.” -Tony Robbins

I recently got the chance to spend a whopping nine days in a row with…

“What happens when you can’t just Google the answer?”

I remember very vividly the Mayday! Firefighter Down portion of my recruit academy.  It was taught over three days including a thorough review of LODD case studies and drills, which recreated many of the same conditions that has previously either injured or killed a firefighter in the line of duty.  One such scenario was the…

I hate to admit it, but unfortunately, as a leader, I know what the words I don’t trust you sound like. Perhaps the most frustrating part for me at the time was that I didn’t know exactly what I did at the time to earn this statement. I spent countless hours second-guessing myself, asking other’s opinions, and trying to find a way to reconnect with this person to get us back on track.

But in searching for answers I found none.  Each day the distance between us…

The Enemies of Trust

Trust is a value that occurs in both ourselves, our teams, and our organizations. Creating and maintaining trust is paramount for leaders, yet unfortunately many do not see the need for giving attention to it. Leaders can make the mistake of assuming that their rank and the ability to say because I said so binds people to their decision. But how does one define trust and what does it look…

“Risk a lot to save a lot”

Upon rounding the corner in my neighborhood, I couldn’t help but hear it. The chant of “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!!!!” echoed through the double pane windows of our first floor, and even though I had only stepped out to walk the dog, you would have thought I was scoring the game winning touchdown (or at a minimum bringing home some pizza).  I could hear my two little girls from a complete house over screaming for me, and an…

This will be a working extrication of my head from my A$$

“Avoid putting callouses in the hearts of your loved ones”

We have a ritual with our oldest child, Ayla who is three years old. We finish each nightly bed-time routine by…

Stop Being Mean to Mommy

“So that’s what it sounds like when your heart breaks”

She measures barely 40 inches tall, and I have yet to take the training wheels off her bike, but today she made me feel like the child.  My oldest daughter, three years of wisdom to her beautiful name, directed some tough words at me this…

Legacy versus Impact:  I’m In conflict

“They’ll remember us for this”…