Warren Cersley's Blog (66)

LASTING IMPRESSIONS

I have written previously on Facebook - IN THESE BOOTS about the life lessons learned from athletics and how they can be applied to the Fire Service. Coaching, leadership, teamwork, selflessness, pride, failure, success, attitude, attitude and attitude all apply to success and winning in any field of endeavor.

I wrote about the journeyman pro catcher at an…

IF WE WORKED FOR TIPS

The mirrored elevator doors opened and the couple walked quietly past the Bellman’s stand. The Bell Captain said good morning to them and he knew their last name. He held the door to the hotel dining room for them and then returned to the stand.

He asked if I knew who the couple was and I replied that I did not. He explained that they had come to…

A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

A friend of mine enjoyed every opportunity that he found to rag me about my profession.

Whenever he had an audience, his speech would detail how all that we did was play checkers, cards and dominos. That, he continued, was when we were awake and we were only awake for the games and when it was time to eat.…

Unchaining Your Leadership

I often look for ways to explain to young fire service leaders the paths to follow that will take them to success and to eliminate some of the pitfalls and struggles they will face if they don’t start out correctly and constantly work to get better.

Moving into the first step of leadership is the most important and also the most difficult step to…

Winning Words

“You can observe a lot by just watching.”

“You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.”

“Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.”

As a lifelong NY Yankees fan, one of my childhood sports heroes, Yogi…

EVALUATE, DIAGNOSE, AND PRESCRIBE.

The Fire Service is similar to the patient waiting room at the local doctor’s office. Both are filled with all kinds of people from different places with assorted backgrounds, personalities, exposures, symptoms, complaints and outlooks. The one common denominator is that each person has come seeking a reason and an explanation for why they are feeling whatever it is that they are…

WHAT’S THE TAKEAWAY?

I encourage young people to read and study the writings and speeches of Captain Tom Brennan, FDNY, including Brunacini/Brennan Unplugged FDIC 2003 and everything else that you can find.  I did not know Tom Brennan, I wish I had, but I surely liked his style.

Captain Tom Brennan was one who always left the audience with some important take away from his…

Who has the juice?

One of the great blessings in life is the time that we all have to quietly ponder and think. Our quiet place and time may differ but the results are the same. If you don’t have that place and time in your life, and in your work, I think it is vitally important that you find it. I hope that you will.…

GET LIKE YOU WAS

“Get like you was before you got like you is.” Earl D.

Sometimes in life and in our work we wake up one day and we look back and we find that somehow we have slipped away from the real and important things that bring worth and value to our lives and to our work.

I like to describe the changes that seem to…

THE LEADERSHIP QUILT

I have many fond memories from my earlier days. Many of them had no real meaning to me at the time because I was just a kid, but as time goes by I look back on them as life lessons and I realize the importance of the simple and silent lessons that I was learning from great teachers.…

ELECTRIC LEADERS (+ or -)

While speaking in beautiful Wisconsin, I began the leadership segment by introducing myself as Bo Ryan, the very successful and beloved basketball coach at UW. I talked to the class (imaginary prospective UW basketball players) about what would be expected of them IF they wished to be…

CESSPOOL OF LEADERSHIP

I do not bring a degree in tight end, modern dance, micro management or other non fire related subjects to the leadership table.

I do most certainly encourage young people entering the Fire Service to seek out every opportunity for higher education that is job related. I also admire those, a bit senior, who sought out their fire service related college…

This throwback photo was taken in the seventies at the retirement party for Raymond “Raybo” Adams. Raymond was an “old timer” when I joined his company. He also was the star pitcher on the department baseball team and he could still “bring the stuff” as he aged.

The picture always reminds me of the old and the new and the generational differences that we hear so much about in the Fire Service. It also causes me to stop…

VENT LIMITED TEAMS

“It takes two flints to make a fire.” Louisa May Alcott

What’s the condition of our team?

Is our team incipient, smoldering, vent limited, ignited, developing, heavily involved, fully involved or…

I REMEMBER

I remember a time when I worked as a Firefighter in what was considered to be a rough neighborhood. Several blocks from our fire house was an automatic dumpster. The dumpster caught fire automatically every few days.

One evening we were…

HOW’S YOUR ROUND?

“Our life and leadership are like a round of golf; we begin and end at the same place and the only thing that really counts at the end of the day is the things that we did in between and how we did them.” I said that.

When we embark on a round of golf or we choose…

ZU ZU MAN

“When I glance in the mirror of my career success and leadership, the reflection I see always has me standing behind those I could trust and those who trusted me.” Me

When I write and speak about leadership, motivation, teamwork and organizational success the discussion usually moves quickly to trust. When I ask “What is right”and“What needs attention” I often…

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON PROMOTION

The teletypes would start to click and in all fire houses across the city and the watch person would announce that the results of the written portion of the promotional process had come out. Interested members would move to the desk to see the results. How did I do, how did my friends do, who is moving on to the assessment center…

STORMS A COMIN

I came from a family of bricklayers and the only ancestor I can track with any Fire Department background was a distant relative who was the Fire Chief of Swansboro, a working class area of south Richmond. Cersley Street is in Swansboro and I made sure that every Rookie knew where it was.…

GEE HAW

While speaking recently at the IAFC/VCOS conference in Florida, I told the story of a time when a fire officer and I didn’t see eye to eye. I said that we did not gee haw. After the session, a Texan approached me and told me that he had not heard gee haw in many years and he asked what the term meant to me. I explained that when two people disagree…