PASSION: The six stages of the double edged sword.

Let’s talk about a subject that I think some of us are either afraid of or aren’t too educated as to what it actually means. It’s been said to me many times in my career that I have too much passion. I thought to myself, “too much passion? Is there really such a thing?” The answer is no. I have learned that passion truly is a double edged sword; as I have grown older (and hopefully wiser) in my career, I have begun to learn which side of the sword to use. Passion is something you are born with, but as you develop it does too. Passion comes in multiple stages. When we first enter the fire service we usually start our careers around a group of older (salty) fireman who tell us about the good ol’ days and what it was like to ride the back step and wear ¾ length boots and about all the fires they fought. They tell us about that one guy that you wished you’d fought a fire with, and they introduce us to their brotherhood, the way things are done there. As months go on and you get through Probie School (Fire Academy) and see your first real fire you start to build pride for the job. That pride stems from passion which is something that has been in you your entire life. It starts to come out in waves because for the first time you are part of something bigger then you, bigger than most people you grew up with can even understand. You start buying shirts at every Fire Convention and Expo, you buy all those goofy stickers and put them on your helmet, just to have your Chief tell you to take them off, and you start quoting your Essentials book and telling everybody who’s been doing this longer then you that they’re doing it wrong. All of that is your first stage of passion. In the second stage of passion you have a couple of years under your belt. You are a driver/chauffer, you have been in a few fires, cut a few cars, thrown your share of speedy dry on all those MVA’s that leaked fluid. Now a new guy joins and you think “well I’ll show him all about pride and brotherhood.” You start to take him under your wing, but at this point in your career you have been around enough to develop opinions about some of the guys in your fire house (or so you think). You begin to pass those opinions on to this new Firefighter, telling him or her who to watch out for and who is “good” and who’s “bad.” That is when you start using the wrong side of the sword. Being that you are maybe 3 years into your career at this point, you think you earned the right to form this opinion and that your attitude is justified because you can support it with facts (which are really just your opinions). Now we move onto the third stage of passion. At this point you have gained your share of job experience, you are self-proclaimed as “someone who gets it.” You express your love for the job and damn those who can’t understand the way you feel about it, you are part of an elite group of people, right? WRONG! You are part of a few who do what we do, but you are no better than any of us who do it. You say, how can I not be, I fought this many fires, I was Volunteer Captain, I got a career job, I cut this many cars and popped that many doors. This is when you are still using the wrong side of the sword. Sometime has gone by in your career, you have made it past that 10 year mark, those who work with you are confident in your skills, but think you’re a bit abrasive. You now have 10 years of built up opinions about people that you have become a toxic person yourself and are no longer effective, you say they just think I’m too passionate and they’re right, you are too passionate because you are using the wrong side of the sword. You are using the negative side, the side that breathes hostility and creates complacency. The one that makes those who should be respecting all you’ve seen and done operationally not want to be around you. They tell you to your face, your grumpy attitude is funny, but they are laughing at you, not with you. This is stage 4 of Passion. Unfortunately we’ve retired more fireman with stage 4 passion, then we should have.

Now let me tell you about stage 5. In few cases we are lucky enough to find inspiration, in some cases we are lucky to have great mentors. I say mentors, because in order to grow effectively we have to have 5-10 people influence us. Speaking from my own experience, I had been in my career for 11 years, I thought I knew more than a lot of people, I felt that the opinions I learned from others were the right ones, I was wrong. I brought my negativity home and it effected my personal life. One day, I re-opened Chief Lasky’s Pride & Ownership book and buried myself in it. I realized “this guy’s been talking to me this entire time.” I had no clue, when I first read it and watched his dvd I thought of those who I didn’t like, but the reality was he was talking to me. I instantly started to rebuild myself and looked at things objectively and not subjectively. I transferred to a new fire house and began using my passion for my job in a good way. There are times where I find myself getting caught up using that wrong side of the sword, but knowing that there are two sides I work on a new approach and use my passion to achieve everything I want in my career as well as inspire others to do the same. I have almost 14 years in my career now, I have the blessing of being a Captain, every day I learn from my crew. They are my mentors whether they realize it or not, I am learning how to be a better leader and disciplining myself to use the right side of the sword in everything I do. I swing my sword with purpose now, I have passion in everything I do, but I use it in the right way. My dream now is to be able to retire with stage 6 passion, where I feel is the stage when there is only one side of the sword, and it’s the right side. Every decision made is proud, honorable and a passionate one.

In conclusion, I hope you can relate with my story, I hope you can be aware of the 2 sides of the passion sword and I pray we can all retire with Stage 6 passion. God bless you in all you do, stay safe and take care!

Stage 1- You’re too new

Stage 2- You think you know too much

Stage 3- You think you’re experienced

Stage 4- You are disgruntled & complacent.

Stage 5- You recognize the 2 sides of the sword.

Stage 6- There is only one side of the sword.

Dave McGlynn

Passion in Leading, LLC

facebook.com/passioninleading