Posts Tagged: Leadership
What’s your story?
It's been a great, long, hot summer --- causing me to take some time away from blogging to spend with my family and friends. Although I haven't been writing much, I have been doing a lot of reading and observing. And, it's my observation that the need f…
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What a Difference… A Minute Can Make
We must be able to decode the “mess” into “opportunity”. It is paramount that we focus on the concepts that it shouldn’t be this way, but we can make it something else.
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Customer Service: A Bad Concept?
While we can quantitatively point out that having a customer service attitude benefits us in public support, there should be a much more altruistic reason for our embracing that belief.
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Leadership Influence
An officer best exemplifies leadership by devoting a major portion of his/her time to stimulate continuous improvement in both subordinates and the organization.
Today's leaders are utilizing contemporary leadership styles. The officer needs to know w…
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Shaping the Future Creating leaders in our Youth
As we quickly approach a time when much of the fire service leadership will be retiring we are destine to face the loss of great leadership in the fire service. This could prove to be a tragedy for our profession or we can make it a positive bench mark. …
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Stuck In The Past
When your organization is experiencing such dysfunction that it is obvious even to the newest recruit, then how clueless are you to insist that everything is coming up roses?
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Nontraditional Classroom Education
Classroom and hands on are super important. But even more important is learning from each other's experiences.
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Crisis Leadership
Building on my FDIC presentation, leading the department in tough times.
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Run-to-the-Curb Radio: Chief Tim Sendelbach
It’s like “Run-to-the-Curb Radio” — but better!
“Firefighter Storytellers” is a natural outgrowth from my popular “Run to the Curb” series — as it offers a radio show designed simply to facilitate kitchen table type discussions bet…
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Power Is Like A Flame
Power is like a flame. If you hold it too tight, it can smother. If you hold it too tight it will also burn.
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The Weekly Weasel – Your Jealous Eyes
Remember Shakespeare's Othello? Envy, people get killed, suicides occur, and the plot is exposed. Your basic Shakespearean tragedy, as it were. Sounds like work.
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The Courage of a New Leader
Often in my travels and teaching I am asked by you officers and aspiring officers what it takes to be a good leader or how to become a good leader. I usually respond to that question with a question “What do you think it takes to become a good leader?…
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Attachment to Before
Attachment is when you believe that things can or should remain one way forever. Things are in a constant state of change.
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Balance and Equilibrium
Unless I am compelled to do so for official business, or intend to engage in a learning session in which I can take away lessons from the event, I'd just as soon do the things I do and avoid hanging around to look at the carnage of someone else's bad day.
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Get Fit. Get Safe. Make It Personal.
[caption id="attachment_1745" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="My Three-Part Risk Management Plan: Alex, Laurie and Kathleen"][/caption]
Despite the fact that I wrote this piece for Fire-Rescue Magazine last year, I'm pretty sure its content is …
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Bridging the gap to Tomorrows Fire Service
The 82nd Leadership Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs is this week in Louisville, Kentucky. What an outstanding opportunity for fire service leaders to gather and network. The company Officer's own Christopher Naum is one of the presenters at this conference.
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Where Were You That Night?
It was inevitable that something bad would happen, given what we know now. All we can do now is honor the lives of those who go before us, pray for the families and help them deal with this tragedy, and hope we all learn from the events that evening.
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Back To Work
While the supervision of children isn't that much of a stretch from my real job (supervising firefighters), it does bear discussion here, since it doesn't seem that all fire officers have the same understanding.
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Pink Heals Tour
You have to see the bigger cause of the organization and realize that the department is part of the community.
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Time Management and Effective Fire Companies
All firefighters realize and understand the importance of time when it comes to responding to an emergency incident. Time is recognized as one limited resource that must be maximized in every aspect.
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Raising a flag about lowering THE FLAG!
It's after Memorial Day-2010 and I've been working on this blog for about a week, in hopes of having it finished prior to the start of the holiday weekend but life got in the way and that didn't happen.
In retrospect, I'm glad I procrastinated. I'm gl…
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Run-to-the-Curb is Top Story
[caption id="attachment_1811" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="That's me with Past Chief John Latimore, one of my best friends in the fire service and the neighborhood I grew up in."][/caption]
It's been more than a month since my presentati…
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Learn as if you were to live forever: Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Back in January I posted an article on The CompanyOfficer.com entitled: Your Capabilities and Future Success. It was about the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. Coach Wooden passed away at the age of 99 on Friday June 4th, but his legacy …
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Sometimes We Need A Kick In The Head
Motivation to learn is directly proportional to the perceived benefit of the education. If there is no perceived benefit, we have to change that perception to achieve the team goals.
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Bravery In The Line Of Fire