Tag Archives: thought leadership

Regardless if the changes arise from our people (generational differences) or new technologies or new information that changes the way we view strategy and tactics, it all comes back to how we lead and manage, doesn’t it?

Over the course of the last year, I’ve attempted to provide you—the readers of this blog—with a wide variety of subjects for you consideration and thought. So here are the ten most viewed posts for 2013.

In response my previous post, What’s Your Plan for an Inclusive and Diverse Department to Increase Service and Safety?, I received a lengthy letter from a fire service colleague that posed several thought-provoking questions. Below are the contents of that letter. (WK is the letter writer; RPA is me).

It’s like the weather: everyone talks about it. “It” is the culture of the fire service in the United States of America. We hear it, we see it (in print and on-line), and we talk about it. Lately, what’s most prominent in this communication is: We need to change the fire service culture.

Was wondering if you could do me a favor and list what you believe to be the most significant changes/trends in the past 10 years of the fire service.

I'm not saying that a more educated officer corps will prevent those kinds of things from happening in a department, but I am saying that I believe that it will reduce the organizational risk to a large degree.

Why EFOP? Don’t get me wrong, my course work in both of my degree programs provided me with the opportunity to acquire a vast amount of knowledge in a wide variety of subjects pertinent to Fire and EMS...It was during my four-year pursuit of that EFOP certification, however, that I acquired the skills and abilities that had a phenomenal impact on my growth as a fire officer.

One thing that I do believe is that cases like this are to Fire and EMS leadership and management what the "a canary dying in a coal mine" meant to coal miners underground.

I once heard this at a leadership and management seminar I attended and it’s stuck with me all these years: Middle management is like the white frosting in an Oreo cookie. It’s the “glue” that holds everything together and it’s the “buffer” that keeps the two hard cookie layers apart.

Think there’s not a need for organizational risk management in Fire and EMS organizations? Take a look at some of the recent “ripped from the headlines” stories about firefighters and officers that have not done much to enhance the reputation and standing of our profession.