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Constant Combat

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There are people I know who are in constant conflict.  We aren’t talking about warriors; we are talking about regular people who, from one day to the next, always seem to be involved in one event or another in which they feel like they must choose a side and fight.  Every day, every shift, they are irresistibly drawn to drama.

Even if it isn’t incredibly stressful at first, after a while, it is. It’s like a constant stream of water wearing away at you until eventually you realize the rift it has created is now a canyon.  We have to be selective about our battles. Constant battle also gives others the impression that you are a belligerent. Others may only choose to approach you in a defensive posture. If you wonder why you are always in conflict, this could be the issue itself. Constant combat numbs you to battles that really do require a fight.

Conflict occurs when values and perspectives contradict. Conflict is inevitable. Conflict is often necessary. Conflict motivates us to participate and to be productive, but conflict is a problem if we can’t manage it.  It is said that people who are obstructed are out of balance. The consistent imbalance is bad energy and it only produces more bad energy.

Good leaders must maintain balance; the only way to achieve that balance is to be open to more ideas, even the ones you disagree with. While I’m not saying you have to embrace them, you should still understand their perspective, as it will help you to understand your own perspective that much better. And while you may think you are right now, perhaps you can see where the other person has issues with your argument, or may even see that you don’t have all the facts. No sensible argument should be built upon a fallacy.

Posted by on September 27, 2010 • Filed under: change, Command & Leadership, fire service, Firefighter Nation, leadership, motivation, professionalism, Training & Development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vest-Wearing Yard-Breathers

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I am one of them, so be nice.

You have likely heard others say, “Discretion is the better part of valor”.  This is actually a misquote.  In fact, Shakespeare’s Falstaff said: “The better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have sav’d my life.”  You have to understand the context in which Falstaff said this, which was after playing dead to escape being killed. His justification was that words like “honor” and “valor” will get you nothing once you’re dead. Falstaff’s suggestion implies that feigning death in this situation, which was a cowardly act, was defensible because what good are those terms if you are dead?

There is a certain argument made by people in our profession that indeed, having a safety mindset is, well, cowardly. There is a belief that the goal of the reflective vest-wearing, “yard-breather” population is to deprive each and every one of you out there of a draped casket and a bagpipe escort, that ‘tis much better to serve you and your company up as cannon fodder and damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. If you want to meet the objective of a LODD funeral, I suggest that at least you do it for a good reason. Unfortunately, given the statistics, that’s the least likely way you’ll go down in our business.

While there are excesses in every aspect of our lives, and I’ll grant that the safety officers sometimes come up with some really less-than-fun approaches to our jobs, you aren’t serving any purpose to get killed in training, except to inflate the LODD death statistic every year. If you happened to be one of the valiant 343 who died saving the equivalent population of several small cities, to me, you are a hero. If you happen to die because you refuse to buckle your seat belt, to me, less so.

We must make snap decisions daily that involve life and death. Sometimes we make good decisions and sometimes, things don’t go as expected. In the eyes of some, discretion suggests cowardice, but to me, discretion suggests a good command of resources and appropriate application of force to create leverage, thus defeating an enemy. Napoleonic conflict didn’t go out of vogue because it was effective; instead commanders realized the solution was impossible if  there were a finite number of live bodies available. Thus, there was a practical need to change their approach.

If I may appeal to your rational side, if safe practices are really just sucking the life out of you, then try thinking about it from the perspective of your survivors. When you go off half-cocked and do something you think might be “heroic”, the rest of us often have to clean up the resultant mess. You may be off to Valhalla or whatever it is you believe in, but the rest of us earthbound souls have to pick up where you left off, get the kids to school, pay the bills, go to other calls, etcetera, etcetera. Like it or not, when you tap out 5-5-5-5 on us, life goes on down here. If you want valor, talk to a mother supporting several young children on a firefighter death benefit, or those same children who must go on and now won’t get to see Daddy at Christmas.  Those individuals represent valor to me.

Discretion is, in truth, the better part of valor, if you are of the belief that there is more to life than another parking lot. Sometimes it takes more courage to push on. If you can’t see that for yourself, put yourself in the shoes of those who have to deal with the aftermath. If you’re not going to be safe for your own sake, do it for your family.  There’s nothing heroic about making dumb choices.

While the vest-wearers may have a job we don’t like as much, in essence, they are there to protect ourselves from ourselves.  We have to pull back on the reins sometimes and that goes against what some of you all might like, but honestly, we need a much more mature attitude from everyone on the team when it comes to approach of our most dangerous situations.  Like we football coaches say to the youngster who has just done his best T.O. imitation in the end zone: “Act like you’ve been there before.”  If we can all exhibit calm, cool, professional behavior, not only will we conquer every emergency, but we might live to talk about it later.

Posted by on September 20, 2010 • Filed under: change, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Nation, leadership, motivation, officership, planning, professionalism, Training & Development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How Far Outside Your Box? Frontiers Around You

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When this was new, do you think they were saying, "It can't get more modern than this!"

I hate to borrow a line from a commercial, but it got my attention the other day: “People say there aren’t any more frontiers; but there are frontiers all around you.”  The challenge to “think outside the box” was a unique way to describe innovative thinking in the ’80′s, and it was so overdone that everyone cringes when you say that phrase now.  But when you are considering paradigm shifts and defining stretch goals, what better way to say that you are reaching out of the walls that confine your thought?

I was driving down the road the other day and thinking to myself, if there were a way to simply will ourselves from Point A to Point B, like the “Transporter” does on Star Trek, what need for roads?  We wouldn’t need a car.  We wouldn’t need sidewalks, or bridges, or doors for that matter.  Think about being in the road construction business or the bridge building business, or in the auto industry, and one day, there were no need for your service.  Your skill set, once valuable, was useless.  What then?

There are a certain amount of people who advocate EMS as a method to save firefighter jobs when fires cease to happen.  Conversely, there are those who say there will always be a need for firefighters, because fire will always be a problem.  Perhaps instead of limiting our vision to these options, consideration must be made for what will we do to reinvent our industry wholesale.  What if robots could be trained to do our jobs?  I’d bet that as late as ten or twenty years ago there were people in the auto industry who thought that there was no way a robot could produce a decent automobile: Now we have robot-assisted surgery.  How much father off do you think it will be before they are making interior attacks?

Anyone who demonstrates an obsession for the status quo and fails to think about the future with an open mind is only setting the table for their eventual obsolescence. Even what might sound like a stupid idea isn’t always too far-fetched.  If you fail to consider the opportunities, you are missing a piece of the puzzle.

From the technical aspect, you might be able to guess at any number of possible eventualities.  I’m interested in the nuances of leadership and command and what changes are in store for us there.  While many think about the possibility of fighting fire without water or providing radical prehospital medical interventions, perhaps you should consider what would happen if we turned the way we lead upside down.  Or if we were MORE of a military-style agency, like if we were brought into a branch of federal government.  Or if everyone was paid.  Or if everyone was volunteer.  There’s no end to “what if…” because while the first few answers might not be plausible ones, they may lead to a prize-winning innovation.

Instead of making statements, every day you should be asking questions.  And while not all change is good, if you don’t consider the effects of certain factors on your organization as they might occur, you might be surprised when they change despite all your best efforts.  As leaders, if we fail to keep an open mind and reconsider every approach to what it is we do, while we may not fail today, we do a disservice to our organization.  Doing things the same way day after day may seem “good enough”, but if you are caught flatfooted when things change overnight, don’t be surprised if you are left standing in your box while everyone else is running around outside it.  Where are the new frontiers?  They surround you, if you reach far enough.

Posted by on September 14, 2010 • Filed under: change, command, Command & Leadership, education, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, firefighting, Funding & Staffing, government, leadership, motivation, officership, Patient Management, planning, politics, professionalism, rebellion, revolution, Technology & Communications, Training & Development, US&R • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If You Really Believe

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These Chosen Few

The needless deaths of 343 FDNY firefighters on September 11, 2001 touched my life significantly, but obviously not nearly so much as those who were close to these valiant few. Not only were their deaths profoundly tragic, but the unwarranted murder of the law enforcement officers, EMS and civilians, all done under the guise of “religious war”, just go to show that any teaching, regardless of how well-intended, can be twisted into hate and bigotry. The teachings of the Koran can be reconstituted to meet whatever needs some zealot desires, as can the Holy Bible, or any other religious work.

I have always found it interesting that the cowards who promote such extreme acts aren’t the ones strapping on a vest or flying into the side of a building.  But fundamentalist extremists aren’t alone in sending others to their deaths while profiting one way or another from the sacrifice of warriors.  As Sartre observed, “When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die”.

I blogged the other day about Ruth Cranston’s discussion on world religions and how there are more similarities than differences in each of them.  There is a common thread of respect for others, interdependence on community and family, and helping others.  The single-most emotion that overwhelmed me that day was that these courageous firefighters gave their lives to help others and I could identify with that.  As Bruce Springsteen sang in The Rising about these brave men: “Left the house this morning/Bells ringing filled the air/Wearin’ the cross of my calling/On wheels of fire I come rollin’ down here“.  They had no idea what they were about to face, but they did so with the total conviction of our calling, that of a firefighter.  They went with the knowledge that they had to help others and while doing so, if chosen to leave this life and those we all love behind, they would do so.

If we genuinely want to honor those who serve our existence, not only firefighters and law enforcement and EMS and warriors, but anyone who reaches out their hands to another without considering their own safety, we must agitate for meaningful understanding of others and appreciate the differences and perspectives of others.  In any religion I have studied, there is the notion that justice is due to the weak, but we are also not judge, jury, and executioner.  Who are we to say who is really right and wrong?

We have a responsibility to profess our faiths and to educate others; but no religion, in my opinion, has the authority to proclaim that it has the exclusive right of existence at the cost of annihilation of another.  I have my beliefs and am strong in my convictions, but who am I to say I am right and you are wrong?  It takes a certain degree of audacity to suggest that you have all the answers, especially given the fallacy of mankind over the millenia.  We have a much more important role to play and in this, maybe is our test: to see if we can survive this life without killing each other off.

Springsteen went on in The Rising to sing these words: “Spirits above and behind me/Faces gone, black eyes burnin’ bright/May their precious blood forever bind me/Lord as I stand before your fiery light“.  We have a duty and responsibility to honor these brave few, not by tearing each other apart, but by serving one another.  If you want to show your love for these people, find someone who needs help and reach out to them.

These men died doing just that.

Posted by on September 11, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Nation, leadership, LODD, motivation • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Living Up To Chief Croker’s Ideal

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Chief Croker, FDNY

Chief Croker, FDNY; Image from the New York City Fire Museum found on the Croker Fire Drill Corporation website

When Chief Croker suggested that in our choice to become firefighters, the act of professing so made us heroes, and everything after that was in the line of duty, I respectfully take exception to that. We aren’t due heroic respect because we ARE firefighters, we are due this respect when we do the job in the manner of our calling. To maintain that respect requires us to be noble, virtuous, brave, and compassionate. Lacking those, we are just someone who happens to be tagged with a job description we can’t meet. Anyone can put on the uniform. It’s living up to the traditions and expectations of our predecessors that makes us either valiant or heroic.

Suggesting Croker was wrong would be misstating his intent. He was pointing out that the profession, at the time in which he served, was a profession of heroic service. Things haven’t necessarily changed, but taking his quote out of context, which seems like some of those among us seem to do, would be a disservice to all. In this day and age, we have a number of people among us who don’t share Croker’s opinion of “The Job”. I say this because these mutts are quick to quote Croker, insisting that because they are a firefighter, the public should bow down and kiss our collective asses, but these same people fail to recognize reciprocal suggestions of sacrifice or humility or valor, except where they choose it, and on their terms alone.  Saying because you are a “firefighter”, you are a hero, means that even the slimeballs who set fires because they’re “bored” and happen to have filled out a membership somewhere get to hide under the badge as well.  I just don’t buy that.

I’m not hip to those who choose to wrap themselves in the flag of our profession but won’t do anything but criticize others as well.  If some of these trolls really had respect for the job, they’d take the time to mentor and provide positive help for their brothers, rather than subjecting them to public ridicule on a regular basis.  I guess every niche on the internet has a moron drooling on their keyboard, waiting to attack.  When I read some of these comments in places, I just want to let some of them have it with both barrels. I have long learned, however, that doing so would require my lowering myself to their level, and honestly, I’m not interested in that level.  Try being a real professional and setting an example of leadership.  Any idiot can tear something down; it takes skill to build a masterpiece.

There is no reason why insisting on a higher standard for our profession should be indicative of less-than-valiant behavior.  It occurs to me that when someone elevates our expectations anymore, we have someone from the peanut gallery shouting what a real man he is because he doesn’t use incident command, or safety vests, or whatever. Likewise, we have those who think that it’s okay to just plug along with no expectations of excellence whatsoever, and they fail to understand their need to grow, and continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.  You two groups are made for each other.  Leave the rest of us out of it.  Call yourselves something else, because you are giving firefighters a bad name.

I’ve been seeing more and more of the rhetoric lately and much of it coming from a select few. But amazingly enough, I’ve also been seeing more and more people lately choosing to call out the boorish behavior and point out that while we are all capable of making a poor decision, its those of us who find good lessons and earnestly pursue sharing education with others that I choose to call “brother”. I’m proud of you guys and its people like you who deserve the kudos.  You guys are the real heroes among us.

So if you want to strap on your wacker belt and have at it with a someone because they chose to share video that we could all learn from, have at it, Slappy.  While you are portraying yourself as the Nation’s Numero Uno Bombero, the rest of us are quietly toiling away and doing the job.  Perhaps instead of being the best firefighter (because some of you are so infinitely perfect), you can all form a fan club for yourselves and trade war stories.  There’s a term we use for that group that involves an involuntary movement and a geometric figure that I can’t describe on my G to PG-rated blog, so you’ll have to figure it out for yourselves.

In the meanwhile, if you truly want to honor the legacy of Chief Croker and the bar he set for us, you’ll be real heroes.  If you’re a salty vet, you’ll take one of these young bucks aside and show them the ropes.  If you’re the new probie, find a mentor you can respect (and others do as well) and learn at the foot of the master.  In either case, the people I consider exemplifying valor are those individuals who honor the profession and set a positive example for others not only in a burning building, but at the medical calls, doing inspections, dispatching, maintaining apparatus, and every other job necessary to do The Job.

The rest of you special ones who think you’re so great, someday too you may screw up and when you do, you’d better hope everyone else is a little more forgiving.  In case you didn’t know, hubris isn’t a type of shrubbery.  Remember: “Pride goeth before a fall”.  Don’t be the next casualty.

Posted by on September 6, 2010 • Filed under: change, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, In the Line of Duty, leadership, motivation, officership, professionalism, seatbelts, Training & Development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,