Our world is filled with commentary on politics, ethics and social conduct. Society is fixated on "What is best?" "What is worst?"  "What is right?" "What is wrong?" "What is new and improved?" Our lives are spent trying to compete and climb our way to the top, wherever that is. Ego and pride continue to be evident in the poor decisions made by politicians, celebrities, the wealthy, and "leaders" in general. Self is placed above the needs of others on a daily basis and the world is much harsher as a result.

To correct this we must increase human compassion. Society revels in the advances made in science and technology, yet remains blind to our responsibility to our fellow man.  While there are those who continue to grab more and more, there are increasing numbers of those who have less and less. Instead of engaging in the race for greatness, we should be willing to work for goodness.

The warrior entered the shrine and offered a prayer, then came forth and tossed a coin. Heads appeared, and his soldiers were so eager to fight that they won their battle easily.  "No one can change the hand of destiny," his attendant told him after the battle.

"Indeed not," said the warrior, showing a double headed coin. "The battle was already won in our minds. We simply required action to fulfill that destiny."

Half the battle, in many cases, requires looking past potential failure and being present to create change.

As leaders, we need to consider the result of our thoughts on what becomes the product.  What we say and do, and what we fail to say and do, not only impacts our own existence, but the existence of others as their worlds bump up against our own.

We are not alone in this existence.  We should approach every action with mindful consideration, realizing that every action also has a reaction. These actions and reactions are even more profound when they are directed at others.  Thus, positive leadership defines not only our own world, but creates positivity in the worlds of those who surround us.  Remember that positivity can cascade to others and so can negativity as well.  If you desire positivity, create a force of positive action and the result will be positive reaction. 

By opening her eyes and realizing that there were people sharing her experience and reassuring her through the process of the change, she took a good look at her new perpective and understood the additions to her environment were good ones.  She could see many more things, the breeze was delightful, and we were all around her.  She took a leap of faith, unsure of what opening her eyes would entail, and found a whole new world.

Change, often enough, requires risk.  There is the risk of danger and harm, but more often than not, it is the risk that things will not be the way they once were, which is uncomfortable and scary in its own right.  Let go of the past and look forward.  You can't improve on what was, but you can always make the future better by being there for it.

“Thus the intelligent think because of this; the mettlesome fight because of this: Where you see the enemy to be empty, proceed; where you see the enemy to be full, stop. Do not look down on others because of your own elevated rank. Do not oppose the common consensus with personal opinions. Do not turn from the loyal and trustworthy through the artifices of the skilled but treacherous. Do not sit down before the soldiers sit; do not eat before the soldiers eat. Bear the same cold and heat the soldiers do; share their toil as well as their ease. Experience sweetness and bitterness just as the soldiers do; take the same risks that they do. Then the soldiers will exert themselves to the utmost, and it will be possible to destroy enemies.

Advance and retreat are a matter of timing- military affairs are not directed by the ruler but by the general.  Therefore, in war, there is no heaven above, no earth below, no adversary ahead and no ruler behind.  If generals can be like this, people will be willing to fight when they give the orders, and the enemy will be defeated before any blood is shed.  Look upon your soldiers as beloved children, and they will willingly die with you.”

Even if, after serious introspection, we find ourselves to be in the right, the act of looking at our argument from another perspective can provide us with insight to help win the minds of others.  If you can understand the conflict from the eyes of the adversary, it too can help us to understand our own desires, strengths and weaknesses. 

If you think about it, the side that serves the best interest of the community is the side you should be taking.  The only people  permitted to define the "good guys" should be the people who are paying the bill.  If what you are doing doesn't serve the best interests of the public, then you are working against the mission.  Make it about the people you serve and you will win every time.

Seven days until the 2010 Hilton Head Island Buddy Walk! (Saturday, October 30) Make your plans to attend from 3 to 5 PM, behind The Mall at Shelter Cove, Hilton Head Island, SC

Buddy Walks are held all over the nation to educate about Down syndrome and ours is no different.  Our organization, Caroline & Friends, is a little different however, because we are not a traditional support group but an advocacy and education organization.  Through our website right now, and supplemented by literature in the future, we continue to look for best practices in research and therapies to help families point their loved ones with Down syndrome toward achieving their full potential.   This is our fifth annual Buddy Walk and we continue to grow in size, but we have a lot of fun and there’s food, music, and trick-or-treating out there.

If you happen to know of a family who wants more information on what’s being done out there, or just wants to talk to another person who has been through the experience, point them toward the site.  If you happen to be on Hilton Head Island next Saturday, I will be the one running around coordinating things, wearing the orange t-shirt that says, “Caroline’s Dad”.  I hope to see you there.

If you search this blog for discussion about leading with values (I even linked the search to make it easy for you),  you’ll see that values were specifically mentioned in at least eight articles, not to mention all of the other times values were a peripheral part of the discussion.   Like it or not, organizational values define organizational culture.  These values help guide you in times when hard decisions must be made under ambiguous situations.  When organizations lack defined values, or personnel don’t understand them as the gospel truth, they don’t always reflect those values when challenged. If you have never implicitly discussed your organizational values, your personnel will revert to whatever values conform with those of the group (think “B” Shift) or scarier, their own beliefs (which you have no ability to predict).

While the article by Chris suggests that the Rules should be concise and bulletized in format, it is in that suggestion related to firefighting that I see these “rules” as reflecting our values in considering the risky nature of engaging with a particularly dangerous enemy.  I challenge each of you to read more about this and ask yourself, as well as your leaders, questions that help refine what to do in those emergency situations, especially as they involve our own organizations.

While we value the service we provide to our customers as being our highest calling, there comes a defining moment where we must place the welfare of our troops at a higher level, especially when it comes down to fighting a “lost cause”.  I am willing to personally take a calculated risk to save lives, but I am NOT willing to take a risk personally, or to expose each of you to a risk for the sake of a body recovery or to fight a structure that will be written off anyway.  I am as aggressive as they come when it comes to firefighting, but I value my personnel higher than any property, and I think we all need to think that way about how we choose to engage at these incidents.

But it is in this that the problem is apparent; we have made a decision to discuss our values in regard to emergency operations, but have we defined our organizational values when they come to day-to-day operations?  In many departments, the over-arching statement seems to be, “Use common sense and logic when it comes to making decisions”.

While I agree one-hundred percent with that statement (and that approach may very well save your life some day on an emergency scene), when we have recruits (and in that, I’m lumping Juniors, new volunteer members, etc.) making value-based decisions on day-to-day things (like when they are unsupervised or in situations where they are asked to show initiative), have we really done a good job of reinforcing our belief system to them and demonstrating a positive example by living those values ourselves?

Take setting fires, for example.  While we (and society) continually insist that firefighters setting fires is wrong, is the culture around your organization such that going to fires and “fighting the red devil” is more important than community service?  Is it more apt to say that personnel walk around moping about the loss of call volume?  Are members who seek to demonstrate their commitment to the community challenged by the lack of calls to demonstrate that commitment?  Why is it that we are in this business, anyway?  If the answer is to run around in a uniform and drive fast down the road with lights and sirens on, well, we all know that only represents a finite amount of our jobs (and it’s not like I want someone who thinks that’s a good reason to be an emergency service provider anyway).

While it seems pretty intuitive that setting fires is a bad thing, when you are dealing with people who already have a less-than-mature attitude and a challenge to their belief system, you set yourself up for disaster.  If you really want to avoid this type of incident occurring in your organization, one of the basic things that should be done is to engage personnel in activities OTHER than fighting fires/running calls.  If you want to find out how committed these personnel are to the community, give them day-to-day assignments that include non-emergency prevention or participation duties- just have them man an engine and go show the flag at the local high school football game, or go spray water for the kids on a hot day.  Anything to have them prove their worth OTHER than running hot and exerting their “auth-or-it-tie” (it always loses something unless you hear Cartman saying it).

Organizations who find themselves struggling to recruit or to get people to do their jobs must evaluate if there is a gap between what the leadership defines as valued behavior and what the membership (or potential membership) defines as a valued behavior.  If there is a gap, someone had better define the expectations, or the expectation will be that everyone is entitled to define the organizational mission according to his or her own needs.  If that is the case, I’d expect to be reading about you on STAT911 or Firegeezer some morning soon, and not in a good way.

The chief of department, when he has a sexy project, isn’t going to come hunting you down unless he is familiar with your track record.  If you are some firefighter toiling away in obscurity at your designated “vacation station”, no matter how clever and innovative you think you are, the choice projects aren’t going to you.  Why should they?  The chief knows there’s a dozen guys who will kill for this opportunity; why search someone out and reward them with the plum assignment?

If you want those good assignments, you are going to have to sniff out and handle some unpopular ones first.  If you can prove your worth on one of those, the next time a less-horrible project comes up, you could possibly end up on the list for that.  If you handle THAT one well, expect a bump up on the list.  This is called developing political capital.  It spends, just like money.  As you gain this capital, what is really happening is that you are building a relationship between you and the chief, and the relationship is evidenced in the trust he has that you will be the right one for that challenging, but rewarding position.

I don’t care who you are, how long you have worked here, or how smart you think you are, if you can’t handle a small assignment, why should I stake my reputation on whether or not you are reliable, and the only way I can know that is by having some evidence in my pocket.

Can’t get the powers that be to feed you even the most lousy of projects?  Go out in the community and make yourself valuable.  By that, I mean, find some non-profit or civic group and join up.  These guys are ALWAYS looking for able bodied people, especially those who want to help for free.  For FREE? That’s what I said.  This, however, is an investment you are making.

The experience you gain from managing projects in the community will pay you back multi-fold, and in addition, you build up people in your network, people that later in your career you will be comfortable calling up directly on the phone and having a conversation with them.  A genuine conversation, not, “Hi, remember me?  Can I get you to give me a reference…?”

When opportunity comes knocking, if you aren’t prepared by being qualified to be the one to take it, don’t expect everyone to be knocking down your door to appoint you the next best thing since sliced bread.