We tend to think that one set of characteristics is independent of the other, when in fact, there are those who have learned to develop all of these qualities. Rhett Fleitz, over on Fire Critic, posed the question, “Who will be our new leaders in the fire service?” Who are tomorrow’s Brunos and Yvarras? Our Downeys and Dunns? The Brennans and the Brannigans? What did these people possess that we, perhaps, do not?

Maybe things like charisma, or an innate knowledge of what ideas stick and how to sell them to others? Or perhaps it is simply a passion for their ideas? Is it that they cared for others so much that they were/are compelled to share all of their riches, which in their cases were their vision of something better than the status quo?

If you look at my list, you’ll note that some of those names are no longer with us and some still are. While legends may grow after someone passes away, none of the individuals identified in my short list became legendary only after their demise. In fact, when they left us, they were very much in the leading edge. Those on the list who are still among us, although retired, are still sharing their passion with us today. They could easily have gone to hang out at the pool and sip Mimosas, but they still can be heard and seen, sharing their vision, and probably will up to the day they too leave us (hopefully nowhere near soon).

When you think about who these new visionaries are, do you say to yourself that they should be instruments of conveying today’s knowledge or are they those who share the idea of what it could be if we all apply ourselves? Because of today’s ability to reach out over the internet, I’d suggest there may be more “candidates” for those “positions”, simply because we were limited, in the early days of my career, to those who were able to come to me, or I to them. Now you can find an expert on every click of the mouse.

What constitutes the next leader of the fire service? Which qualities break someone out from the pack? You tell me. As far as I am concerned, we have lots of leaders now, and we have none. We should all be reaching out to exceed even what we perceive is our potential, understanding that the only limitations we possess are the ones we have given ourselves or gave permission to others to place on us. Until we can look past what is and look toward what can be, we will remain right here in our own existence. As Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” If you want to be the next leader, it’s yours to reach out and grab.

Clear.

I was seated at Mass when a young lady sat next to me on the pew.  Caroline was in my lap.  In the middle of Mass, the twenty-something girl pulled out a Blackberry and began to text.  While I at first mistakenly believed that maybe she was just texting something like “Don’t bother me, I’m at Mass” or shutting off the phone, she instead continued to text throughout the entire service, as well as hold a conversation with her friend next to her.  I guess it’s possible that she was drunk at 0900 on a Sunday morning, but I doubt it, so that just leaves pure stupidity.

Needless to say, I moved Caroline to the other side of me as to shield her from the burns that would certainly come when a bolt of lightning struck so close by.  God must have been in a particularly benevolent mood that day (but then again, no one gets hit by lightning that really deserves it, no matter how hard we wish it) and she escaped unharmed, free to annoy for another day.

While I have resolved not to let things like this affect my whole day, there’s no amount of understanding that I can summon that enables me to accept this as appropriate behavior.  But I digress; my example was actually to point out that levels of passion about certain aspects of our lives will be different based on our life experiences and our values, and as such, so much of what we do to make us more successful really depends on how much passion we devote to it.

And while I may not ever understand what the purpose of the girl going to Mass that day actually was, you can’t convince me that she got anything out of being there.  Was it the act of “checking the box” that caused her to attend church that day?  If she was raised to believe that showing your face at Mass was simply enough to say you attended church that week,  by definition, I suppose she scored.  But from the aspect of her seriousness about being there, like maybe to pray a little, even to check out what everyone else was wearing on Sunday morning, she was pretty much oblivious.

So my question is, “What are you really getting out of what it is you are doing?”  Are we just going through the motions to do what is expected of us, or are we devoting a certain amount of energy to the event?  If we don’t have a certain amount of passion about what it is we do, how can we expect to create any excitement about what it is we do in order to motivate the people willing to follow us?  If all we are doing is showing up to collect the paycheck or to feed our ego, we aren’t doing anybody any good. We aren’t being true to ourselves and we certainly can’t expect that we are leading others.

I spoke in other blog posts about my observations of Bruce Springsteen, my wife Kathleen, my friend Firuz – and of the passion they had for their own vision, to elevate what it is they do to art form.  I know firefighters who are just there from 0800 to 0800 and would much rather be doing something else.  And obviously if you’d rather be laying around, or hiking, or getting drunk, or something like that, career opportunities are pretty limited for those fields, but you should also understand that having a job supports your ability to engage in those activities.  When the job ends, so does the lifestyle.

But Firehouse Zen as a whole isn’t addressed to those who just want to punch the clock, especially since I doubt that many of them can read anyway.  This entire blog, if you have wandered here unexpectedly, is about leading in an ever-changing world, and how to be that transformative leader the masses look up to.

To me, however, the difference between passion and zealotry is that passion isn’t all-consuming.  There is certainly more to live than non-stop adoration, but if that adoration is bringing you that much closer toward total enlightenment, then maybe you’re onto something.

There are times we have to do certain things well that we’d much rather not be doing.  I am not the least bit passionate about taking out the trash or cleaning out the garage, but there are things that must be done and require doing.  My oldest daughter will sit at the table with four bites of something she doesn’t want and I keep trying to reason with her, that if she simply ate them quickly, she’d be done and moving on with her life, but it’s like trying to reason with a cinder block.  But what I have also told her is that if you have to do something you’d rather not be doing, at least have fun with it.  Get motivated about the task, understand the task, and make it happen.

So being a zealot isn’t the answer, and being a lump isn’t either, and in my eyes, passion sits closer to zealotry in the grand scheme of things, but isn’t quite there.  And I think you would all agree that being passionate about our job is necessary to achieve success.  It’s the question of what we want to do.  What is our vision of success?

We all have to remember, being a success isn’t defined by being the boss.  Plenty of people are happy and successful as middle managers or workers, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.  We can’t all be leaders in the sense of being the head honcho, but we can be leaders in that we set positive examples for others and provide an excellent service.  Whether you are the lowest grunt on the totem pole or the CEO, leading goes hand-in-hand with that passion for what you do.  That passion can be infectious; if people like where you are going and like what they see, they will follow you whether you like it or not.

Don’t just go through the motions.  We can all make our world a better place by leaning forward and putting extra effort into everything we do.  Build value in our actions and we will be seen to be more valuable.  But don’t plan on going anywhere soon if you can’t drum up at least a little excitement about what you think is important.

A few years ago, I was paid one of the highest compliments I ever experienced from a fellow fire service professional.  I was first beginning to blog and this professional said that he wanted to get to know me better because ANOTHER fire service professional who had read my posts told him that I was “someone who gets IT”.  I was pleased to hear this, but it piqued my curiosity as to what was truly “IT”.

So what is “IT” with a capital I-T?  In my opinion, IT is the headwaters, the origin, the core.  The first chapter of the Tao Te Ching describes IT as being the “unnamable source”:

The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao

The name that can be named is not the eternal name

The unnamable is the eternally real.

Naming is the origin of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.

Caught in desire, you only see the ramifications.

Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source.

This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.

The gateway to all understanding.

I was honored to visit with an importer of fine rugs, rugs that transcend flooring; rugs that are truly art form.  As we sat together on stacks of his family’s recent creations, I interviewed him about the origins of 200-plus year old rugs that surrounded us, accompanied by pictures of great-grandfathers and grandfathers gone by.  The rugs on his walls said more about the craftsmanship and artistry of a century of skilled designers than the many awards, in fact, the most in the industry, gracing his foyer.

I happened to attend a concert by a musician who, even after his 60^thbirthday, refuses to mail it in.  I have seen thirteen of his performances over 10 years and I have never seen him take a five minute break while playing over three hour sets and jumping, sliding, running, cheering, etc.  His work ethic, he has said, can be directly attributed to his love for what he does and the examples of his working class parents.  He knew from early on he wanted to be a rock musician.  In fact, in his autobiography by Dave Marsh, he is credited with knowing as early as high school what exactly it was he wanted to do, how he committed his efforts to learning his craft.  His mother, knowing how much he wanted this, bought him a guitar when he was sixteen, which was a major sacrifice on her part.  Talk about return on investment.

A woman who, undeterred by others with less vision, put together a company to reflect her exacting eye for detail and has been considered a leader not only in her industry, but in her community as well.  Despite the lack of effort put in by others around her, she would stay at work until eight or nine in the evening trying to keep the company afloat.  She did this not out of necessity (other than keeping her job, as she had no financial stake in the company), but out of loyalty and a desire to help her colleagues remain employed.  When it was just painfully obvious that no matter what her effort, the owner would not regard her with the respect he gave to yes-men and poor performers, she left with no protection and established her own enterprise.  She is now employing others and giving to others through her efforts and her company is considered to be a standard of excellence.

Although I know only the stage persona of the musician and the rug importer has been an acquaintance for years, I know the woman as my wife, Kathleen.  In watching and somewhat studying each, I find that there are some constants in their success; those of an incredible work ethic, a devotion to what they do as art form, and a dedication to doing what is good and right in contrast to those who only do for themselves.  They also have high standards for themselves and hold themselves and the others around them to that ideal, and in doing so, elevate everyone close to them.

People become good at what they do as a result of passion.  They choose to learn all about that part of their lives and focus on learning about what is considered good and right in their profession and they know to avoid the things that are not.  They don’t associate with the things that are considered amateurish or petty, but live in the now and they note what is new and innovative, and they reject that which is not, or they weave it into something revolutionary.

When you chose this thing, firefighting, as a calling, be it career or volunteer, did it seem to be something to pass the time or was it something to invest in – and by investing, mean your time, your patience, and your passion?  Do you find yourself now in the ranks of the unconsciously competent, doing the job so well that you are on a whole other playing field than others? If so, maybe you have finally reached the unknowable, but if you are like me, you probably find yourself a lifetime student of the game.

“IT” is the unknowable, the unreachable, but it is the usefulness of the darkness.  It wants to be filled and even like in a cave, where you shine in a light, that light only illuminates what you happen to be looking at.  Yet there is the whole rest of the cave, the outer reaches unable to be covered by the light, and even with more light, there will continue to be the areas covered in shadow.  To completely illuminate the cave and to see everything is going to require an entirely amazing amount of light that we probably can’t even imagine, and even then, there will be dark places.

When you get “IT”, you understand that.  You know that there will always be more to learn and no matter what amount of light you bring in, there will still be more to learn and different sources to learn it from.  There is a certain amount of humility in someone who understands this, because they know that even in the least likely places, they might find more to comprehend.  Continue to remain open to all and you might begin to see anew.