What does it take to become the go to guy in the firehouse?  What does it take to step beyond the go to guy and become an "elite" firefighter?  Well, elite firefighters have invested a tremendous amount of time and effort mastering his or her skill set through thousands of hours of training and life experiences. Looking at experience alone, the elite firefighter has often been provided opportunities to succeed from many people who have invested time in said development.  The author Malcomb…

“If everyone on the Team was like me, what kind of Team would it be?”

The above quote is attributed to the Navy SEALs. The question it asks is an important one. Would the Team succeed if everyone was like you? Are you putting your best effort in?

Imagine if there was a sign above the door to your dayroom that said, “If everyone on…

The musings of a confused fireman firefighter

Disclaimer: I am not, have never been, will not be, against any research that can be used to make our job safer. We all know firefighting is ‘inherently dangerous’ because it says so on every piece of equipment we wear. Anything we can do to improve our ability to…

It's great to say you take responsibility for a mistake or to say that you need to improve or make changes.  That's only half the battle though.  You must take meaningful steps and actions to actually correct the mistakes, make the improvements and changes that are needed.  Taking action is the part of taking responsibility and ownership that is hard, not verbalizing them.

I was lucky to have some great officers and leaders influence my career path in the fire service, and in life.  They were always offering sound advice and sharing their experiences. Some I heeded right away and others I had to learn the hard way.  Either way, their words and actions provided me a template to use to work to be a good firefighter and, later on, officer.

Now I have the opportunity to pass along the valuable bits of information that was passed to me along with my own…