You Can’t Force It: Are you leading by example, or are you just in charge?
By Scott Cook

It’s that time of year again: The FireRescue magazine staff and board just selected the 2009 Company Officer of the Year. The list of candidates this year was loaded with people who’ve really made a difference, not just in their crew, but in their department and their community.

They’re not like Capt. Frank. Note: Although Capt. Frank is a real person, and this is a true story, I’ve changed the names to protect the firefighters’ identities. As well, I’m sure that plenty of you out there know the type of company officer or, worse, chief officer discussed here.

To set the scene for you without getting too specific, Capt. Frank is a career firefighter and company officer at a multi-station fire department that also provides EMS service in a city of 50,000+ here in Texas. Each station has an ambulance staffed by career firefighter/paramedics who rotate different shifts between the engine, ladder and medic.

A good friend of mine is a firefighter/paramedic at that same department; in fact, I have a few friends over there, so I know a bit about Capt. Frank. And, as many of us, I’ve worked for the type.

A Typical Day
Capt. Frank is the kind of company officer who, well, you just really don’t want to work with (or as Frank sees it, work for). His crew speaks in hushed tones when Capt. Frank abandons his designated chair in the dayroom and ventures out into the station to make sure the day’s duties are being done by his subordinates—or to eavesdrop on conversations. You’ll note that I didn’t to refer to them as his firefighters, as that is not how he treats them. He treats them as subordinates.

Capt. Frank does not allow his subordinates staffing the medic for that shift—the same firefighters who on a different shift would be on the engine or the ladder—to sit in the dayroom and watch TV, or visit, or take a break, until he invites them. They’re required to stay in the kitchen if they’re not in the apparatus bay working or responding to calls. They can use the office to do paperwork if necessary.

At dinnertime, the medics must sit at the dinner table with their backs to the TV so that Capt. Frank can watch it. If he’s feeling generous, he lets his engine crew watch too!

Next shift, these same firefighters will have rotated off the medic. One of them will chauffeur Capt. Frank around in the shiny fire engine, and one of them will sit in the back as a firefighter. And two other firefighter/paramedics will have to sit in the kitchen.

Setting an Example
Capt. Frank’s crew doesn’t respect him. He has a lot of years in as a firefighter, and to be fair, I hear he’s good at the firefighting part of the job. But as a company officer, he could use some recalibration; maybe some leadership training would help too. But Frank thinks he already knows everything he needs to know, so probably not.
Capt. Frank likes to remind people that he’s the boss.

And to his credit, he is teaching the next generation of company officers a valuable lesson if they’ll just watch, listen and learn. And that lesson is how NOT to be a good company officer.

If you’ve read some of my other columns on leadership, you’ll know that I firmly believe that—with few exceptions— if you have to remind people that you’re in charge, you’re not leading them. In light of the story of Capt. Frank, I’m going to further clarify my position: If you must throw your weight around to remind people that you’re in charge, you’re not a leader. You’re just a bully with seniority.

Scott Cook is the former chief of the Granbury (Texas) Volunteer Fire Department and a fire service instructor. He’s also a member of FireRescue’s editorial board.