Archive for February2009

Trust and Letting Go
February 26, 2009 | change, education, fire service, leadership, motivation, officership, professionalism | Michael "Mick" Mayers | 2 Comments
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I was clearing up from a reported water rescue the other day (turned out to be a false call) and I was reviewing the thoughts that had run through my head on the way to the alarm.  Unfortunately, the 18 years I spent as the special operations officer still causes me to immediately think "special […]

Missed Opportunities
February 16, 2009 | change, customer service, education, fire service, government, leadership, planning, politics, professionalism, revolution | Michael "Mick" Mayers | No Comments
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As a follow-up to my post from the other day about "striking while the iron is hot" in regard to educating others, I wanted to discuss a little bit about opportunity. Ancticipating  that at some point, an opportunity will occur to implement your vision or educate others, good leaders plan for that moment, and await […]

Customer Education
February 14, 2009 | customer service, education, funding, government, leadership, planning, politics, professionalism | Michael "Mick" Mayers | 1 Comment

Every time I hear someone use the term "fireproof", it makes me think of something my dad (a retired Fire Marshal) used to say: "Nothing is fireproof; a cinderblock at the bottom of the ocean will burn if you can get it to the right temperature." When you hear people refer to SCBA as our […]

Planning for US&R Teams
February 11, 2009 | funding, government, leadership, National Fire Academy, planning, politics, SAR, US&R | Michael "Mick" Mayers | No Comments
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I was sharing some information with a colleague tonight and I realized that perhaps some of you reading might like access to this research as well.  This is my paper on Developing a Strategic Plan for the South Carolina Urban Search and Rescue Program. It is a pretty lengthy read (115 pages) but if you […]

It’s a Zen Thing
February 3, 2009 | change, fire service, Firefighter Nation, General, leadership, motivation, officership, professionalism | Michael "Mick" Mayers | No Comments

This isn't a very insightful post, but in light of the outstanding traffic we have been getting now with links on Dave Statter's STATter 911 blog, FireGeezer.com (at least they promised the link this week), FireRescue1.com's The Kitchen Table, and of course, the fine people (Dave) over at FirefighterNation.com who got me started in this endeavor, I […]