Over the Christmas holiday, a drive-by gunman shot and wounded a Jacksonville, FL firefighter. With the recent law enforcement killings and given the hate that has been fueled in the past weeks, it doesn’t come as a surprise to me. All of the incidents in recent years toward firefighters are going to start becoming more commonplace […]
It wasn’t long before a few of the crazy ones took instruction from the hate being spewed by the ignorant. While there are others, in just this weekend, three police officers (two NYPD, one in Florida who ironically, was originally NYPD) have been executed for just being police officers.  Not because of their viewpoints.  Not because they posed […]
The sign in front of one of the churches was advertising that “Prophet John Doe” [name changed for obvious reasons] was going to be holding a revival.  I wondered: “What are the job requirements for being a prophet? ” I kind of liked the idea of having the title “Prophet” in front of my name.  I […]
The useful part of a wheel is not the wheel or the spokes, but the hole where all the spokes meet. We have to look past the obvious and turn to the esoteric; despite what we see, it’s deeper than that. Logical solutions exist to every problem, but the emotional mind fights those solutions because they aren’t, […]
You simply can’t plan for everything. Â We do try to make our scenes safer, but conditions change, or situations are presented where we can’t even imagine how they came to be. Â How many people considered that individuals would try to bring down the World Trade Center, not once, but twice, succeeding in the end and […]
Recently I have undergone Lasik surgery to “enhance” my vision.  I’m very happy with the result, although there were some adjustments that had to be made.  Sight has always been an important sense to me.  As someone who trained as an graphic artist and photographer, as a writer, and in the things I enjoy doing, my […]
One group hails it as proof of the science. Â The other, the “pussification” of the fire service. Â There are those who say, “This isn’t new stuff, we were taught this years ago.” Â Others say, “This is cutting edge knowledge.” Â It seems that there are as many who want to assail the tactic of exterior streams […]
I happened to be able to enjoy a day listening and learning from Curt Varone this week, as he visited our department and we spoke about the ethics of leading. The discussion happened to tie in with some observations on communicating that I have made lately with my coursework.  Ethical principles should guide our business and […]
You may not be familiar with Dr. Bruce Tuckman’s 1965 article, Developmental Sequence in Small Groups, but you are probably aware of the end result: The “Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing†model embraced by many as the cycle teams experience as they go from infancy to becoming high-performing assets. This article left out a very […]
We see it in the lack of leadership exhibited in some departments and it is prevalent in the business world as well. In today’s marketplace, the difference between effective managers and those who become sidelined before hitting their peak has a lot to do with the way in which they motivate and inspire their followers. Traditional […]
The new reality for leadership is that traditionally-run organizations, as they focus on control and rigidity, lose the ability to move fast and think on their feet, demotivating innovative and creative thinkers, and creating morale issues that are hard to shake.  Even the military recognized these issues as they evolved some teams into joint forces, realizing that […]
In doing some research for a paper, I was reading about the difference between effective managers and those who become sidelined before hitting their peak.  While it might seem obvious that it has a lot to do with the way in which they motivate and inspire their followers, I still see traditional methods of “leading†[…]