HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D., MIFireE

In the world of my youth, radio was a very important part of the Carter family household. For you see, we did not acquire a television until around 1952. I can remember listening to such classic shows as The Shadow, Fibber McGee and Mollie, as well as The Lone Ranger. But it is the opening line of the old show, Gangbusters, which sticks out most of all. A dispatcher could be heard over the sound of machine guns and sirens shouting, "… calling all cars, calling all cars."

The object of that announcer’s delivery was to grab your attention and hold it so that you would become a loyal listener. It must have worked, because not only did we listen to that show on the radio, but our entire family followed it when it went over to television in the early years of TV’s Golden Era.

It is for that reason that I start this week’s missive to the masses with the plaintive call, "… calling all leaders, calling all leaders." For you see, we are on the verge of yet another new year, a fresh 365-day period to achieve great things on behalf of the fire service.

For the 54^th time in my life, I stand on the doorstep of a fresh start. That’s right gang. As citizens of a free society, each of us has the opportunity on any given day to change the ways in which we think, act, and operate. What better time to consider changing how you approach life than at the dawn of a new and exciting year?

I would like to think that each of us starts with a clean slate on January 1^st of each successive year, but this is not really true. Many of you are unable to do this. You are tied so strongly to the past, and its time worn errors, that you cannot face the clean slate with a fresh piece of chalk. This is sad, it is almost as though you live each moment, fearful of any sort of change. Face the facts gang, we are not shoveling coal into the firebox of our steamers any longer. We are not charging out of the front door behind our faithful horses.

However, many of our fire departments are being led by Chiefs who seem to go out of their way to do a reasonable impersonation of the southbound end of a northbound horse. The flood of negative e-mails continues week in and week out. It would appear that many of you operate as though your entire life is scribbled onto that slate board of time with a permanent ink marker. You appear to live your lives with a certain slavish devotion to poor leadership.

Some of you think that you are real cute. How can Harry know what I am doing, you ask? I am the chief of a small town fire department, what business is it of his how I run my show? Do not think that you can surprise me. I have worked with too many people who graduated from the Gestapo School of Human Relations. Check the calendar folks. The year that we are about to enter is 2001. For even you die hard traditionalists who put off celebrating the millennium until midnight on December 31, 2000, times up gang. Many of you are entering the true new century with a mindset that smacks of the year 1900. You know who you are. In the midst of a crowd of reasonable people, you step forward and say, "… I am a leadership lout." And the saddest part of this may be that you do not know any better.

This is happening because you are a product of your environment. You do what you do because you are mimicking the people that you watched as you grew to a position of organizational maturity. Sad to say, you probably selected the wrong role models from an early age. It is possible that you might be one of those children who read the fairy tale, The Emperor’s New Set of Clothes, and thought that the old guy ended up with a great set of kingly gear. Or it might be possible that when you were enjoying that movie classic, The Wizard of Oz, you rooted for the Wicked Witch of the East.

Worse yet, some of you apparently loved the work of the Wizard of Oz himself, as he labored away behind the curtain. I say this because a lot of you seem to revel in the smoke and mirrors of appearing to run a fire department. In this way you can hide from the troops, rather than getting down to the daily nuts and bolts of putting the rigs on the road.

Now that I have identified you, what are some of the things that you are doing incorrectly? First, and foremost, you are not taking responsibility for your actions. The entire thrust of your administration seems to revolve around a witch hunt. You appear to know precious little regarding personal accountability, but find it easy to quote thick volumes about assessing blame.

Let me lay it out for you in terms that are understandable. You are the coach of the team. If the team is not doing well, you cannot blame the water boy for the loss because he brought warm water to the ball game. It may be that your choice of play selection was bad, or that you failed to drill the troops on execution. In any event, as the coach you have to accept the responsibility.

You are also the guys and gals who have absolutely no respect for your department personnel as people. You demonstrate this frequently, by such terrible exhibitions as yelling at your troops in front of other fire chiefs and fire departments. You constantly belittle your troops and then wonder why things aren’t going well for you and your fire department.

A classic example of this nonsense occurred at a recent major fire in my area. It seems that a mutual aid chief officer took great pains to yell at one of his subordinates in front of the staff at the command post. My spies have told me that this overly bloated moron was yelling at the man for not donning his turnout gear and SCBA fast enough to suit him. What makes it a classic goof-blunder is that the guy was not even wearing his own gear. I believe that this may qualify for submission to the Do As I Say, Not As I Do Hall of Fame.

I am amazed at how many times I have written the words to the Biblical Golden Rule, with seemingly little impact. But since we are going for a New Year’s Day Resolution sort of commentary here, let us try one more time. Here is the original and a couple of appropriate permutations to meet our own specific fire service needs:

1. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.
2. Treat people like you would like them to treat you.
3. Meet each good deed with a like good deed in return.

Unfortunately, there are a number of people out there who just do not get it when it comes to being a good leader and supervisor. There are some Not-So-Golden Rules that you appear to be following.

1. Yell at others in front of strangers, even if you are unwilling to accord them a similar organizational privilege.
2. Blame others, even as you would never have them place blame at your doorstep.
3. One should smooch the Mayor’s butt, as you would have him (or her) smooch yours in return.
4. Make no decision that can be blamed on a subordinate.
5. It is important to treat everyone exactly the same, because every person is exactly the same.
6. All men (people) are created equal, after that some of them give up. Many of them will work for you.

I realize that a number of my preceding terms and phrases might seem a bit rough to you. But remember that there are some people in leadership positions who do not respond well to subtlety and innuendo. So I apply the whip when warranted.

However there is nothing that requires that a poor leader has to live and die in a state of organizational unworthiness. As I stated at the beginning of this commentary, we are all on the threshold of another year. What better time to wipe the slate clean and embark on a new way of doing business? How about a few tips to help you make those first tentative steps in the direction of correction? Here are a few you may try (or you may offer them to your boss anonymously on everyone else’s behalf):

1. When you return to work on Tuesday January 2, 2001, say thank you to someone for something.
2. The first time that someone asks you what you think, surprise them and think.
3. Delegate the first big decision you face in 2001. And I don’t mean what do you want in your coffee.
4. Try listening when people talk to you.

Since I do not want to create organizational cranial vapor lock and perhaps damage some of our older, non-thinking officers, I offered only four tasks to try out. As Confucius was fond of stating, "… the journey of 10,000 miles begins with a single step."

Remember folks, January 1 is the date that I asked you to set in your mind. And guess what, you do not even need to leave home to get started on your quest to be a better leader and supervisor. The National Fire Academy has created an Independent Study Program course for those of you who decide to become better leaders, but who cannot get away to study at that fine institution. Simply go to www.usfa.fema.gov/nfa/ and click on the Fire Service Supervision Independent Study Course link. In this way, it is my suggestion that you can begin to make an affirmative change in your leadership life, without having to leave town.

Please accept my best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year. And if the spirit within my writing moves you, begin to change the way you do business. I ask this on behalf of the thousands of brave and dedicated fire people who toil in the trenches of municipal fire protection. They could do great works, if their leaders would just let them. How about it?

The commentary in this column does not necessarily reflect those of Firehouse.Com, Firehouse Magazine, their employees or parent company Cygnus Business Media. Harry R. Carter, Ph.D., MIFireE, is an internationally known municipal fire protection consultant and contributing editor to Firehouse Magazine. He recently retired as a Battalion Commander with the Newark, New Jersey Fire Department. His commentary appears regularly on Firehouse.Com. For more commentary and information, visit Carter's web site at www.harrycarter.com Harry has published several books available for online ordering, including Firefighting Strategy and Tactics and Management in the Fire Service