A Better Leader in 2009

Take a fresh look at who we are, where we're at now, and where we want to be

By Billy Schmidt

I’m taking a little turn off course from my usual Firefighting-360 column that focuses on crew resource management. The next topic was supposed to be about multi-tasking, and how it affects our work and safety. But since we’re beginning another new year, I thought I would take this opportunity to throw a few words out about leadership, actually another important element of CRM, and some ways to help us do it a little better.

With the world in such transition, especially in the United States where we will soon have a new team of leaders coming in, it’s easy to take a fresh look at who we are, where we’re at now, and where we want to be. This can help us to make changes that will benefit each of us and the people around us, today and tomorrow. Our current situation can make it easier for us to try new ways of doing things (processes) or to develop new ways to think about our careers (attitudes) and how it fits with our life’s purpose, or where we really want to be. This current sense of urgency to move in a different direction (change) can be the spark that ignites our own reinvention, as a leader in all parts of our lives.

It would make sense, then, especially at the beginning of a new year, to take a moment to shed some light on what’s really important to us as a leader. In his book, Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life, Stewart Friedman refers to this as “being real.” He believes that leaders need to look at what’s really important because it’s the foundation for how we build who we are as a leader and how we create a path to where we want to go. Here are three real points that Friedman suggests that we consider:

Remember who you really are and where you came from. Sit down for a moment and think about your life’s history, and identify three or four specific events that changed your life and made you who you are today. Think of it as watching a movie trailer of your life. Watch your story closely and identify the impact of each event on your personal behavior, including your values and beliefs. How did it change you? In what direction did it send you? How did it affect your life and the people around you?

Identify your own personal vision of where you want to go as a leader. Laurie Beth Jones, author of The Path, says that a vision statement is the end result of whom or where you want to be. It’s a picture of how you’ll look once you’re there. So it’s important that you create a statement of your personal leadership vision providing a look at your long-range, short-term, and near-term successes. It will help the most if your vision is an image that is achievable and inspires. Your vision should depict the leader that you want to be. Write your vision story down (make it visual) so you’ll know where you want to be, describing the path that will lead you there.

Take a look at the four domains of your life (self, home, work, and community) to make sure that you’re focusing on the right stuff. Time to watch another movie of yourself, this time focusing your attention on the four domains of your life: yourself, your home life, your life at work, and your community involvement. How do you manage your time? What are your priorities? This will help you identify what you’ve been paying the most attention to in your life. It also helps you assess if you’re really doing what you want to be doing, with the people you want to be doing it with. Write down each domain and indicate how satisfied you are with how things are going in each one (putting it on paper makes it real). This will provide you with a snapshot of where you currently are. Now compare it with your vision (the one you wrote down), reflecting on what’s really important to you and who or where you really want to be.

Change is inevitable and change is good. Take some time to revisit who you are, where you’re at now, and where you want to be as a leader. Your vision will help you to be a better leader.

Billy Schmidt is a district chief assigned to the 3rd battalion with Palm Beach (Fla.) County Fire Rescue. An adjunct instructor for the department’s Training and Safety Division, he has a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management and an associate’s degree in Fire Science. He’s a member of FireRescue magazine’s editorial board.