This afternoon I was reflecting on a few things, a post by my cousin about his service in the Navy/Marines and a conversation that I had last night with a 50-year veteran firefighter. The post and the conversation got me thinking about how we think and analyze situations. First, I had to chuckle about the following definition of the Marines sent to me by my cousin, Kevin Potts, a Naval Academy grad: "248 years of tradition unimpeded by progress." Hard to believe but the Marines were founded on this day in 1775.
Second, last night I attended an event sponsored by Ascent Integrated Tech, a Chicago based company that sells technology to fire departments that enable fire captain/firefighters to see the entire fire scene, so they can allocate resources and safely keep track of each firefighter in the burning building/home.
The first person I met at the party was a 50 year veteran firefighter. He was signing his book, which highlighted how firefighters viewed their job and why it was totally wrong and very dangerous. It is his viewpoint that firefighters are taught to go into homes/buildings as fast as possible because it is the heroic thing to do. The balance of heroism, personal safety and the right action are not being analyzed before hand to make the "best" decision. The speed at which the decision needs to be made is thought to be so quick, a thoughtful analysis of what needs to be done wastes too much time. To highlight his point, he told me that most injuries for firefighters are caused because they didn't wear a seat belt in the fire truck because it wastes too much time getting out of their seat.
Thank you for being patient, because I do have a point. How often do we step back and really analyze our decisions and beliefs? How often are we impressed by someone in the news or at work that succeeds, but does so while taking too many risks? Whether a firefighter. military leader, city official, firefighter or an employee/boss, each of us needs to question each key decision we make and the process we take to get to the conclusion we make. Think about your biases, assumptions and ego in how you go about analyzing the problem and the order you give to your people to solve it. As I learned from the retired fireman yesterday, it may have been an honorable death fighting that fire. However, if better technology, better training and changing the way we think about how we should be trained could have saved a life, shouldn't we do it?
Thank you to all the retired and current service men and women for their service to this country.
Territorial Sales Manager at C. W. Williams and Company
6dWelcome and get with me we have work todo