Far too many government officials have never learned how to treat people nicely. I reviewed my files in preparation for this commentary. Case upon case jumped out at me. I have also addressed this battle to be nice during a number of personal appearances around the country, most recently with a number of friends and professional associates at the FDIC in Indianapolis.
Time and again, my commentary has touched on the lineage of those lackluster leaders that live amongst us in the fire service. Remember, we in the fire service are just a subset of the rest of society, so it should not astound you that we have these problems. However, if you are anything like me, you think that the world revolves around the fire service. While it may be true that we are just one of many subsets that forms the culture of America, I urge you to remember that we are among the most important.
It seems to me that a great deal of what we do in this life would appear to revolve around the twin concepts of concept trust and support. It has been my experience that a person may be exposed to these negative people in any number of industries and career fields. I have even met members of the clergy who gave off a certain set of negative vibes. Some people just do not know how to be nice.
In those cases where a person seems to be unwilling or unable to know, like, or trust other people, it doesn
