Leadership & Command Magazine Articles

  • LEADERSHIP - and Other Self Inflicted Wounds

    My friend and readers, is there no end to it? Each day as I peruse my growing list of e-mail messages, my heart begins to sink. With each passing day, new examples of bad leadership pour into my e-mail store from around the world. Some are so strange...

    Article • June 30th, 2000

  • We’ve Always Done It This Way - The Early Years

    By now you have probably heard me go one and on ranting and raving about those people who to use one of my least favorite phrases, "…. but, we have always done it this way." Or they might have used the mirror image phrase, "… but, we have never...

    Article • June 23rd, 2000

  • It's the People -- Not the Fire Trucks

    It seems like a number of events have come together this week that lead me back to a real simple premise. In last week’s commentary we discussed capital funding problems. During a telephone conversation with a good buddy of mine in Florida.

    Article • June 16th, 2000

  • Worcester - Back to Business as Usual

    Many times I sit staring at my computer screen wondering what if I will ever be able to write my commentary column, and what it might look like. My brain is on vapor lock, and my stomach is in knots. I am drinking coffee and popping Advil.

    Article • June 11th, 2000

  • Honor the Dead - Save the Living

    A recent e-mail comment to my website ignited a thought within my soul that has long sat dormant. This is a commentary that will generate some really strong feelings among the many varied groups in the fire service. But I only write about those things...

    Article • June 5th, 2000

  • Leadership - A View From Harry & His Gang

    This is the first in a series of columns on the concept of leadership. The genesis for this project came right here in the September 1999 edition of this column. If you recall, that was the one where I discussed my career change, from fire chief to...

    Article • June 1st, 2000

  • Why Did He Have to Die?

    Many times during my years as a firefighter and officer, I saw the face of death. Sometimes it bore the face of a stranger, and sometimes it was a friend or fellow firefighter. Sometimes the death occurred as a result of fire in a blazing building.

    Article • May 26th, 2000

  • We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us

    A great deal of time has been spent by my webmaster, Bruce Lukaszewicz, and I discussing the current state of affairs within the Volunteer Fire Service of the United States. While there are no pat answers to the problem of declining membership.

    Article • May 21st, 2000

  • A Man of Honor: Former D.C. Fire Chief Tom Tippett

    Many times in life, I have heard the story of Diogenes the Cynic. He lived from 400 BC to 325 BC. We most remember him for the quotation attributed to him in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, on page 77, wherein he states, "… I am looking for an...

    Article • May 16th, 2000

  • Beware the Mutual Aid Mooch

    I am a strong advocate of mutual aid, automatic aid, and regional dispatching. I see it as an effective way to create a regional firefighting force capable of coming together in a rapid manner for the common good. I take a bit of flak now and then for...

    Article • May 7th, 2000

  • CAFS: So Effective It Changed The Rules, So We Changed The Laws

    Once in a great while, a new firefighting technology comes along that is so revolutionary it forever changes our industry.

    Article • May 1st, 2000

  • Are We That Different From The Police?

    Over the past several years, I have noted a striking difference in the way fire departments are treated, at least as they compare to police departments. As I wrote just a few days ago, the fire service is waxing euphoric over a partial victory.

    Article • April 28th, 2000

  • Communications - Three Ways of Talking

    Just the other day, as I was sitting in church listening to the Pastor’s sermon, a thought began to develop in the innermost recesses of my psyche. The Pastor was discussing the ways in which we should introduce the Church, and its teaching’s to...

    Article • April 23rd, 2000

  • Have We Lost Our Way As Leaders?

    The other evening I accidentally got to spend some quality time listening to one of my personal heroes. While I was searching for one of my Saturday night favorites on Delaware Public Television, The Lawrence Welk Show, I stumbled across a very great...

    Article • April 18th, 2000

  • Mutual Aid ... If Only We Were All Reading The Same Sheet of Music

    If there is one topic that keeps recycling to the top of our research in-basket it is the matter of mutual aid. We have been writing about the sharing of resources for a great many years. The more that I write about it, the more astounded I am at the...

    Article • April 8th, 2000