Faith or Failure: It’s Your Call, Chief

Once again, I come to you with a fresh look at how you can achieve a certain degree of success in your position as a fire service leader. Like many of the ideas I have had in the past several years, the genesis of this thought came during a sermon at the Colts Neck Reformed Church in Colts Neck, NJ.

This idea came to me during a sermon by my dear friend, and Senior Pastor, Scott Brown. It came during part of his Lenten sermon series on Faith within the world of Christian Faith. He was discussing the need for faith as a part of our relationship with the Lord.

At some point during the sermon he segued into a sidebar discussion about how a lack of faith, or poor faith, might lead to a failure in being a good Christian. At that point, I immediately took my little note pad out of my pocket and let the ideas begin to flow. Hopefully, my thoughts will help you become a better leader, regardless of your rank or position.

When most of us think of faith our thoughts turn naturally to the area of religion, for that is the primary area where faith seems to crop up. But in this commentary, it is my intention to discuss other facets and definitions of faith. The primary definition from Wikipedia speaks to faith as being the, “… strong belief in God, or in the doctrines of a religion, based upon spiritual apprehension rather than proof.” That is the standard thought about faith.

However, there is another definition upon which I am going to hang my hat for purposes of this commentary. That other definition states that faith is “… complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” I strongly suggest that it is critical for leaders to operate according to this type of faith in their day-to-day operations. Let me list a few types of faith to stimulate your thinking. They are:

• Faith in God
• Faith in your people
• Faith in your programs
• Faith in your policies and procedures
• Faith in yourself and your abilities and capabilities

Let me state that my life is rooted in a faith in God. I did not come to this by chance. Over the course of my life I have found myself in a number of situations where my actions could easily have driven me over the edge of an abyss into the world of failure, embarrassment, or career destruction. As I looked back, it seems as though there was always someone who showed up at the right moment to keep me from making a serious mistake in my life.

Over time, I came to believe that it was the Lord who was sending these people into my life. After many discussions with my pastors over the years, their thoughts led me to come to grips with the fact that it was the Lord who was active in my life. He provided the help I needed at the times and places where I needed it. I have also discussed this with my son, Father Todd Carter, who is a Catholic priest. He has stated that my beliefs in God are well-founded. That is quite comforting indeed. 

We also agreed that the manner in which I have developed my career in the fire service has led me to have great faith in my own abilities. I have served in positions at every level, from probationary firefighter to fire chief, with many stops in between. Regardless of my position I have worked to take care of my people at every level where it has been my good fortune to serve. 

Because of my interest in training, I have been able to create groups of people with whom I worked who understood what I expected and were then trained to a level where they had the necessary capabilities to perform the tasks required of them. During my doctoral research I identified the fact that my style of leadership fell under the general umbrella of servant leadership as espoused by Robert K. Greenleaf. 

Think about it my friends. I have long taught that if you take care of your people, they will take care of you. I am here to tell you this this is true indeed. As my dear friend John Buckman from Indiana has often stated “…The essence of leadership is about caring. It is important that a leader demonstrate that they care about others more than they care about themselves. The essence of leadership is taking care of others. It is a demonstrated act.” People cannot guess about your intentions; you must make them crystal clear by the actual living of that life.

Another one of my idols in the world of leadership is our late President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was his good fortune during his career to work under the leadership of people who knew the importance of growing and supporting their people. Once such leader was General Fox Connor. It was his way to assign tasks to his subordinates that he felt were within their skill levels and skill sets. 

He then turned them loose to do their thing. The only time he intervened was when he saw the person moving far afield from their assigned area. Think about that for a moment. What great modern fire service leader employed a similar style? Why, of course, it was the great Alan Brunacini. He had a simple plan for his people:

• Tell them what you want them to do
• Equip them to do it
• Train them how to do it
• Get the hell out of their way
• Let them know how they were doing

Most importantly, he let his people receive the accolades. He did not hog the spotlight. That is how I would suggest you consider operating.

Let me also suggest that you must have faith in your people. You must have faith in their abilities. As a leader, it is your duty to export knowledge to your people. You must equip them with the skills, knowledge, abilities and understanding of what it is they are expected to do. And failure on your part can easily lead to situations where a failure on their part can have strong negative consequences.

The same holds true with the programs, policies and procedures that are created by your fire department. They must be both fact-based and reality-based to be of the greatest value to your organization. You will never find yourself operating in some fairyland of totally rosy projections and outcomes. You must create programs, policies, and procedures that are real-world centered and oriented. A failure to do this will set your fire department up for failure at some critical time in the future. This you must never do. 

It is my hope that the thoughts put forward in this short treatise have flicked on a light in your brain. It is my contention that each of you is truly the master of your own fate. A failure to have faith in any of the areas that I have discussed can lead to a failure in the future.

Trust me when I say that bad things will always come at the wrong time. And, most assuredly, they will always come as a surprise to you and your people. So, there you have it my friends. Faith or failure: the call is yours to make.