There’s something powerful about water. I love the sound of it, the power of it, the calm of it and how it can change everything that’s around it. Water can be gentle enough to restore the soul and powerful enough to reshape the landscape. It can be still one moment and violently unpredictable the next.

Leadership is much the same. For the company officer, particularly the first-line supervisor, leadership is lived in the waves. It’s experienced in the wind. It’s tested when the water becomes rough and the boat begins to move in anticipated ways.

The company officer stands at a unique intersection. You’re close enough to the firefighter to understand the realities of the firehouse, the apparatus floor and the fireground. You also are responsible for translating organizational expectations, policies and vision into the daily experience of your crew. You’re the first line of leadership, and for many firefighters, you’re the organization. 

That’s a tremendous responsibility. It also is why I believe that company officers need two things to lead effectively through the inevitable waves of fire service leadership: an anchor and an aim.

Who are you as a leader?

An anchor keeps a vessel from drifting. It doesn’t stop the wind. It doesn’t calm the water. It doesn’t eliminate the storm. The anchor simply holds the boat to something solid when everything around it is moving.

Company officers need the same kind of grounding. Leadership becomes dangerous when your identity is built entirely on your rank. The bugles change. The assignments change. The crew changes. The chief changes. The politics change. The call volume changes. If your leadership identity is anchored only to your position, then every organizational change has the power to move you.

The first question of leadership isn’t “What do I want my crew to do?” It’s “Who am I when I lead?” What do you stand for? What values won’t change when the shift is difficult? What kind of officer do you want your firefighters to experience?

I always have believed that leadership begins with self-awareness. Company officers must understand their own strengths, weaknesses, emotions and triggers. You can’t lead people effectively if you never understand the person who’s looking back at you in the mirror. Your anchor might be service. It might be integrity. It might be faith, family or a deep commitment to the fire service. It might be the belief that every person who’s on your crew deserves to be developed, challenged and treated with dignity.

Your anchor is your leadership “why,” and when the waves come—and they will—your crew must know that you’re connected to something deeper than your mood, your ego or your frustration.

Rough times are part of leadership

The ocean doesn’t apologize for the waves. The wind changes direction. The current shifts. Storms arrive without asking permission. The same is true in the fire service. A firefighter struggles. A conflict erupts. Staffing is short. A new policy creates frustration. A promotional process divides the department. A call goes badly. A crew member makes a mistake. The organization changes direction.

The waves aren’t evidence that leadership failed. They’re evidence that you’re leading in a real organization that’s made up of real people. The problem isn’t that company officers encounter difficult moments. It’s that too many leaders begin to drift when those moments arrive. They become reactive. They withdraw. They lead through frustration. They avoid the conversation. They blame the system. They begin to believe “This is just how it is.”

However, the company officer isn’t called to simply survive the waves. The company officer is called to lead people through them. This is where the anchor matters.

Where are you taking your crew?

An anchor without a destination leaves a boat stuck. You can be grounded and still go nowhere. That’s why every leader also needs an aim. I think about a lighthouse. A lighthouse doesn’t chase boats nor control the ocean nor force a vessel to change course. It simply shines.

It provides a point of reference when the darkness arrives. For the company officer, your aim is your vision for your crew. Where are you going? Who are you becoming? What does success look like beyond simply getting through the shift?

The best company officers don’t merely supervise tasks. They create direction. They help firefighters to understand why training matters. They identify individual strengths and opportunities for growth and build a crew culture in which people know what’s expected and understand that development is part of the job.

Your aim might be to develop a firefighter into a future driver/operator. It might be to restore trust within a crew. It might be to create a culture of accountability. It might be to help a new firefighter to understand what it means to be part of the fire service.

Leadership isn’t simply where you are today. Leadership is the direction in which you intentionally are taking people.

Anchor and aim

The company officer lives in the tension between the anchor and the aim. You must remain grounded while moving forward. You must preserve what matters while challenging what no longer serves the agency. You must care about people while you hold them accountable and understand the past without becoming trapped by it. Trust isn’t created by your title. It’s earned in the small moments.

Company officer’s choice

I have spent nearly 30 years responding to emergencies. I have learned that pressure reveals what already is inside of us. The same is true of leadership. Storms reveal anchors. Darkness reveals lighthouses. Pressure reveals leaders.

As a company officer, you will experience rough water. You will lead through staffing challenges, cultural change, difficult personalities, operational pressure, and moments that test your patience and your purpose. You can’t control the wind. You can’t eliminate the waves. However, you can choose your anchor, and you can choose your aim.

Anchor yourself to your purpose. Anchor yourself to your values. Anchor yourself to the people who you serve. Then aim toward something greater than comfort. Aim toward growth. Aim toward trust. Aim toward a crew that’s stronger because you chose to lead intentionally, because the company officer isn’t simply the first-line supervisor.

You’re the first experience that many firefighters have with leadership. Sometimes, when the water gets rough, you might be the anchor that they need and the light that they are trying to find.