The Leader's Toolbox: "I'm Just a Volunteer" & Lessons Learned in Charleston
Hosted by Richard Gasaway
In this month's episode of The Leader's Toolbox, Chief Richard Gasaway addresses a question from a firefighter who is frustrated because some of their members have the attitude "You can't tell me what to do, I'm only a volunteer." Chief Gasaway takes this attitude head-on with sound advice about how to work through this problem before it destroys your department.
In the second part of the podcast, Chief Gasaway interviews Assistant Fire Chief Brian Crawford from the Shreveport, LA, Fire Department about the role he played in recently conducting an leadership and administration assessment of the Charleston, SC, Fire Department in wake of the tragic Sofa Super Store fire that killed 9 firefighters. Hear first-hand from an assessment team member about how the fire service can benefit from the important recommendations made by the review team.
Please send any suggestions, questions or comments, to: [email protected].
Related Links:
• Charleston Phase 1 Report (PDF)
• Full Coverage of Charleston Tragedy on Firehouse.com
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About the Author
Richard Gasaway
Richard B. Gasaway, PhD, CSP is an authority on human factors, situational awareness and the high-risk decision-making processes that are used in high-stress, high-consequence work environments. He served 33 years as a firefighter, EMT-paramedic, company officer, training officer, fire chief and emergency incident commander. Gasaway's doctoral research included the study of cognitive neuroscience to understand how human factors flaw situational awareness and affect high-risk decision-making. He authored six books, and his contributions on situational awareness and decision-making are featured and referenced in more than 400 publications. Gasaway's training programs have been delivered to more than 88,000 students.