Lessons in Leadership: Deutsche Bank

It does not take someone long to realize from my stories that my FDNY career was full of crazy events.  Some funny, some tragic, a couple down right weird.  But perhaps none was so reflective of all of the lessons in one eight hour period as the fire that happened 11 years ago today. I have written about it before, so I will not belabor the details.

Today,  I would just like to offer some of the highlights.  I encourage you to think about people you know who exemplify these traits and those who you know who may not.  For those of you who may have to deal with ineffective leaders today, I do not think that this list will fix them. The only thing that can "fix" anyone is their internal decision to commit to doing better, learning, and adjusting how they practice their leadership and management skills. 

Till they do, and remember it is possible they never will, you must remember it is about you! Well, at least in the sense that our worst leaders sometimes help grow our best leaders.  Must like the burning down of a forest is necessary for a new generation to sprout there, sometimes those who illustrate how not to do things manage to inspire a single or whole group of new leaders to start a journey of mastery which will positively impact themselves and all those whom they encounter.  

So, in a way, we should always be thankful for the challenging souls we are led or supervised by for without them we might never be forged into the person we were created to be. 

In that spirit, here are a few items for your "great leaders" list: 

• How you perform on the slow day when things are not crazy will set the stage for how you will perform on your worst day.  You will never find a missing talent, only elevate an existing one to a higher gear. 

• If you are a supervisor, leader, dispatcher, director, etc. never ever stop learning.  Know your job frontwards and backwards, upwards and downwards.  Whenever you hear something you do not know about-- whether a policy, a unit, or a person-- ask who it is and what it does. Knowledge is power. 

• Never be afraid to make a bold decision based on your intuition and the information at hand. On that day, based on one phone call, we sent an entire first alarm assignment and special units (HazMat). Could we have gotten in trouble if we were wrong? Maybe. But we knew what the potential severity of the incident was and we acting accordingly and we were right. 

• Trust your people.  When it is hitting the fan you do not have time to check everyone's homework. As a supervisor, you need to develop the skills of those you work with to get to the point where you trust them to do their jobs.  If they cannot, that is on YOU,  not them.  This means taking the time to get to know them, establishing what your expectations are, and ensuring that every member of the team is on the same page! 

• If you are in-charge of the entire organization, make sure EVERYONE is on the same page.  From day one to day 10,000 every employee should know what success means-- what they are expected to do-- and how they are a VALUED  member of bigger team with an important mission. If you do not show them this by example-- if you do not ensure that they see their place on the team-- then you will always be at the mercy of your weakest performer and the team will as well.  You will not accomplish as much as you could and you will be left to wonder-- why? 

• Ask questions-- but know which ones to ask.  Questions are the key to understanding an incident or a person.  In a stressful situation, you need to MINIMIZE your instructions.  The more you bark and balk the more it stresses out those who are doing the work.  Take a step back and ask yourself, does what I want to say really need to be said right at this moment?  Maybe it can wait, maybe a hand gesture will do. Or maybe someone just needs you to make a joke or pat them on the back. Whatever works.  

• Sometimes the most important thing is HOW you say it. As a leader, you must be aware that if you yell or come off as a jerk you can undermine the entire operation.  So stop the yelling!  Also stop the interrupting and the ranting.  It serves no purpose on any day, much less when things are crazy. 

• Finally, realize that to lead people is a gift.  To be put in the position of looking out for them and the public and your organization is a great privilege. Not because of the massive paycheck (humor intended) or the great power (humor also intended) but because the higher power put you in a place where you will have an enormous impact on others. Whether that is a positive or negative impact is entirely up to you but at the same time, it is not about YOU. It is about them-- all of them.  You will make some mistakes, you will not be perfect. But if you always remember your first obligation is not to a spreadsheet or a stockholder but to the people who are going to get the work done-- then you will do a pretty decent job as a leader. 

I am sure there are more and I will share them someday in the not so distant future.  But to the (2) FDNY members we lost that day and the over 100 who were injured as well as the many FDNY Dispatchers who processed and transmitted alarms, maintained fire coverage, and proved yet again they are the best of the best, I say God Bless and Thank You for your dedication, your service, and the many ways you taught me and  the many more you still do.