Michael DeGroskyI'm half way through #TheSupesHandbook by #AngieTom #DesertRatPress and have three things on my mind. 1) Not that I did not know, but I am reminded that some really intelligent people are drawn to fire work. Some may not have a lot of formal education, but there are some incredibly smart people. Some of the people profiled have formal post-secondary ed, others are phenomenally self-taught (more on that later) but, regardless of education, just natively smart people. 2) While they might or might not acknowledge themselves as such, there are some passionate students of leadership in the profiled group who understood and felt the weight of the responsibility, obligations and burdens of leadership and took their leadership seriously. It seems, for most, the fire part came pretty easy. Taking care of people was their obsession. 3) I am reminded, sadly, of how often I've seen their agencies and others, fail to recognize, under-appreciate, dismiss and even suppress that kind of intelligence and passionate leadership savvy. It's not only that these people, and people like them have my respect, and that I believe they deserve the acknowledgement and respect of others, but I see organizations failing to recognize and make the most of great resources that are right at their fingertips. I find myself thinking about senior leaders who would have benefitted from coaching and mentoring by some of these folks but who could never let that happen because they could not see around their own position, their own ego, the threat they felt, etc.
#Fire and #Leadership folk in my network. I am easing into The Supe’s Handbook: Leadership Lessons from America’s Hotshot Crews by #AngieTom (Desert Rat Press.) Given by a friend month's ago, it has been calling to me but neglected.
Having quite a personal journey. First, I was a hotshot for two fire seasons. While only two seasons, one as a crewmember and one as a Squad Boss, I consider those two seasons as foundational for me; as fire professional, as leader, and as a person.
I “supervised” hotshot superintendents (as much as one supervises them) on the fireline off-and-on for 30 years. As I read, I am finding that I am quite proud that I know or knew (some are, sadly no longer with us) more than 20 of the people profiled. Some as firefighting colleagues, some as training cadre teammates, some as audience members and training participants, others as consulting clients. Some have been little more than a voice on the other end of the radio, others I have known well and consider friends and each in their own way, inspiring leadership examples.
I somehow missed the foreword credit on the cover. So, as I was reading the foreword I'm thinking "This is so good, who could this be?" I decided not to spoil the surprise by looking ahead, but the whole time, in the back of my mind I was thinking "This is so damned good, which of the supe "icons" can this be?" I had some guesses, then when I got the end.... "Of course, Anthony Escobar!" His foreward was balanced, real, on-point. It got me excited about cutting into the meat of the book. I'll be posting from time-to-time as I read. Perhaps I’ll pull my thoughts together later for an article or something. Please jump in and engage if you see a chance. On LinkedIn and over at the dying bird site as well.