Model Leadership Tried By Fire

I was sent a link to this via email earlier today and was immediately and throughout struck by the effective calm demeanor and leadership of Boise, Idaho, Fire Chief Dennis Doan. Going by the unit designator "Battalion Two" his command SUV contained a Go-Pro camera behind the windshield and pointed forward which we are watching for most of this video. At the 12:07 mark the video switches to a different Go-Pro camera view of the same events from a camera mounted on a fire captain's helmet located on the "Charlie" side of the house (rear of the house).

I realize that in certain situations people need a leader than forcefully yells and gesticulates and physically imposes himself or herself into a situation. Probably this is most often true in situations where those being led are not performing up to their potential or things are not going their way and they need helping focusing and remaining motivated.

However, in this situation these firefighters were professionals and doing their jobs as they were trained and everything was going according to plan. Even when something went wrong somebody as a result of their training and vigilance anticipated it and sounded the alarm within a minute of disaster and narrowly avoided a tragedy for that fire department and community.

I really enjoy listening to this guy calmly trust his people to do their jobs while not micromanaging the situation and upstaging those fire officers below him. He simply sits back and does his job which is to let his people do their jobs while he essentially functions as the dignified maestro of this professional ensemble of firefighters.