The Firefighter`s Bookshelf
JOHN LEE COOK, JR.
CIGARS, WHISKEY, AND WINNING:
LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT
Al Kaltman
(Prentice Hall, 1998)
Becoming an officer (manager or administrator) in a career department may be a fairly straightforward process. Typically, one must diligently study a given list of source materials and score well on a written, competitive promotional examination. If there is an opening and a person is high enough on the eligibility list, that person may have a good chance of being promoted. The path to becoming an officer in the local union or a volunteer department may be more ambiguous, however. In many instances, officer positions are filled through election. Therefore, a person may have to somehow convince his peers that he is worthy to serve in a position of responsibility. Unfortunately, popularity may be more important than skill or knowledge.
Obviously, this is an overly simplistic description of what can often be a very complex process. Nevertheless, the path to becoming an officer may be within the reach of many of us, given a lot of hard work and a little luck. But, what if a person has a loftier ambition? What if a person wants to become a leader because he truly believes that he can make a difference in his department and community?
I do not mean to detract from the importance of sound management practices or the necessity of selecting the best person as an officer. Good managers are essential to a fire department`s success, but there is a difference between management and leadership. Simply put, managers do things right; leaders do the right thing.1 Correctness is vital, but there are times when a leader must be courageous enough to do the right thing even though it may be extremely unpopular to do so.
FROM MANAGER TO LEADER
How does one make the leap from a manager to a leader? The answer is not quite so simple. There has been an ongoing debate in academia for some time now about what leadership is and who can exercise it. Theories ebb and flow like the latest fad. It is, therefore, difficult for a member of the fire and rescue community who aspires to become a leader to know how to become one. It was once believed that leaders were born, not made–that they were somehow “called” to assume their role. This point of view is known as the “Great Man” theory of leadership, which assumes that it is impossible to learn how to become a leader: A man or woman is ordained at birth to become a leader or is predestined to be a follower throughout his entire life.
The Great Man theory failed, however, to adequately explain leadership and was replaced by the notion that great events make leaders out of ordinary people. It was believed that circumstance, rather than birth, determines who will become a leader. A situation comes along, such as a war or an important social issue, and an individual seizes the opportunity by mobilizing a group of followers and rises to prominence as the leader of a particular cause. Some people call this the “Big Bang” theory.2 Unfortunately, this theory also failed to fully explain the concept of leadership.
Some academicians believe that leadership can be taught and learned. They believe a person who wants to become a leader can, provided he is willing to undertake the necessary study and preparation. One avenue of study is the examination of the lives and deeds of individuals who have proven to be capable leaders–Helen Keller, for example. Conversely, it may also be beneficial to study the lives and actions of those whose leadership has proven to be destructive to their followers–Adolf Hitler, for example. The study of failure and misfortune is also helpful because it may provide insight into how to avoid making a similar mistake. General Custer`s defeat at Little Bighorn is one such example.
In a similar fashion, many effective fire officers, in the absence of formal officer training programs, have learned their skills by studying the actions and attributes of the officers who came before them. It is a very similar process to studying about past fires and disasters. In support of my hypothesis, I should point out that I have had any number of officers who have successfully managed large and complex events tell me that part of their success was based on their having read about and studied how other incident commanders handled similar events. The many fine articles published in monthly fire service magazines are a particularly good source for this type of information.
LEADERSHIP LESSONS
Fortunately, many excellent books have been written about men and women who were capable leaders. This is one such book.3 It is easy to read and focuses on 11 key areas of management, including “Turn Mistakes into Training Opportunities,” “See the Total Picture,” and “Shatter Paradigms.”
Each of the 11 topical areas contains examples from Grant`s life that reinforce the lessons to be learned from each section. Since the lessons are presented in chronological order, readers can follow the maturing process that led to Grant`s evolution into a leader. One such lesson is that academic achievement is an unreliable indicator of a person`s abilities. Grant ranked 21st in his class of 39 at West Point. His ranking certainly was not indicative of his future accomplishments.
Grant is perhaps the classic example of how almost anyone, no matter how humble his origin, can rise to achieve success and fame in the United States. In 1861, Grant was a clerk in his father`s store and had assembled a whole string of failed ventures. Three years later, he was the commanding general of the U.S. Army, at that time the largest organization in the world with more than one million men. Grant was the first person to be made a four-star general. Many military experts considered him to be the greatest general ever produced by this country. His tactics forever changed warfare, and he contributed as much as any one individual to the preservation of the Union.
Grant had his share of problems, however, and he probably would not have been able to withstand the scrutiny and intrusion of today`s media into his personal life. He smoked cigars and was known to drink on occasion. Apparently, that was not a problem with his boss. Of his drinking habits, Abraham Lincoln said:
“I then began to ask them if they knew what he drank, what brand of whiskey he used, telling them most seriously that I wished they could find out. They conferred with each other and concluded that they could not tell what brand he used. I urged them to ascertain and let me know, for if it made fighting generals like Grant I should like to get some of it for distribution.”
Success in one arena, however, does not guarantee success in another. After the war, Grant went on to become the 18th president of the United States. Unfortunately, widespread scandal and corruption tarnished his administration. Even though he was elected to two terms, his presidency is looked on as a great disappointment given his great successes in the Civil War. In all fairness, the corrupt political system was a product of Grant`s era and not of his own creation. He also served during the period of reconstruction and westward expansion. Both of these events were painful processes, and it is doubtful that anyone could have managed things differently.
Endnotes
1. Bennis, W., B. Nanus. Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge (New York: Harper & Row, 1985).
2. Ibid.
3. Among other books on the life of Ulysses S. Grant are the following: The Mask of Command, J. Keegan (New York: Viking, 1987); Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, E. B. Long (New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1982); and Grant: A Biography, W.S. McFeely (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1981).
JOHN LEE COOK, JR., a consultant and writer, retired from the fire service after 30 years of service. He had been career chief of Conroe and Denton, Texas, and director of fire and rescue for Loudoun County, Virginia. He has a bachelor`s degree in business administration from Sam Houston State University and a master`s degree in public administration from Southwest Texas State University. He is the author of Standard Operating Procedures and Guidelines (Fire Engineering, 1998).
