ATTILA THE CHIEF
Fire service leadership requires the prowess to allow personnel to realize their personal best while maintaining the discipline required for emergency situations. In his book Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun (Warner Books, 1987), Wess Roberts characterizes fifth-century mogul Attila the Hun as an inspirational leader who incorporated these and other attributes necessary to be a successful leader. Fire service leaders can learn much from a management book based on this man who ruled more than 1,500 years ago.
At the beginning of his book, Roberts defines leadership: “Leadership is the privilege to have the responsibility to direct the actions of others in carrying out the purpose of the organization, at varying levels of authority and with accountability for both successful and failed endeavors.”
Those chosen to lead must never forget the axiom “Leadership is a privilege.” Leadership is not just something earned or gained. Leadership is an awesome responsibility empowered by the trust of our people. If the trust is broken, then follows the leader.
Attila the Hun faced many of the same challenges as contemporary fire officers do. such as uniting people with different ideals and incompatible agendas into an effective force Roberts’ Attila demonstrated perseverance in the face of adversity. His courage, coupled with commitment to his nation and belief in his people, is exemplary of the requirements of fire officers. Among the attributes Roberts’ Attila mentions as being required by leaders are loyalty, courage desire, emotional and physical stand na, empathy, decisiveness, anticipa tion, timing, competitiveness, self confidence, accountability, credibil ity, tenacity, dependability, and stewardship. Reflect on some admirei leaders, and many of these traits arc sure to come to mind.
As Roberts’ Attila speaks, he strikes the heart of 20th century fire protection. These excerpts from the book are part wisdom and part encouragement for the aspiring fire service leader. Consider what Attila says about courage: “Chieftains who lead our Huns must have courage. They must he fearless and have the fortitude to carry out the assignments given them —the gallantry to accept the risks of leadership. They must not balk at the sight of obstacles, nor must they become bewildered in the presence of adversity. The role of a chieftain has inherent periods of loneliness. despair, ridicule, and rejection. Chieftains must be long-suffering in their duties —they must have the courage to act with confidence and to excel in times of uncertainty or danger as well as in times of prosperity.”
ATTILA THE CHIEF
The truth of this statement is evident Consider the all-too-often lonely path w alked by progressive fire chiefs battling tradition. As Attila found, leaders must have a certain amount of resilience to the pressures they encounter. Emotional stamina, courage, and fortitude are musts for fire officers. The higher the rank, the more that is required.
Attila goes on: “bach succeedingly higher level of leadership places increasing demands on the emotions of chieftains. We* must ensure that our leaders at ev ery level have the stamina to recover rapidly from disappointment—to bounce back from discouragement to carry out the responsibilities of their office without becoming distorted in their views—without losing clear perspective, as well as the emotional strength to persist in the face of seemingly difficult circumstances.”
As you rise on the ladder of rank and leadership, you must contend with more and more personalities, creating the opportunity tor emotional trauma. The chief not only has every member of the department to contend with but also must be accountable to municipal government and the general public. As chief, it is impossible to lead a fire department as it should be led without finding yourself on occasion at odds even with your closest allies. In certain circumstances criticism is justified, but all too often for the leader honestly committed to advancing the status of community fire protection, the battles will be many, the gains small, and the criticism abundant.
Developing coping mechanisms is paramount to the success of any leadership-oriented fire officer. If you cannot cope effectively with the emotional strains of leading your department, your shift, or your station, ultimately the stress will interfere with your ability to fulfill the responsibilities of your position. Showing weakness leaves you open to attacks by opposing forces.
The leader can take comfort, however, in having adversity and opposition, particularly when the root of such behavior is understood. Attila reassures us: “It is a simple truth that the greater your accomplishments— your victories—the greater opposition, torment, and discouragement your enemies will throw in your path. Expect it! Don’t become a victim of it.
“Know that your most worthy efforts will be scorned by your peers, for it is they who suffer most when you excel. If your actions and ambitions threaten them not, you’re simply striving toward the insignificant.”
That a leader is evaluated unscrupulously, scorned, and subjected to insults of character is an indication of accomplishment. As examples, consider the popularity polls to which our presidents are subjected or the humiliating votes of confidence to which leaders in the public safetysector are exposed. Popularity votes victimizing many fine volunteer fire officers are common. These are try ing consequences that most frequently arise from peers and subordinates who are vindictive only because of inherent jealousies. Usually this principle applies to such instances of criticism: Ninety percent of the noise and problems are created by only 10 percent of the force. So take heart and have confidence, for more than likely you have a stronger following than you think. As Attila reminds us, such scrutiny more often is due to your accomplishing, rather than not accomplishing, something.
Tenacity is a trait that helps the fire officer with the trials and tribulations of the job. On tenacity, Attila says: “The quality of unyielding drive to accomplish assignments is a desirable and essential quality7 of leadership. The weak persist only when things go their way. The strong persist and pursue through discouragement, deception, and even personal abandonment. Pertinacity is often the key to achieving difficult assignments or meeting challenging goals.”
“You must have resilience to overcome personal misfortunes, discouragement, rejection, and disappointment.”
Pertinacity is the trait of holding firmly to a purpose, belief, or opinion. Those who persist, who endure, ultimately will achieve. “Overcome resistance with persistence” is a more contemporary quote on the theme. You can wear down the opposition by not letting up, not giving in. Fire officers or prospective fire officers will have goals and ideas if they are worthy leaders. The impact of your ideas is easy to envision, yet having the goal and making the goal a realityare two extremes. While getting a promotion is difficult, more so are achieving major policy or operational changes and completing a major capital improvement project, goals that require planning, convincing resistive forces, and time. Discouragement can come all too easily. Only by tenaciously pursuing such lofty goals will they become realities. Remember, though, that often you encounter the most resistance when the desired break is just about to occur. Look at members of a football team: They can march 99 yards toward the goal line, but the toughest yard is that last yard to the end zone.
Often the difficulties fire service leaders encounter involve the way they interact with and manage people. To a large degree, successfully coping with people and adversity involves understanding others’ motives, feelings. and impulses. This ability, a requirement for any successful leader, is known as empathy. On empathy, Attila tells us: “Chieftains must develop empathy—an appreciation for and an understanding of the values of others, a sensitivity to other cultures, beliefs, and traditions. However, empathy must not be confused with sympathy, which may result in unwise consolation in times when, above all other things, the good of the tribe or nation must be pursued with adroit diplomacy or battlefield action.”
ATTILA THE CHIEF
Ninety percent of everything we do in the fire service involves people. The demeanor of fire department officers toward people is a key to success. Each individual the fire officer contacts has his/her own intricacies that can have a positive or negative impact on a department, depending on the officer’s people-management abilities. When differences and difficulties with people are encountered, the officer must understand “where they are coming from.” The ability to empathize helps leaders build rapport with people and develop effective strategies for contending with disparity and resistance.
Again, empathy is not to be confused with sympathy, which allows emotions to intervene. Not that the fire officer must be cold and staunch, but having a detachment from the influence of emotions and relationships is paramount to decision making and providing direction for the benefit of the organization.
Empathy has at its core listening. Attila summarizes the type of attention a fire officer must provide: “He approachable: listen to both good and bad news from your Huns. Otherwise you w ill provide reason for murmerings.”
People like to feel they have been listened to or at the very minimum have had the opportunity to speak their minds. Lend an open ear, have an open door, allow people to vent themselves, and if they need to take a shot at you. let them. It goes a long w’ay toward breaking down the communication barriers that impede progress.
Allowing people to speak, to have their say, and to play a role is one of the most contemporary leadership approaches. It is called participative management, and Attila describes it this way: “Leaders must encourage creativity, freedom of action, and innovation among their subordinates, so long as these efforts are consistent w ith the goals of the tribe or nation.”
Our most successful leaders are those who have harnessed the collective talents and ideas of those they lead. All effective leaders reach goals not by being dictatorial but by allowing people to participate and to fulfill key roles to the best of their abilities.
The process of participative management involves reaching agreed-on goals consistent with the mission of the organization (fire department), delegating, adding a dose of direction, and staying out of the way. A recent example of participative management in action was Operation Desert Storm. President Bush may have given the go-ahead to set the war in motion, but his delegating without interfering in military tactical and strategic decisions is probably one of the main reasons the war was such a success. Historically some presidents have attempted to dictate military strategy themselves, not always with favorable results. Fire officers as leaders must understand that they do not possess expertise in every realm required to deliver effective emergency services. They must tap the w ealth of ability in the personnel who comprise their departments.
What, though, is the core of leadership/ What is the gut of an effective fire officer? Some cite education and knowledge, as did Attila: “You must be willing to learn, to listen, and to grow in your awareness and abilities to perform the duties of your office. This is not often accomplished without tremendous effort and sacrifice of other interests.”
Knowledge and education cannot be discounted as factors for success in the fire service. (Why else would there be such a concerted interest in educational requirements for fire officers?) Yet among the ranks of the fire service we have successful leaders who never had a day of formal education beyond high school. So there are other factors.
Consider the quality of commitment. Attila says: “You must be willing to make unrecognized and thankless sacrifice for those who serve and those you lead. This sacrifice may take the form of absence from the tribal hunt, spending extraordinary energies and patience to develop subordinates at times when your own needs go unfulfilled. You must be willing to bypass a festival in your own camp if a situation in another camp requires your presence and attention.”
Hut the officer who truly excels at leadership is the one whose entire being as a leader is best summarized in this way by Attila: “In the end, vision, drive, energy, singleness of purpose, w ise use of resources, and a commitment to a destiny worthy of his efforts become the character of a chieftain who excels.”
Attila tells us what many leadership scholars are discovering today: Leadership can be developed; it is an ongoing process of continual learning and self-improvement. Effective leaders possess certain traits. Leadership is a yearning, an inward drive that separates those who want to lead from those who do lead. You have to wtint to be in charge, but not because of the lust for power. Leaders strive to extend their influence beyond themselves, to have a positive impact—not for their own good but for the good of their fellow man. The leader is the maverick unafraid to reach beyond the comfort zone and able to influence others to follow.
In the fire service we have those who lead and those who are capable of leading at all levels. Leadership is not tied to positions. It is not necessary to be chief to be a leader—it is only necessary to desire to lead for gain not centered on the self and to seek to develop the resiliency and fortitude required of truly successful leaders.
