BY BILL MANNING
This column is late again. I’m sitting in my office with Tom Brennan, looking for inspiration. If he can’t give it to me, nobody can. We’re in the midst of tossing around this vehicle called Fire Engineering. The question on the table is, How can we make this monthly communication much more vital to you, the reader, and, more importantly, open it to the imagination and professional minds of so many of you with whom we don’t get a chance to talk? Granted, we’re in contact with fire service leaders here every day, but there are so many more who have the knowledge, the expertise, and the desire to communicate but perhaps do not have “the name.”
So what about it?
This fire service seems to be growing more complex. But that makes it all the more imperative, to my way of thinking, that in the midst of change we continually address “the basics” that are at the core of what you do every day and are your best asset for handling your greatest risks and making it home alive.
Even so, I’m putting the call out this month to you. What more can we do? What directions are we missing? What functions of this vital, dynamic, and dangerous service need to be explored and shared?
In my years in the editor’s seat, I’ve never known our readers to be at a loss for words on any topic in any direction that needs attention. So how about it?
Sitting in this seat, I have been continually amazed at the great minds in this business-many have come and gone; many are still with us. I’ve made a “contract” with you to be your voice and to provide you with a forum for critical information that will make you better and keep you safer. But make no mistake about it: This periodical is yours! It belongs not to me but to you. You are in the field physically and communicatively every day. Where are you, where do you want us to go, and what are your ideas for Fire Engineering’s helping to get you there?
Much is made-and should be made-about leadership in this business. I have always believed that leadership is not a function of the insignia on your uniform or the type of helmet that you wear, that true leadership has nothing per se to do with rank. It’s incumbent on all members to assume a leadership, teaching, advocating role-it’s part of the sacred trust between firefighter and firefighter and between firefighter and public. And I like to think that you people who read and study this magazine do so in part because you are leaders who never stop learning.
And I don’t want to stop learning, either. Teach me. What do I need to know?
Drop me a line, anytime.
