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Samson J. De Sessa, FSCEO
Assistant Fire Chief
NAS Forth Worth FD Operations Division

"How do I become a better leader?"

Being in the Fire Service for 28 years, teaching at numerous Fire Departments for TEEX, sitting on boards for hiring or promotions, working in different departments when I was in the military and leading people in my own department, I have been asked this question a fair bit. I love this question, as simple as it is, it is also very complicated to answer.

The reason I love this question is because it means they are thinking. They are thinking about improving upon who they are today. Frankly, it means they are asking the right question as well. I begin answering their question with a question. I ask them, “What does ‘Leadership’ mean, in your words?”. I get the typical responses; “Getting people do things”, “Getting work out of others”, “Paving the way”, “Being the one in command”, “Being the person, overall responsible” etc. Those are all pretty good but they fall short of our call to Leadership.

There are so many definitions of Leadership that it has actually become hard to define. My definition is that ‘Leadership is the growing of Leaders.’ I explain to them that there is duality in that statement. Authentic leaders know that in order to lead others, we must first learn to govern ourselves. True leaders are doing what they can to personally grow and they are investing focused, intentional time in growing their people from ‘Followers’ into ‘Leaders’. The ultimate goal of a Leader is to create more Leaders, not more Followers.

We tend to think of an excellent leader as an individual that is irreplaceable. A person that if they were to leave the organization it would crumble in their absence. I emphatically disagree. A great leader leaves the organization with other capable leaders, armed with the training, knowledge, skills and abilities to take charge of the future, when they leave. People gravitate toward leaders that guide them into the unknown of the future with confidence. If you leave a department unprepared to “Keep calm and carry on”, you have failed them. That is not a measuring tool of your leadership genius. It merely highlights your failure to lead and that will be the legacy you leave behind.

So to answer, “How do I become a better leader?”, and helping them understand my definition of Leadership I tell them that in order to answer their question I need more information. The next thing I ask them is “What kind of Leader are you?” Again I get a wide range of answers, which is obviously part of the problem. I get, “I am a firm leader”, “I’m demanding”, “I’m fair”, “I’m the kind of Manager I would want to work for” etc. The fact is that there are multitudes of Leadership Styles available for us all to choose from; you have Autocratic, Coaching, Hands-off, Micromanaging, Democratic and Bureaucratic just to name a few. In the Fire Service, we need to employ many of these styles on a daily basis. No one wants to be a Micromanager, but some of your troops will not work without micromanagement. There is not enough time on the Fireground to entertain a Democratic Leadership style and ascertain everyone’s opinion on how to command a scene. However, in the Firehouse you also do not need to be barking orders and waving your arms wildly to carry out the daily tasks. You need to know your people and employ the leadership style that fits the individual and the current situation. It is all about context. I further explain that the ONLY viable definition for your leadership style is “Are you Effective or Ineffective as a leader?”. That is the bottom line. You are either leading people or you are not. If you turn around and you have no followers, you are just wearing a gold badge and yelling for no apparent reason.

I explain to the people who ask me how they can become better leaders that they need to get specific. Get granular. Determine where exactly they need to personally grow as a leader and where they have the ability to grow others. This part usually involves the person digging into their personal strengths. Filling your leadership gaps typically brings you up to the norm. “Well-rounded”, which really means “Average”. If all of us were well-rounded, we would all be the same. No one would ‘excel’ at anything or have any particular ‘Strengths’. Fixing where you are weaker brings you up to the bar of expectations. That is the minimum. Your strengths are where you can personally grow and cultivate others. Figure out what those things are and you can make huge differences in your life and the lives of others, and that is how to become a better leader and make more leaders while you are at it.