OVERCOMING INERTIA
By Jay Gunsauls
Why do people do what they do? What makes them approach work with varying degrees of enthusiasm and interest and curiosity?
These are terms or phrases that I studied or pondered throughout almost fifty years in the fire service.
Indifference
Competition in the ranks. What makes a winner?
Brushing out hydrants
Not everybody gets to be Chief
Learning streets and numbers, specifications on equipment and apparatus
Collectibles. How we feel about them
Asking the right questions vs asking the right person
Special Interest Bulletins, NBFU
Seeking other ways
Codes and creeds
Emulating leaders
Woof, warp and wrap
Having a goal vs perfection in the task
Dirty, damaged and donut
Choosing a mentor
You may never have to do it in your career, but the public expects you to do it right anyway
How to deal with the soothsayers
The strength of the individual determines the strength of the team
Doing to look good vs looking to do good.
How many skills can I have anyway?
What do you say to the young station visitor that says, "I want to be a fireman when I grow up."?
Filling the time vs fulfilling the time
When did you first think you could be a firefighter?
Impacting others
Who's Brannagan?
When tradition works
Fundamental changes that come from disasters always work
PB and J
Opening the door without taking a mess
Do you believe in me? The Willows connection
Cleaning up after you're through, is it meaningful?
How incident Command came to be
It's everybody's job and you're everybody
The Indirect attack, Layman's theory today
Cultural differences
Reinvention makes people feel good
Affirmative action vs prognostication
Put the solid bore nozzles back on the truck
Why should we clean the bottom?
When is initiative a bad thing?
The doo wa knot
Threading the needle (tossing ropes)
Fear of heights or sticking your neck out
How do they do it in Lakeside? Somebody must have figured out a way to do this
Knowing when to invest and when to invent
Maybe the most important thing you can do today is look good.
In my mind, I've responded here a hundred times. Pre Incident Planning