Editor’s Opinion ❘ By BOBBY HALTON
Bob Dylan wrote a great song in 1979 called “You Gotta Serve Somebody,” and the refrain went like this: “But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed, you’re gonna have to serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” I was reminded of his words recently while going through the FDIC International 2022 submissions to speak and teach. We had more proposals to speak on leadership than at any time in the 20-plus years I have been involved in the conference. We found this to be very interesting; several of our review folks agreed, and we all wondered why.
We had a good talk about it, and everyone agreed on one thing: Clearly, the fire service is thinking a lot about leadership. At the same time, we are keenly involved as a service in evaluating our deployment models and scrutinizing every aspect as they relate to rescue and life safety during working fires. The two issues make perfect sense together. We serve many bosses: elected officials, chiefs and other officers within our department, and the citizens. We have to serve somebody. Serving and leading go hand in hand.
Leadership, not surprisingly, is the most widely written-on topic in the world. I did not need to do a DuckDuckGo search to verify that point; it is widely known, and perhaps leadership will always be our number one topic as part of the human condition. The possible reasons have been the subject of discussion for the ages. Some say because, as a species, we are so bad at it. Some say because as things change, new thoughts and ideas emerge. Some say it is because we are always hoping to find a solution for a current leadership/direction within our own lives.
As it relates to the fire service, our needs are not that different from any of those reasons. We are always looking to be better, and we are forever questioning our choices and methods. Old Bob nailed it: “You’re gonna have to serve somebody.”
Everyone has a boss, everyone. In our lives, we have had loving and caring bosses, like our Moms; demanding and stern bosses, like our Dads; and then there are the bozo bosses—yep, bozos. We all love life when the boss is a good egg, a standup guy, a straight shooter; generally, these folks will tell you that they didn’t come from the factory that way. If you probe really great bosses, you usually find they had a few encounters with the boss from hell who showed them exactly what they didn’t want to be.
I remember recounting to Chief Brunacini a story about a particularly odd boss and some of the strangeness that came along with working for him. He listened carefully, as was his manner, and smiling, he leaned in and said, “You know, Halton, you couldn’t pay enough for an education that good.”
At that point, I got it. Every one of us has some eccentricities, pet peeves, quirks, oddities—things that drive other people crazy. Some, myself included, may have more than most. If you want to know mine, ask Mrs. Halton, Diane, or the incredible folks on the advisory board—friends who have humored me the past 18 years at this job. But the real question to ask is, how has Mrs. Halton managed me for 48 years despite my oddities? How have Diane and friends kept me from self-destructing here at Fire Engineering? How do the wonderful folks around me not lose their minds or kill me out of frustration? The secret to being a good boss and not being a bozo is letting the folks who make you look good stay healthy. It also helps to thank them repeatedly while you accept the advice they offer to help you to be a better person.
That is the case of one great friend, Brent, an Atlanta guy who has been an amazing source of insight for the past 25 or so years. Too many bosses, he pointed out, listen to too many voices these days, often voices who don’t matter, voices with no skin in the game. They tend to hear the loudest criers; they mistake the few for the many. Many years ago, when antisocial media was just beginning to destroy the fabric of civilization and ruin human interaction on a scale never before imagined, he got it. We all thought he was crazy. Facespace is wonderful and Ditther is great; you can stay connected to everyone. We all chimed in at him every time the subject came up. But he was undeterred; he didn’t personally use it and, more importantly, he gave great counsel on the topic. He managed up. He kept his position closely but, when pressed, he shared.
My friend knew exactly who he served—all of them—and they were, by and large, not the folks on any “social media platform.” He was more honestly connected than that, particularly locally, where it mattered. He understood that some folks needed to use social media for their jobs, and that was OK. He also felt it was OK personally for most within clearly established boundaries. But he recognized the unbalanced influence that it could wield and how folks could be intimidated, hurt, destroyed, misled, and confused by bad actors on these platforms. He recognized the yin and yang of the tool. And, most importantly, he helped those he served do the same thing. He did for me.
That was leadership; you are gonna have to serve somebody, and it may be the devil or it may be the Lord; or, it may be just some bozo working for a magazine. As we all continue to look for leadership, we can never forget the folks who led us, who helped us find those better angels of our nature. Always be grateful, and remember to say thank you while we can.
