“I’m a firefighter. Therefore, I am a storyteller by trade. My wife says I embellish, but I’ve told her a million times: “Don’t exaggerate!” I use that phrase as an ice-breaker in many of my classes as it relates to my passion for the fire service and all the great stories our service creates. It’s […]

Xbox Hack#160125: “Creating a work environment that meets the individual needs of your team members creates outcomes that will exceed your organization’s expectations.” I tell the participants in my facilitated conversation: “From the Xbox to the Box Alarm” that if they remember nothing else about our discussion, remember that ‘The greatest expectation of this XboxTM […]

I originally wrote “From the XboxTM to the Box Alarm” in 2008 as I stumbled upon what I saw as a direct correlation between Generation Y and the influence of video games on virtually every aspect of their lives. Based on my reading of some formal research conducted by those a lot smarter than I am […]

The term “Brotherhood” means different things to different people. Ask 100 firefighters what brotherhood is and you’ll get 100x different answers. You know it when you see it; you miss it when it’s gone and you certainly feel it when it’s turned against you. Used gender-generically to refer to this special, sometimes inexplicable bond that […]

I’ve never really bought into the whole idea of spirituality in terms of auras and orbs and such, but I have to admit that I had somewhat of an out-of-body experience today. Bob Newell, who I’ve spoke and written about at length, has been on my mind all day as it was seven years ago […]

While I believe it was P.T. Barnum who referred to the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus as “The Greatest Show on Earth!” – I’m not clowning around when I tell you that FDIC should be one of the definitive destinations for every firefighter at least once in their career. Unfortunately, as fire department and personal […]

Call me old-school but even with all the desktops and devices I own, I still love the feel and look of a print publication. [I hope the folks at FireRescue Magazine are reading this! lol] And I don’t know about you but, when I read a magazine I most often flip the pages from back to […]

Recently I had the opportunity to participate in what I thought was going to be a “speed recruiting” event at a local high school, unaware until I got there that the tables would be turned and I was the one who was going to be interviewed. More than 30 high school sophomores, juniors and seniors […]

I make no apologies if my readers have grown tired of my semi-annual tribute piece to a man who meant more than a mentor to me, as this year is even more special to me, and even more important than the previous five. Each time I've written about how Bob Newell impacted my life and […]

This post, like many of my half-written, unpublished works has been brewing for a while now. It didn’t just dawn on me today, or yesterday or even necessarily a year ago. However, its being published is a direct result of singular action that I took recently and the decision that brought me to take the […]