Benjamin MartinDec 15, 20214 minDon't Overestimate Your Leadership AbilitySo let's talk about...the opportunity of leadership. When I finally earned the chance to become a lieutenant, I couldn't wait to come to...
Benjamin MartinNov 20, 20218 minYour Passion Is Not The Problem: Confronting the Den of the ComplacentI hate to admit it, but sometimes I'm jealous of complacent people in the fire service. As infuriating as it is to watch their inflated...
Benjamin MartinApr 3, 20215 minRethinking Leadership: Finding Your Voice in Difficult Moments When we join the fire service, one of our primary responsibilities is to take care of the resources given to us by our organization and...
Benjamin MartinFeb 22, 20215 minHow to Fix a Stupid Rookie: Rethinking our expectations of company officersAs I drove the fire department SUV up to a brush fire scene, not far down the utility access road, I noticed the first arriving engine...
Benjamin MartinSep 11, 20195 minTriumphs and Failures: An honest take on a leader's journey#LeadersWanted My phone rings, and when I look down, I see that it's the fire chief calling. I know exactly why since the rumor mill had...
Benjamin MartinAug 29, 20194 minWe Reap What Leader's Take the Time to Sow#LeadersWanted The other day I had a chance to take a transfer to a neighboring station and found our battalion chief standing by the...
Benjamin MartinJul 20, 20194 minThe Enemy is the Stuff Trying to Kill Us: Not Other Firefighters#LeadersWanted Imagine a fire service where two people could disagree passionately on things, and one person stands out because of the...
Benjamin MartinMay 7, 20193 minCowardice from the Cheap Seats#LeadersWanted I was standing in the parking lot of our training center shooting the breeze with a few guys when one of them said, "Hey...
Benjamin MartinApr 6, 20195 minConfronting the Loudest Voice in the Room: How to Silence Critics#LeadersWanted Early in the morning a single vehicle went over the interstate guardrail into a steel traffic pole. I arrived as the first...
Benjamin MartinApr 5, 20197 minDo You Know Your Job? The Dangers of "That's Good Enough"#LeadersWanted So let's talk about...knowing your job. I opened the rear compartment of the truck and grabbed a 24 foot ground ladder. I...
Benjamin MartinMar 15, 20194 minI Don't Trust You: A Leader's Nightmare#LeadersWanted I hate to admit it, but unfortunately, as a leader I know what the words I don’t trust you sound like. I had spent...
Benjamin MartinMar 13, 20196 minArtificial Experience: Shortcutting Today's Fire Service#LeadersWanted “What happens when you can’t just Google the answer?” I remember very vividly the Mayday! Firefighter Down portion of my...
Benjamin MartinMar 13, 20195 minThe Potential of Having Problems#LeadersWanted I recently got the chance to spend a whopping nine days in a row with my family in Florida and the Bahamas. For me, this...
Benjamin MartinJan 11, 20194 minIs your leadership distracted by accolades?#LeadersWanted "Let the accolades come in their own time as a result of your work, not as the reason why you work." I recently received a...
Benjamin MartinDec 13, 20183 minThe Abuse of Power#LeadersWanted Power. Far too often people overestimate what they could do if only they had rank or position in their department. They...
Benjamin MartinNov 13, 20184 minDo you really care about Brotherhood?#LeadersWanted While teaching the latest batch of probationary firefighters during a relay pumping scenario, I started to use the terms...
Benjamin MartinAug 6, 20184 minThe Importance of Rooting for Underdogs#LeadersWanted When you are into this job it's pretty obvious. My Facebook is flooded by videos and pictures by these kinds of folks,...
Benjamin MartinJul 10, 20184 minComplacent and Actively Disengaged: What can be done about correcting poor attitudes?#LeadersWanted Have you ever had a conversation with someone whose outlook or attitude about the fire service is so crappy you either...
Benjamin MartinJun 18, 20188 minMicromanaging Isn't Leading#LeadersWanted There is no greater disservice as a leader to our teams than to micromanage them. It baffles my mind that micromanaging...
Benjamin MartinFeb 18, 20174 minLetting Go of Ego and Learning From Failure#LeadersWanted Almost five years ago I had the opportunity to attend the life-changing training experience offered by the Nozzle Forward...