You're the Chief, Part 2

First In, Last Out: Leadership Lessons from the New York Fire Department
by John Salka

(Page 3 of 4)

"First in, last out." That sums up the leadership code of the FDNY. Like most other leadership principles, it's a simple concept, but one that's difficult to live up to. Company officers are expected to be the first into every fire and the last to leave. It's our duty to expose ourselves to the same risks we ask our guys to take. It's part of the sacred trust that exists between officers and firefighters. "First in, last out" encompasses key leadership qualities like integrity, commitment, focus, and intensity. Even Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, one of New York City's greatest mayors (and greatest fire buffs), knew that this was the key to leadership. In response to critics who complained that he spent more time at fires than at City Hall, La Guardia asked, "[What] would the men think if I didn't have the guts to go where they went, especially if there was danger?"

Since that day as the junior man on 11 Truck, I've observed many different styles of leadership. I've also had many chances to develop my own, first as a lieutenant, then as a captain, and finally as the chief of Battalion 18, in the Bronx. At the moment, I'm responsible for the lives of 150 firefighters and countless more citizens. On the apparatus floor of my Bronx firehouse is 58 Truck, a brand-new Seagrave tower ladder apparatus. Weighing several tons, it's a squat, pug-nosed beast wrapped in the gleaming red and white colors of the FDNY. Even when fully extended, its ninety-five-foot boom (or ladder) can withstand the strain of the thousand gallons per minute being directed by the firefighter perched in its bucket - a tremendous force that can actually overturn a truck that's not properly stabilized. In the bay next door is 45 Engine. Like its neighbor, this Seagrave pumper is low, heavy, and specially modified for the FDNY's unique needs. It can deliver a thousand gallons of water per minute from its pumps, while the rear hose bed offers room for nearly a half ton of hose. Together, the apparatuses represent a $1 million investment by New York City. And there are two more firehouses within my battalion, each housing a similar engine-and-truck one-two punch.

In addition to serving in traditional, hierarchical leadership roles (such as lieutenant and captain), it's my privilege to have had many different leadership opportunities. I've taught probies at the academy. I've created special training programs that help firefighters adapt to the changing realities of our work. I was one of original covering officers selected to work in the newly created Special Operations Command. I helped manage the recovery effort at Ground Zero. But mainly what I've done is watch how officers in the FDNY - the Fire Department of the City of New York - lead their people. Over the past twenty years I've learned about leadership from people whose bravery, honor, and dedication are a constant inspiration to me.

Not all my leadership role models have come from within the department, however. It's not like we hold the secret formula or something. But that's the great thing about leadership: you find worthwhile examples of it in all industries and organizations. Great leaders everywhere draw on the same principles and strategies to accomplish their goals. There are things I can learn from a business leader about motivation, just as there are things I can teach that leader about execution.

But I can't tell you my leadership story, or even the story of leadership in the FDNY, without talking for a second about organizations themselves - those environments within which leadership is exercized. Organizations have always been society's best way of achieving its various goals. If you don't believe me, just stop and take a closer look at the world around you: organizations define, measure, and direct the flow of our everyday lives. Profit, nonprofit, or government agency, every organization exists in order to accomplish some objective that can't be achieved through individual effort. The father of modern management, Peter Drucker, called organizations "the organs of society." Which, of course, is very true. Organizations are not created to serve themselves but to serve the communities within which they exist.

The FDNY is no different. All told, it's an organization comprising 8,599 firefighters, 2,629 officers, 203 engine companies, 143 truck companies, 7 squads, 5 rescue companies, 3 marine companies, and a haz-mat company. I think those are pretty impressive statistics, and I know the department loves them dearly. And why not? They describe a strong organization, staffed by able, intelligent, and resourceful men and women with vast material resources at their disposal.

But I always find myself more interested in another set of numbers. The "New York" part of FDNY is a constant reminder of our responsibility to the people of this great city. And New York doesn't mean just that stuff in the "I Love NY" commercials, but all of New York City, every square mile of that great, teeming metropolis composed of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, with its 8 million people and three hundred square miles of skyscrapers, apartment buildings, waterfront, warehouses, industrial complexes, and homes.

Whenever I contemplate that other set of numbers - the New York City set - I feel great pride in the FDNY's accomplishments. But the inequality of the two sets of statistics - I mean, you've got this one relatively miniscule organization responsible for the safety of one of the world's biggest cities - points to the importance of the one thing that makes organizations work: leadership.

Leadership is what makes organizations effective. It's the essential spark that makes things happen. The same kind of leadership that creates successful corporations also makes nonprofits more productive, nations more vigorous, and armies more powerful. It also makes hospitals more effective and teachers more inspiring. Without leadership, an organization is just a loosely connected group of people operating without a unifying focus or coordinating mission, pursuing different goals, flailing in a hundred sometimes contradictory directions. In fact, one of the most useful things that came out of the so called New Economy was proof of the necessity of leadership. The notions that new technologies had made leadership and management obsolete, that self-directed work teams would replace the traditional organizational structures, and that everyone could be "self-managing" were exposed as a load of bull.

In short, organizations need leaders because leaders unify groups of people through mutually held values and goals and help them to achieve common objectives. That's my personal definition - there are others out there, but they all boil down to the same thing: leadership makes organizations work. Leadership guides and directs, it prioritizes and orients, it teaches and develops. It processes information and makes it useful. It strategizes and plans, envisions and dreams. Let me break it down even more: since organizations need leaders in order to function, and since we've already discussed how organizations make our society work, you don't have to go very far to see that leadership itself is an important force in our world.

Copyright © 2004 John Salka. All rights reserved. This excerpt, or any parts thereof, may not be reproduced without permission.

About the Author

John Salka rose through the ranks of the New York City Fire Department from firefighter to lieutenant, captain, and now battalion chief (the second highest command), a position in which he manages more than 150 men. He also teaches leadership to other fire departments across the country and to outside organizations like the U.S. Marine Corps.