From Firefighting to Fire Prevention: Why Smart CEOs Choose Prevention over Panic

In the fast-paced realm of leadership and crisis management, a pivotal choice can make all the difference—it's the choice between fire-fighting and fire prevention. Picture a scenario as a CEO where you're steering a massive ship in the unpredictable waters of business. It's a realm where fires are neither rare nor kind, and your response and preparation can either make or break you. All too often, business leaders, especially in small to medium-sized businesses, spend an inordinate amount of time fighting fires—jumping from crisis to crisis—and not enough time on fire prevention. We’ll explore the shift from chaotic crisis management to thoughtful anticipation and the extraordinary benefits it bestows upon the leaders who choose this path. This isn't just about crisis management; it's about strategic advantage, streamlined operations, and a brighter bottom line. So, let's embark on this journey and discover why CEOs who prioritize fire prevention rise above those who merely react to the flames.

Of the many jobs I had in the US Navy, one of the most fun and demanding was being a fire chief, officially the damage control officer, of a strike destroyer. A fire at sea is one of the most feared scenarios: There is nowhere to run to, and help is not coming anytime soon.

My job was to make sure we were ready if we had to fight a fire and, more importantly, to take all available precautions to never have to. Being ready is important, but the best way to deal with fire is to prevent a fire in the first place. My full-time and part-time staff did intensive and regularly planned maintenance on all our fire-fighting equipment. We validated our maintenances by weekly spot checks. There was complete buy-in from all the senior staff on the importance, as all levels of management on the ship were required to conduct a spot check every week. Spot checks entailed reviewing the entire written procedure with the maintenance person to ensure that the maintenance was performed with the required supplies in accordance with the set procedure (recipe card). The ship maintained exceptional cleanliness standards that everyone was aware of—trash and oil accumulation was not acceptable and had to be immediately taken care of. There were daily cleanliness inspections of most spaces. Equipment out of place needed to be stowed. Equipment out of order needed to be fixed or documented on the ship’s maintenance plan to be fixed. Once on the maintenance plan, everyone who needed to know had visibility on the status until it was fixed.

To ensure the ship was doing everything correctly, we had regular and frequent quality assurance inspections by outside organizations, from our squadron commander (our boss) to congressionally mandated inspection teams (survey of inspection). Everything was inspected. Our material status (equipment that was broken or not being taken care of properly), training ability (we were graded on a regular basis for all required evolutions), and maintenance records. If we failed anything, it was a very bad day, and you basically didn’t get to go home until you fixed everything. Very motivating.

I share all of this detail to give you a sense of how exhaustive, serious, and systemized the approach to fire-fighting and fire prevention is in the Navy. We take it seriously, as a fire at sea is very bad and often deadly. Preventing a fire is much, much better.

In business, I see a lot of “fire-fighting.” Fire-flailing might be a better term because, yes, there is a “fire,” but there isn’t even a coordinated, well-thought-out (trained) method to even fight a fire. Corporate “fire-fighting” is often “seat-of-the-pants,” intense reaction, very focused, perhaps some finger-pointing, and even shouting. There is a certain archetype of leader that lurches from crisis to crisis. They complain about how so-and-so screwed up, and they had to come in to save the day. On a basic level, a “corporate fire” is something that is predictable and preventable, but often is not predicted, and no action was taken to prevent it.

An example could be not having adequate network security and having your system being shut down and held for ransom until you pay a large amount of money. It could be hiring someone and having an inadequate onboarding process, such that the person was not adequately trained or supervised, and then causing major damage, taking down a significant portion of the business that caused customer ordering errors. These errors focus around one main culprit—not being systemized enough to have processes or procedures in place to deal with the great number of issues that arise.

At the core of prevention is having a systemized approach to anticipate what is coming next. Systems are created by leaders that ask questions. What processes or procedures can be implemented to address an issue before it arises or handle a process more efficiently? Can you have a proper network system whereby passwords are changed at regular intervals, people trained on “phishing scams” so as not to fall victim to unauthorized information sharing? Are backups made daily and retained offsite, and do you practice recovering your backups on a regular basis? Do you have an onboarding schedule for each employee that ensures they are “qualified” to some sort of standard of performance before being allowed access to systems that can cause damage if not operated correctly? Are there supervisory checks on employee activity to ensure they consistently meet the standards expected? If not, is there a process to address deficiencies? These are all prevention considerations.

When more processes are in place to deal with the unexpected, the easier and more efficiently staff will be able to address situations when they arise. If it’s prevented and it doesn’t happen, that is a huge time savings. If it does happen, and the response is thought out, then it will be taken care of in less time than otherwise would be the case, so that is a great time savings as well.

The CEO or business owner that steps away from their business to work ON their business thinks about things like prevention. They think about the threats to their business and direct their people to create responses to these potential events. These leaders are thinking strategically. They ask questions: Lots of questions. When it’s calm. In advance when nothing else is going on.

When leaders focus on their strategic aspect of their job, they can take the long view of the company. When they challenge and are challenged on how the business is operating, leaders can see things differently. Looking through a different lens leads to questions and identification of threats, which can lead to the creation of better-documented responses.

Documenting the response to these questions is called a process or procedure. Having a culture around having preplanned responses means the business is creating systems to make the company work more harmoniously. Once processes, procedures and systems are in place, then there is awareness. The process can be communicated to all stakeholders, it can be trained on, resources allocated toward prevention, and responses can be evaluated, and feedback provided for correction. Consider my experience above; the Navy has layers of overlapping systems—training, qualifications, maintenance, quality assurance all dovetailing together to achieve better readiness to deal with a fire, but even more so toward prevention.

Employees like predictability. Most people thrive in an environment where they know what is expected of them and they have the tools to do their job. Crises cause stress and are unpredictable. Tension, blame, and having plans change on a dime, especially if avoidable, cause stress in the workplace. Bad stress lowers employee engagement and thus impacts retention negatively and the company’s ability to operate efficiently. Having a culture of being proactive allows for predictability, planning, and calm. If the company is proactive in prevention, then more employees can be engaged in developing a more well-thought-out response. Higher engagement means more employees are participating and being heard in the organization, which leads to higher engagement, satisfaction, and retention.

The shift from fire-fighting to fire prevention is a transformation that can revolutionize an organization. Drawing inspiration from the Navy's rigorous standards, where fire prevention is a matter of life and death, we can understand the immense benefits of being proactive and systematic.

In the business world, crises are often predictable and preventable, but they all too frequently go unaddressed until they become calamities. By stepping back and taking the time to implement systems, processes, and a culture of anticipation, CEOs can chart a more stable course for their organizations. This shift brings confidence, efficiency, and predictability, while reducing stress, operating expenses, and the potential for damage to a company's reputation.

The proactive CEO, who steps back from the chaos to focus on strategic fire prevention, paves the way for a smoother, more harmonious operation. With a culture of prevention, employees thrive in an environment where they know what's expected and have the tools to excel. They feel heard and valued, leading to increased engagement, satisfaction, and retention.

So, the choice is clear—whether you're at sea navigating a destroyer, or at the helm of a business, prioritize fire prevention, and watch your organization rise above the flames, prepared for whatever challenges lie ahead.