Remembering our Purpose
Dear Fellow Officers:
I have been working on self-improvement lately and have more profound thoughts on days like today. Today, 18 years ago, my daughter was born. I often feel challenged to improve on days like today. In my quest to be a better leader, father, and husband, I found some videos or articles. This one happens to be a video by Simon Sinek. I am sure most of you know or have seen videos by this guy. Below is a video link that provokes thought. I also added my thoughts on what I learned. I hope that this spurs conversation among us.? ? ?
Mr. Sinek talks about the "Why?". Why do we do what we do??
I divided the question into two parts to make it easier to digest. The "Why?"?personally?and the "Why?"?professionally. The whole question is, "Why?do you do what you do? I had to think about this and spend some time on it. The "What" & "How" was easy to answer. But The "Why" is a little more challenging to narrow down.
Your "Why?" will have to be worked out independently. I only added my professional thoughts to the Why in this post.??
For me, the why came down to?profoundly understanding?the?what and how?more intimately. I enforce the California Fire Code (CFC) in my current role. I dove deeper into the code, starting with Section 1.1.2 Purpose. The CFC has established regulations to protect life against fires, explosions, or dangerous conditions in new and existing buildings. The purpose of the CFC explicitly states what the Office of the State Fire Marshal wanted to do. They implemented policies to "safeguard the public health" and "provide safety and assistance to firefighters and emergency responders during emergency operations." Recognizing good practices helps to save lives by buying them more time to leave the building.??
So, my why! I remember an instructor I have had multiple times who was encouraging and thoughtful in his work as a fire prevention engineer. He stated in these classes, "I will not compromise any CFC that puts four types of people groups in significant danger. Children, the Elderly, Individuals with mental or physical disabilities, and Firefighters!" That stuck with me. When digging into my why, his words kept coming back to me. My why is to protect them at all costs, no compromise! ??
Two firefighters died in April 2014 because of negligence on the part of the workers performing high-hazard work. Lack of training and no permit resulted in the cause of the fire and the death of two Boston Fire Firefighters. Two firefighters from North Carolina died in 2011 because the installers replaced the old carpet with a new rug. The newly installed carpet kept the automatic doors from closing. Automatic closing doors are there for a reason and, when compromised, resulted in two firefighters' deaths during search and rescue efforts.?
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It saddens me to read articles like these and know that these tragedies (and more) could have been avoided had property owners followed sound practices.
My concluding thoughts to my why are...
To protect our vulnerable population and those willing to risk it all, we must encounter, engage, and encourage.
Encountering stakeholders with diplomacy, engaging the community through education, and encouraging influencers artfully is the path to compliance within our communities.?
Watch Simon Sinek's videos and see if they promote thought. Think about watching them with your crews and having a discussion about them. I do not pretend to have the answers and often could use self-improvement. I am only sending this out to add to the conversation! Take it for what it is!??
Leadership video by Simon Sinek (it's only 18 mins)!
J. Daniel