Payton Owens came to the fire service, left, grew an impressive beard, and then came back again. When he left the department, he had some pretty serious stuff going on in his personal life, but he freely admits: he had become pretty disgruntled with the job.

Payton got gruntled and came back. His reasons for returning and his perspective are a large part of this episode, but we also discuss “easy decisions” and what part trust plays in decisions that don’t go your way. We pressure Payton to admit that he’s an informal leader and debate what kind of impact the informal leader has on those around them. When he admits a mistake he made managing the gym he owned, the discussion reveals how running a gym and a fire department aren’t that different at times.

A short side discussion from one of our recording sessions about what’s at the nature of success when operating on the fireground: adaptability.

This quick discussion was born out of an article called “Command NOT Control” by Eric Saylors. Not all of us had read the article, and Shane and Pabel (who did read it) aren’t sure if they agree with it or not. Just when the discussion might be getting going, our appointed time to interview Chris Wessels sneaks up on us, and he’s calling in. We might have to pick this topic up again in the future.

When we sat down to talk with Chief Chris Wessels, we had a specific topic in mind that we thought we would cover. But what happens so often with the best conversations happened here; the conversation itself led us to places where we didn’t think we were going to go. In this episode, we speak with Chief Wessels about respect inside the firehouse, millennials, mental health, what to do when you don’t get promoted, and a whole lot more. We certainly enjoyed ourselves, and some of what Chris said really got us thinking. We think it might have the same effect on you.

This audiobook was a project of Combustible to produce an audiobook version of one of the most important documents in fire service history.

This audiobook was a project of Combustible to produce an audiobook version of one of the most important documents in fire service history.

This audiobook was a project of Combustible to produce an audiobook version of one of the most important documents in fire service history.

This audiobook was a project of Combustible to produce an audiobook version of one of the most important documents in fire service history.

This audiobook was a project of Combustible to produce an audiobook version of one of the most important documents in fire service history.

This audiobook was a project of Combustible to produce an audiobook version of one of the most important documents in fire service history.