Lead Towards Danger Podcast

Today's podcast is with retired  Chief Deputy of Operations Rick Edinger, where he talks about his 48 years of service in the Fire and EMS profession. We discuss the evolution of the profession he has witnessed over the past five decades. He talks about creating a high-performance culture, the benefits of regional cooperation, and what people should be doing to prepare for leadership positions in the future.

Understanding Command Philosophy and Commander Climate are critical for any leader. In this episode, I interview retired Captain Michael Snawder, on how he applied these concepts as both a police commander and certified planning section chief.

Today I discuss the Leading in the Wildland Fire Services publication from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. The publication is free, and I recommend you download it and read it often. The lessons apply to anyone in a leadership role in any organization.

Based on the readings and applying my own lessons, I wrote Commander's Intent: A Framework for Success; and cowrote Embracing the Incident Command System Above and Beyond Theory.

For most of my life, I have heard, "leaders eat last." In this special episode, we discuss the idea. I talk about the impact that leaders who put others' needs first have on their organizations and their community—the leader's values and how it influences command climate. I conclude with a call to action. I ask you to reflect on past actions. Do you put your interests above those they aspire to lead? Together, we can make all public safety stronger.

David Maddox is a master trainer and CEO of The Endurance Leadership Project. Robust training programs help keep your community safe and help engage and retain current employees and attract new ones to your agency.  On this podcast, he discusses a Training Mindset concept and talks about the three critical elements that he uses to create diverse training programs. Finally, he talks about the phase from his Apollo 1 learning from a tragedy course that “leaders understand the price of admission” when setting expectations and holding people accountable.

In this podcast, I explain the concept behind Lead Towards Danger. In every incident or call for service, there is something to learn. We can be an effective public safety team when we break down silos and share best practices.