As everyone knows, any successful business venture needs at least one productive sales representative. In the late 1940s, Chrysler Vice President Harry G. Moock described a successful sales person as “having the curiosity of a cat, tenacity of a bulldog, friendship of a child, diplomacy of a wayward husband, patience of a self-sacrificing wife (remember the context of the period), passion of a Sinatra fan, assurance of a Harvard grad, humor of a comedian, simplicity of a jackass, and tireless energy of a bill collector.” But with this description did he also list the necessary qualities of a successful volunteer or combination fire chief?

Shortly after co-founding a book publishing company some years ago, my business partner and I simultaneously were basking in the success of our first two publications and becoming bogged down in minutiae of day-to-day business. Though we enjoyed visions of entrepreneurial grandeur, neither of us possessed a road map to achieve that dream. Fortunately, my partner's father had the background and experience to ask bluntly, “Which one of you self-appointed executives occupies the corner office and takes time to dream of the possibilities?”

We had a business plan, at least one as comprehensive as could be penciled on a cocktail napkin. But he wasn't talking about a traditional business plan. We soon learned he was referring to a vision — the grandiose dream of possibilities. From that day forward, I was more than happy to assume the role of corporate daydreamer. Our big-picture plan evolved from daydreaming, and a formal business (strategic) plan evolved from those daydreams.

Over the past two decades, the fire service has embraced the need for strategic planning gradually. It's become our sophisticated, computer-generated form of a business plan. A strategic plan is a road map that all members of the organization can embrace as the pathway into their future. Strategic planning provides a structured and systematic process for continually improving customer service. It's a dynamic document that identifies challenges and opportunities. It's also a document containing specific goals and objectives. So who in your organization creates the preliminary, yet necessary, daydream? Who in your organization lays down the foundation for greater things to come?

T.S. Eliot once asked, “Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” In 2000, Guy Boyd responded to that question by saying, “Knowledge is in the minds of people, and the more minds that can be effectively brought to bear, the better. We must look at the data and ask the right questions, decipher the problems and opportunities, and envision solutions. No computer can do this; it requires insight, creativity, intuition and inspiration of the human mind.” [Ed.: “Strategic Planning: Q&A” is available at www.firechief.com/mag/firefighting_strategic_planning_3/.] If that road map is not generated through a collaborative and impassioned effort from all stakeholders, it might be doomed to failure. If accomplishing the plan's goals and objectives with that sense of passion is not in you, it might again be doomed to failure.

How do your volunteer or career members view your performance? Do you feel the same passion for the job you felt your first day on the job? Compare your daily performance to the dedication and pride you felt after Sept. 11, 2001. If you aren't leading your volunteer or combination organization that same way every day, you are not serving those who answer the pager at all hours of the day or night justly. We all know it's much too easy to become bogged down in the day-to-day minutiae. So how do we regain that passion for the job that was once there?

First of all, never lose sight of the concept that you are privileged to hold a leadership position in the best and most-admired career in America today. You are admired and respected for the service you and your organization provide your community. Passion for your work does not mean you have to relish each and every job duty. With politics, regulations, budget cuts and looming strategic plans, we all know that to be impossible.

Remaining passionate about being a fire chief is more than the old adage, “Do what you love.” As we all know, few of us are in this career for the money. Most of us began a volunteer career for altruistic reasons or some for the thrill of riding or driving the big red truck with bright lights and a loud siren. Unfortunately, as we progress through the ranks, administrative responsibilities soon mask the real reasons we entered the volunteer fire service. How do we go about regaining that lost or misplaced passion?

Put passion back into the work

The trick is not just feeling passionate about the work but acting with passion also. Days and weeks often are filled with endless, boring meetings. During these meetings, if you act with passion and enthusiasm, your conduct will be contagious to everyone else in that meeting. Your energy can and will lift everyone else in that room. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “If a man is called to be a street-sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street-sweeper who did his job well.”’ If you don't act with passion, those you lead never will embrace your exhortations.

Be innovative

Be prepared to try different approaches. Adapt and modify old approaches to current problems. To many volunteer organizations, dwindling membership is the single most pressing issue. Think outside the box. If oppressive training hours turn potential members off, try reclassifying membership roles. In today's fast-paced environment, not everyone has the time to become a firefighter, EMT, engine operator, hazmat technician, confined-space rescuer and water-rescue technician. But many community members have a little time to donate. Try reinventing your system to accommodate everyone who wants to serve regardless of skill or talent. Present every prospective new member with an exciting opportunity to serve their community.

Use your imagination

Recalling his first great photographic print, Ansel Adams related a 1927 scene of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. He knew the image on the negative probably would not inspire the same emotion he felt when in the presence of this great monolith. But Ansel wanted the final print to reflect something different than the reality of what was in front of him. The print he visualized would require additional darkroom technique. Through his imagination and passion to create a work of art that communicated what he saw in his mind's eye, Adams was able to revolutionize how photographic art was created. He later wrote, “I can still recall the excitement of seeing the visualization come true when I removed the plate from the fixing bath for examination. The desired values were all there. This was one of the most exciting moments of my career.”

Does your acuity of organizational vision still measure up to earlier career accomplishments? Does your strategic plan outline a method for replacing capital improvements, apparatus and equipment? If not, get creative with grant programs. There are opportunities at the federal, state and private arenas. The Assistance to Firefighters program is tailor-made to meet the needs of volunteer and combination departments. SAFER grants for recruitment and retention purposes are the least competitive of all federal grants, and AFG Prevention grants can assist in funding new community-education programs. Look to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural community development program for assistance with building or remodeling fire stations. Finally, don't overlook private and corporate foundations for specific programs that may meet the focus of individual grant and scholarship programs. Dream big and don't underestimate each program's capacity to fund your needs.

Motivate from within

When asked about his success, Mark Twain responded, “I was born excited.” Remember how you felt following your first structure fire? Recall how you felt the first time an anguished resident looked straight into your face with tears welling up and said, “Thank you.”

That was probably all you needed to seek additional training no matter what the cost or time demands. The desire to excel came from within. To be a successful leader of volunteers, you have to exude that same passion and enthusiasm for training. It must come from within and it must be contagious. Oil tycoon J. Paul Getty ranked career passion ahead of imagination, business acumen and ambition as a necessary ingredient of business success. The same holds true for fire chiefs.

Sharpen your ax

In the great northland of America, the number of trees he can fell each day measures a logger's success. One logging camp story tells of a new arrival, a strong young man with an ax to match his arms. The first day on the job he was able to fell 20 trees. But as the days progressed, and in spite of intensified effort with each swing, each day produced fewer and fewer fallen trees. Frustrated at diminishing results, his boss inquired, “When was the last time you sharpened your ax?” “Sharpen?” he replied. “I have no time to sharpen; I'm busy cutting trees.”

When was the last time you attended a leadership or motivational conference? While it's still some time away, November's Symposium in the Sun hosted by the Volunteer and Combination Officers Section of the IAFC offers a perfect opportunity for volunteer and combination chief officers to sharpen leadership skills. When was the last time you sharpened your ax?

It is your job to ensure your members have the very best apparatus, personal protection equipment and tools to complete their tasks safely. It is your responsibility to ensure your members have the very best training and education to mitigate the emergency safely and efficiently. It is your job to ensure that community education and prevention programs are clearly defined and appropriately targeted to your customer base.

While this might sound like preaching to the choir, you must realize you ask your members to place their lives on the line every time they respond to an emergency call for service. Every time you schedule training, you ask all members to sacrifice precious time away from their families. Every time you call for a business meeting, members give up alternative activities from their personal lives. Do your members truly believe their time is well invested?

If you are not approaching your job with passion, you can't begin to meet the needs of your members. They deserve your very best each and every day. Once your members sense a dispassionate approach to leadership, their performance will decline inevitably, quality of customer service may suffer, and you may begin filling out additional workers compensation forms. Remember Moock's requisite qualities for a successful sales representative? As fire chief, how many of them do you possess? How many have been filed away in storage?

Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton had 10 rules for success. Rule number one was, “Commit to your business. Believe in it [your fire department] more than anything else. If you love your work, you will be out there every day trying to do the best you can, and pretty soon everybody around you will catch the passion from you — like a fever.”

Remember that fledgling book publishing company with a “cocktail napkin” business plan? It now has more than 250 photography books and 85 videos on America's National Parks in circulation. It has become the nation's largest supplier of art and souvenir books to the national-park market.

Directing strategic plans can become mundane and boring. Without proper funding, they can become overwhelming and even unachievable. Without dreaming, without visualization, without imagination, without innovation, your organization may be doomed to mediocrity. As fire chief, are you gazing out the window and dreaming of the possibilities? Are you dreaming with a passion?

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Jim Wilson is fire chief of Mariposa County (Calif.) Fire Department and a 36-year veteran of the volunteer and combination fire service. He has founded two successful business ventures including a book publishing company specializing in America's national parks and approaches fire service issues with an entrepreneurial outlook. Wilson is also a graduate of National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer Program and is on the board of directors of International Association of Fire Chiefs' Volunteer and Combination Officers Section.