Building Resilience

(Photo credit: Ron Porter/Creative Commons)

Resilience isn’t something you have or not. It’s something that you build every day as you move through the storm. We are all born with muscles but none of us are born strong. We have to build strength by exercising those muscles, by feeding those muscles and by letting those muscles recover after the strain. This is how we build our resilience; so that when we are next tested, we will be strong enough to bend.

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Ben Iverson is currently a Training Specialist for NWCG Training Development at NIFC. All expressions are those of the author.

IGNITE: Commitment Begins with Involvement

Involvement is the foundation for commitment. - Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, p. 54

[Photo: BLM/Southern Nevada District Fire Program]

IGNITE: Discover the leader within you.

Discover the leader within you.

[Photo: Kari Greer/USFS]

Leading Authentically: How Do I Tell the Emperors?

(Photo: By Alfred Walter Bayes, Dalziel Brothers [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

Timeless leadership is always about character, and it is always about authenticity. ~ Warren Bennis

I take pride in being a squeaky wheel, a BS caller, a canary in the coal mine. I’ll tackle the hard topics, often saying what many are thinking but don’t want to speak up about. I like that about myself, but not everyone likes that about me. As I have matured as a person and an employee, I’ve gotten better at being a bit gentler with it than I used to—at least when the situation warrants it. I’m still not great at sugar-coating things, and I feel that I shouldn’t have to when addressing my peers and my higher ups.

IGNITE: DUTY - RESPECT - INTEGRITY

DUTY
RESPECT
INTEGRITY

[Photo: Dan Ng/NPS]

LIVE!

The hardest assignments begin with the simplest act. Adding the black band to my badge somehow makes it more real. It signifies the need, the calling to bring another fallen firefighter home for the last time. I think about July 23, 2009, often. Tom Marovich died on July 21st, but I met his parents on July 23. That day is etched in my brain. If you’ve met a mother or a father or a sister or brother, you know what I mean. That day in 2009 nearly broke me. In the years since, I've been on a quest to be strong enough to bend when faced with the storm—to become more resilient.

IGNITE: Planting the Seeds of Knowledge

If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old. - Attributed to Lord Chesterton

[Photo: Kyle Miller/Wyoming IHC, Strawberry Hill fire]

Extreme Ownership: Get After it!

(Leif Babin, George Risko, Carlos Climent, and Jocko Willink; photo credit: George Risko)

What is Extreme Ownership? Well, first, it’s a philosophy of leadership. It is also a book, the full title of which is Extreme Ownership: How Navy SEALs Lead and Win, written by a couple of former Navy SEALs, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Jocko and Leif decided to share what they’ve learned about leadership, teamwork and relationships with the world. I am of the opinion that the principles in the book also qualify it as a lifestyle—and certainly, for me, a life changer.

IGNITE: You Have a Duty to Influence Decisions

Everyone has the right and the duty to influence decision making and to understand the results. – Max De Pree

[Photo: Kari Greer/USFS, Rough fire, 2015]

IGNITE: Kindness and Truth

Kindness doesn’t mean we avoid having difficult conversations with people. Kindness doesn’t mean we refuse to address poor performance. Kindness demands that we tell the truth. ~ Perry Noble

[Photo credit: Rob Marcroft, Martin Canyon fire (2017)]