Opportunity’s Knocking — Will You Open the Door?

June FireRescue Leadership Skill

That Noise You Hear … It’s the sound of opportunity knocking—will you open the door?
By Chief Marc Revere

There’s a fable about a lumberjack who was purported to be the best in the land and had won numerous competitions. The edge of his axe blade was honed to perfection; the tried and true methods he used were passed down from his father and his father before him. He was in the prime of his life and his strength, but he never changed his techniques or invested in new technology. One day, a lanky youngster challenged him to a tree-felling competition. The lumberjack laughed and took the bet. They squared off, facing their respective stand of trees, and the starter yelled, “Ready, set, go!” at which point the kid drop-started his chainsaw. The lumberjack dropped his axe and with a look of bewilderment on his face, exclaimed, “What’s that noise?!”

Are there people in your organization who are like that lumberjack—professionally limited by their resistance to change, confined to their comfort zone? Such people don’t appreciate the benefits of lifelong learning. They fail to understand the concept of “accept, adapt and accelerate—or atrophy.” Like the lumberjack, they fail to even realize that atrophy has already set in.

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