I was thinking the other day about the intersections of our lives where one aspect of our life crosses over into another. This of course happens a lot. In this particular case I was thinking about my how my professional life influenced the rest of my life. I have said elsewhere that Kristine and I both chose “service to others” for occupations and that we believe that it was not an accident that we met and built a life together. She has worked her whole adult life in human services, the nonprofit sector as well as a long stint in the fire service part time. For my part, I’ve spent the last 35 years in public safety almost entirely in the fire service.

One of my heroes is Alan Brunacini, the long serving Fire Chief of Phoenix Arizona. Brunacini spent his entire career on Phoenix starting in 1958 up to his retirement in 2006. He held nearly every possible position within the department as he rose through the ranks. He served the last 28 years as Chief. Sadly, Chief Brunacini passed away in 2017. The legacy he left, the countless lessons and wisdom he shared with so many of us on the job have broad implications that go well beyond the fire service. And the placement of this essay is no accident either. It seems like it should be in the Fire Service section of this website; but I chose to put it in the Purposeful Life. I believe that is where it belongs.

Brunacini was much more than a Fire Chief. He wrote books, did a lot if public speaking and wrote a monthly column in Fire Engineering magazine called “Bruno Unplugged”. I never met him but I read his column for years. I’ve read several of his books and watched many of his talks on YouTube. He wrote at length about “Mrs. Smith” his fictitious and ubiquitous 911 customer whose needs must always be met. The fire service to Bruno was all about customer service. He opined and correctly so that the state of customer service in America had declined precipitously in recent decades. But to his way of thinking, we in the fire service could and should provide the best customer service ever. And… he included in Phoenix Fire’s mission statement, a two word sentence the likes of which had never been seen in a mission statement, “Be Nice!”

I incorporated a lot of Chief Brunacini’s beliefs and ideas in my teaching in the fire service. He had a presentation that I used a lot when I taught new firefighters. I embellished it; added things to the point where I have no clue what is his and what is mine. But it doesn’t matter; he was the one that came up with it, I borrowed it and put my own spin on it. I am grateful to him for the idea and always credit him when teaching it. It went something like this: think about what a 911 call means. People call 911 when things around them are out of control; it is never a result of someone having a great day. Think about the call itself. A human being answers after a few rings. And I don’t think they are on the other side of the planet and they speak clear English. I’m not being mean or narrow minded, a 911 call is not a good place for a poor connection or language barriers. And you will never, never hear a recording that says “we’re sorry, all our operators are busy helping other customers. But your call is important to us; so please stay on the line and it will be answered in the order it was received”.

What happens is a person answers and asks two simple questions: what is the nature of your emergency and where are you? Brilliant! Corporate America… pay attention here, this is the right model. Then we show up promptly. We get under control what wasn’t under control. If we’re not too busy, we stay and help you clean up. Bruno used to love to drive this point home; “think about it, we are the government, yup… government. But, we are easy to reach and we don’t ask stupid questions and make you fill out crap online. And when we are done… we leave! What a concept!”

This is the opposite of the dreaded call to your credit card company or insurance provider. Those calls take many, many long minutes of being on hold and answering the questions over and over again… only to have to answer them again, when you finally reach a real person. Brunacini lectured us over and over to be the greatest customer service reps ever. It was a totally different way of viewing our work and I for one wholeheartedly embraced it.

Brunacini became Chief in 1978. Over the years he turned Phoenix into the gold standard for a large metropolitan fire department. Phoenix did not have the long history and legendary status of Boston Fire or FDNY but it became a thoroughly modern and innovative department. I’m sure some of it happened on the strength of the Chief’s personality. He was very charismatic and had a way of putting people at ease. He was well known for showing up unannounced at the many fire houses in Phoenix and sitting on the front bumper of an engine and talking to the crews for hours. He seemed more interested in talking with the black helmets than his officers. He was enormously popular with the rank and file members of the department.

He had a lot to say about leadership as well. He didn’t mince his words when it came to how much damage bad leadership could cause. He wrote extensively about what toxicity at the top… did to the bottom. One of his best known quotes is: “If you want to make changes in the workers’ behavior, change the behavior of the boss”. Leadership and training went hand in hand the way he saw it. He broke it down like this; he said there were four simple steps to always be followed between officers and their crews, he wrote this from the crew’s perspective:

• Tell me what to do
• Give me the tools and training to be able to do it
• Get the hell out of my way
• And then tell me how I did

Pretty simple and straight forward. These four rules should be applied to every workplace. I worked with and trained many fire officers. I’ve witnessed all four of these rules being violated. I’ve listened to officers complain that a firefighter didn’t do anything. My response is “did you tell them to do it?” I often get back that I shouldn’t have to tell them, they should just do it. My response to that is “if that always worked you would be unnecessary”. That usually hits home.

Then there’s the “they didn’t do it correctly”. The obvious question is “did you ever show them how to do it?” All too often, after a moment’s thought I get “well, maybe I didn’t”. Do you see a pattern here?

Officers who have followed the first two rules then need to give their firefighters room, let them try. I had a young firefighter who had no self esteem or confidence. He was afraid to do anything. It was painful to watch. I took him aside and told that he needed to do something, anything, on the next call. I told him I don’t care if you do it wrong, do something! He looked terrified and I assured him that I would not yell at him if he screwed up. And then I assured him that I would yell at him if he did nothing again. It was the beginning of a long, slow process… but at least it was a start.

The last rule gets neglected all the time and that is so unfortunate. People need feedback… it’s how they grow. Good or bad, feedback has to happen… it’s that simple. I’ve always encouraged officers to be diplomatic but not to the point of silence.

So this is a brief look at Chief Brunacini’s world. He was a fire service leader, but what he has to offer is applicable in almost any workplace. He was an exceptional man. I wanted to share it here because we can all learn from him. I believe much of what he said can be applied to our personal relationships too. After he retired he spent the last decade of his life giving lectures and seminars to people like me. He still went to firehouses but now all over the country and to the delight of crews sat on the front bumper and held court. I know several firefighters who have sat and talked with him… they are all in awe of their time with the good Chief. He was kind and thoughtful, always soft spoken. He wore Hawaiian shirts. He was not full of himself… he was full of the fire service and wisdom.

I guess I wrote this because not only did I tremendously admire him, I thought it would be good to share him with folks outside of the fire service. If I’ve sparked any interest, there’s plenty of the Chief on YouTube. Thanks for reading. And thank you, Chief.