Keynote speaker’s career demonstrates teamwork
Trending
Oftentimes, we consider a leader to be someone who is charismatic, a take-charge person, someone who has no trouble calling the shots. However, drawing on the words of Drew Dudley, a nationally-renowned dynamic leadership speaker, Tina Cook said she believes there is another way altogether one can be a leader.
"Everyone thinks being a leader is this huge, big thing; something that is bigger than all of us. However, Dudley challenges us not to think of leadership this way, but to look for leadership in the everyday moments of our worklife," Cook, the coordinator of fire training at Harrisburg Area Community College, said in brief remarks she made Saturday as a guest speaker at the Old Lycoming Township Volunteer Fire Company's annual banquet.
Cook, a firefighter for more than two decades, said one can demonstrate leadership in
routine events by simply showing some compassion and helping an individual become a better person.
"I often think about what makes someone a good leader. You hear words like empathy, compassion, that they are good communicators; they are passionate about what they do. To me, all those things make a person a leader," the Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate said.
Cook said one person who had a profound impact on her life was David "DJ" Johnson, a fire instructor she had more than 20 years ago when she was taking a course on the essentials of firefighting. She had to climb a very large ladder to a window in a four-story training tower, "I had never climbed a ladder this big before. I was petrified. I was watching all the other students take their turn in climbing the ladder. I remember seeing the ladder shake," she shared with the audience.
"When it was my turn, I just got on the ladder and climbed one rung at a time; climbing, climbing climbing, just like I had been taught," she said. As she got closer to the windowsill, she spotted her instructor, "DJ," in the window of the building. "How are you doing," he called out to her. "I told him 'I'm doing O.K.' He said 'You're doing a great job.' He knew I was very nervous. As more of him came into her view, he kept talking to me like we were having a normal conversation.When I climbed through the window, he told me I did a great job," Cook, the former fire life-safety manager for the 64-story U.S. Steel Tower in Pittsburgh, said.
"To me, 'DJ' was a heck of a fire service leader," she said. Johnson, an instructor at the National Fire Academy. died in September 2021, just shy of his 60th birthday, from toxic substances he was exposed to while helping with the recovery of bodies at the World Trade Center following the 9-11 terrorist attack.
Cook recalled another quiet leader in her career some years ago. While she and a more experienced firefighter were classmates in a continuing education firefighting class, the firefighter took some extra time to show her the best way to quickly and safely put on a self-contained breathing apparatus.
Another example was "a fire chief who allowed me to be the incident commander at a wires-down call. When we got back to the station, we sat down together and he went over the good and the bad with me, the good and the bad. Sure, the emergency call wasn't that big a deal at all, but it really meant a lot that he allowed me to take charge, to let me run a scene," she remembered.
"All these people helped me become a better person so that in the end, I could make other people better." She said these few examples of leaders in her life took time with her, and through moments of kindness and compassion, they showed that they cared, and wanted to help make Tina Cook a better fireman, a better instructor, a better person.
She assured the audience that "the last 27 years certainly have not been all puppy dogs and rainbows." There were those in the fire service who wanted to see her fail. They wanted her to get out because they felt she really did not belong. However, Cook, currently a member of the Millersburg Volunteer Fire Company (Dauphin County) told the audience she learned to turn all that negativity into something positive.
"So to the haters, keyboard warriors and bullies, thank you for telling me that I did not belong. Thank you for telling me that I couldn't do it. Thank you for reminding me that as a female, I'm not the norm in the fire service. Those people helped me as well, believe it or not. However, my family, my friends, my faith, the instructors and my mentors have all helped me get to this point in my life. They do not allow me to dwell very long (on those who are negative), and I don't.," she said.
Cook, an adjunct instructor at the Pennsylvania Fire Academy, said she has used those negative people and experiences in her life as "energy to push on and move forward." She went on to say "Those people helped me keep going as well. Tell me I can't do it, 'Well, just watch me now.'" as she would prove the naysayers wrong again and again.
In closing, Cook, who authored a children's book on fire safety called "The Firehouse Gang," challenged those in the audience to think about not that "big thing that will make a change in someone's life," but instead focus on small acts of kindness and compassion that will have a greater impact in that person's life.
"You don't have to hold a title to have an impact on a life. You just have to show that you care. Be a role model, be a cheerleader for someone, support them in what they do. Think about how you can make someone's idea better," she said.
"Every day you can choose to be a leader just by how you show up and the attitude that you bring (to the situation). My challenge to you is this: choose to be a leader every day, make a positive impact in someone's life," she added.