Chapter 16. Put Your Hose Away
Wise leaders and high achievers come to understand that they can’t hope to eliminate problems...and wouldn’t want to.
—Dale Dauten
Why are so many managers ineffective leaders?
Because they are firefighters. When you become a firefighter, you don’t lead anymore. You don’t decide where your team is going. The fire decides for you. (The fire is whatever current problem has flared up and captured your time and imagination.)
The fire controls your life. You think you are controlling the fire, but the fire is controlling you.
You become unconscious of opportunity. You become blind to possibilities, because you are engulfed in, and defined by, the fire.
If you’re an unmotivational manager, even when you put the fire ...
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