Home of the Champions : CityFire Marshall

“Keep your people informed” – 11 Leadership Principles (US Army 1948)

We visited General Santos City's City Fire Marshall, FSUPT Reginald L Legaste, today, and he shared some leadership tips with us. His first instruction was to treat everyone with respect, especially those we work with. Additionally, he advised us to take this into account rather than ignore the feedback from our employees because each person contributed a unique set of experiences to the service.

Leaders must maintain a humble demeanor and be receptive to ideas that could benefit their organization. As we prepare to be future leaders, we must improve our emotional, social, and adversity quotients. This is important since we'll be managing people inside our stations someday. We will produce the public safety leaders of tomorrow. As we strive to be prepared for any situation that may arise in our duties as leaders, this quality will serve as the cornerstone of our decision-making and guidance.

He also underlined how important it is for recent PNPA graduates to develop our ability to adjust in the community because we would be interacting with various people regularly. How we treat each of them will reveal our attitude toward our subordinates. Attempt not to be overly demanding, as their aid is voluntary, but do consider your stakeholders, as they will eventually contribute to your efforts to offer high-quality community services. They are not subject to any obligations.

Instead of displaying weakness to your supporters or adversaries, behave as a strong leader they can trust. As Sun Tzu said in The Art of War, "Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak," this is how you win a battle. If you know what you're doing, you can confidently say "No."

Take precautions once you are aware of an issue. Our leaders must act as mentors and warn them when we perceive that they have done wrong so our followers can learn from our mistakes and prevent repeating them. Once we are in that situation, we should learn to give back.

When we have that authority as a leader, we must share our knowledge with our team members so that they can learn from our mistakes and become strong leaders. As cadets, we must heed our seniors' leadership advice because their long service history attests to their efficiency, which we can prepare for as we will eventually take the same road they did. When the time comes, we must select how we will apply their advice to offer top-notch service.

Reflections:

• https://web.facebook.com/gensanfirestation/?_rdc=1&_rdr

• https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1095284