Measure of Success
How do you measure success? Can a fire chief be successful without being successful in both personal and professional areas? Certainly a successful fire chief can get firefighters, medics and equipment to an emergency scene safely and quickly. But success is difficult to quantify, and that is where self-satisfaction — knowing you are doing your best — is part of success.
Can we ever report to city managers or councils the number of lives saved through our pre-hospital care? Can we ever measure the quality of life for a family that was spared immeasurable grief by a timely rescue at a fire? We can recite our annual monetary damage loss statistics from fires, but how do we account for the personal treasures, family memories or heirlooms spared by our actions? That measure of success must come from the personal satisfaction we have with our job.
Some chiefs look at their new equipment and the additional stations or personnel they‘ve secured for their community. Others may point to how many of their people have gone on to become chiefs, and they can be justly proud of those they‘ve helped to secure their dream. But recently when I was playing with my 18-month-old grandson, Jack, it suddenly hit me — sometimes success comes in things as simple as the smile of a child. It was the same smile I‘d seen in a group of third-graders who recently took a field trip to our central station. They showed trust, interest and respect for the firefighters and medics giving the tour.
That thought sent me to find a copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson‘s Success, and I realized that sometimes the most difficult things to measure such as success can be expressed very simply. Here are excerpts from Emerson‘s timeless work categorized into words we all want to live by:
Humor:. To laugh often and much.
Honor: To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children.
Ethics: To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends.
Aesthetics: To appreciate beauty.
Character: To find the best in others
Philosophy: To leave the world a little better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition
Duty: To know even one life has breathed easier because you lived.
This is to have succeeded!
