
OUR THOUGHTSStrategic Advisory
Leading like a fire chief: the art of empowering teams
Posted by Ajay Blackshah . Feb 11.25
Organisations often fail to modernise their delivery engines at the first hurdle. They focus on team-level improvements rather than changing their leadership style to enable a more adaptive, learning organisation for today’s fast-paced, AI-led world.
Over Christmas, my good friend Neil – a volunteer firefighter in Auckland – described an event he’d attended at the weekend. Through our conversation, I realised they’d cracked modern leadership! He shared how leadership focuses on growing capability, ensuring information flows, and ultimately trusting the people closest to the problem to make the right decisions. That conversation inspired this blog.
Imagine a blazing building, flames licking the sky, smoke billowing into the night. Emergency lights flash, and radios crackle with urgency. It’s a chaotic scene where delays or mistakes can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Now, picture the fire chief – not dragging a hose or charging into the inferno, but standing back and guiding from a place of strategic oversight. This is leadership in its most refined form – a lesson every corporate leader should understand and embrace.
The myth of the heroic leader
For generations, we've been sold a romantic vision of leadership – the lone hero, solving every problem and making critical decisions. Think of those old war movies where the general moves toy soldiers across a map or corporate narratives where the CEO is portrayed as the singular genius driving innovation. It’s a compelling story fundamentally out of kilter with the digital age.
True leadership is counterintuitive. It’s not about being the smartest person in the room or having all the answers. Instead, it’s about creating an environment where collective intelligence can flourish, where teams are so well-prepared they can navigate complex challenges without constant intervention.
Learning from the fire service: a master class in leadership
Firefighters operate in some of the riskiest, rapidly changing environments imaginable. A burning building is no place for hesitation or hierarchical decision-making. When lives are on the line, every team member must be capable of making split-second decisions that could mean the difference between life and death.
The fire chief’s role is radically different to what most people imagine. They’re not frontline heroes but architects of organisational capability. Their success is measured by how effectively they’ve prepared their team to respond to any scenario and use their various strengths and skill sets to create a cohesive course of action.
Setting the context
Context is the invisible framework that guides decision-making. In the fire service, this means:
- Establishing clear mission parameters
- Defining operational guidelines
- Creating a shared understanding of organisational values
- Ensuring every team member knows the broader strategic objectives
For corporate leaders, this translates to creating a North Star that guides team behaviour. It’s not about detailed instructions, it’s about painting a vivid picture of the organisation’s purpose and potential.
Building deep capability
Capability is more than just skills training. It’s about creating a holistic environment of continuous learning, psychological safety and adaptive expertise.
Continuing with our firefighting metaphor, this means:
- Rigorous and ongoing training simulations
- Cross-training that builds versatile skill sets
- After-action reviews that transform every incident into a learning opportunity
- A culture that views mistakes as essential to growth, not as failures to be punished
Corporate leaders must think similarly. Training is a continuous process. It’s about creating learning ecosystems where team members constantly expand their capabilities, challenge assumptions and develop adaptive thinking.
The courage to let go
Here’s where most leaders fail. They understand the importance of context and capability but struggle with the final, most challenging step… getting out of the way.
Letting go requires profound trust. It means believing that the frameworks you’ve established and the capabilities you’ve built will enable your team to navigate complexity without micromanagement and constant oversight.
This doesn’t mean abdicating responsibility but shifting from direct control to creating the conditions for intelligent self-management.
Real-world leadership transformation
Let’s break down what this looks like in practice:

Practical steps for leaders
- Clarify the mission: Develop a clear, compelling narrative about your organisation’s purpose. Make it vivid enough for every team member to internalise and use as a decision-making compass.
- Invest in continuous learning: Create learning budgets, establish mentorship programmes and treat learning as the most critical investment rather than an expense.
- Design robust communication frameworks: Establish clear communication protocols that enable rapid information sharing without bureaucratic bottlenecks.
- Cultivate psychological safety: Create environments where team members feel safe taking risks, sharing ideas, and learning from failures.
- Practice strategic withdrawal: Deliberately create space for teams to solve problems. Resist the urge to jump in and rescue or micromanage.
The paradox of leadership
Here’s the beautiful paradox… by stepping back, you become a more influential leader. Your influence expands not through direct control but through the capabilities you’ve helped build.
Like a fire chief with complete confidence in their crew, corporate leaders must learn to trust. Trust that the context they’ve set and the capabilities they’ve built will enable their teams to navigate the most complex challenges.
A call to transformation
Leadership is not a title or a position. It’s a commitment to creating environments where human potential can be fully realised.
The fire chief doesn’t put out fires. They create firefighters who can handle any blaze.
Your job as a leader? Do the same.
Transform your approach, set the context, build extraordinary capability and then have the courage to step back and watch your team soar.
Take the first step and contact me to find out more about how we can help make that happen.
More Ideas
our thoughts
Mastering Model Context Protocol (MCP): how to give your AI Code Assistant tools to use
Posted by Davin Ryan . Jun 30.25
We are regularly reminded that large language models (LLMs) will revolutionise how we work, automate complex tasks and enhance productivity across industries.
> Readour thoughts
Platform engineering principles that actually work for teams
Posted by Reuben Dunn . Jun 24.25
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the concept of principles. I coach basketball based on principles rather than set plays and, like basketball, platform engineering represents complex adaptive systems.
> Readour thoughts
Questions leaders must ask during AI implementation
Posted by Martin Kearns . Jun 18.25
We are regularly reminded by technology experts that AI will transform business operations, reduce costs and create competitive advantages. We agree these opportunities exist, but this blog isn’t just another article promoting AI adoption.
> Readour thoughts
Evaluating strategic AI bets
Posted by Gareth Evans . Jun 12.25
Organisations are increasingly making strategic product bets on Artificial Intelligence, representing both tremendous opportunity and significant risk.
> Readour thoughts
Do YAGNI, KISS and DRY always provide better engineering and product development?
Posted by Davin Ryan . May 19.25
We are regularly reminded by content creators and experts that YAGNI, KISS and DRY reduce ‘dumb work’, are ‘need to know’ and ‘key software design principles’ to get the best out of your software engineering teams leading to better business outcomes.
> Read