30 Years of Cultivating Fire Agency Leaders
Chief Dan and I were introduced at large fire conference when he was still the Chief of Chapel Hill, NC Fire Department. I was reconnecting with the Fire Service when Dan retired and we had some meetings to talk about our leadership philosophies and realized that we were very good complements to each other….we agree about 80% of the time and the rest we have good discussions about issues that are rarely black and white. We are both passionate about developing Fire Service leaders.
We have been working together since 2015 and have taught High Performance Leadership around the US. We have heard from students that there has been a need for this type of Fire specific leadership training and they have enjoyed the results they are getting by using the many tools given – tools that can be used immediately in their work environments. Participants have also enjoyed the coaching and mentoring that follows our class work. These sessions have helped us track the promotions and initiatives (mentoring programs, improved communication, higher employee engagement, and more) started by graduates.
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Right away, classes were filling early, and people were inviting us to bring the academy to their area. We realized that we can’t reach everyone who wants this training. We felt an obligation to make this accessible to more people. There are both Career and Volunteer Fire Professionals who have very real limitations of time and funding which makes going to outside training challenging if not impossible. So we flipped our classroom, brought some chief officers together from our area, and recorded classes that current and aspiring Company Officers and Chief Officers can use to raise their leadership game. The classes are concise and can be done at your convenience. We will have monthly Q&A sessions for you to get to know us and get questions answered that will help you stay accountable for your learning.
Kelly Walsh
Dan Jones
About the Brave Fire Leader Academy
in partnership with:
The Brave Fire Leader Academy is an online leadership training program for fire company officers, chief officers and those aspiring to those levels. It has been developed from our successful in-person programs, but with your convenience in mind. These classes will benefit anyone who wishes to take their career to the next level, become more competitive and gain confidence with some of the most challenging concerns of a leader outside of the fireground. It’s also designed to help in the transition of leadership when company officers and chief officers promote or retire so there are successors who are prepared to step up and lead.
The courses are taught by two acclaimed experts in fire department leadership training; Kelly Walsh M.Ed a Professional Certified Coach with more than 25 years of HR experience including 10 years in the Mesa, Arizona Fire Department and Chief Dan jones, Retired Fire Chief of Chapel Hill Fire Department in NC, with 41 years of service experience, an award winning instructor and the former Editor-in-Chief of National Fire & Rescue Magazine. Combined they have more than 40 years of experience teaching and in the last five years have had 250 fire departments and a thousand students nationwide successfully complete their training program.
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