Desire to Serve: Servant Leadership for Fire and Emergency Services

In The Desire to Serve, Dr. Eric Russell presents a leadership philosophy to current and aspiring fire and emergency services responders that resonates with the values that form the career field. These public servants may have a “shock of recognition” as they read the commonalities between the philosophy’s constructs—agapao love, humility, altruism, vision, trust, empowerment, and service—and the profession. Based on the foundation of Robert Greenleaf’s The Servant as Leader, Larry Spears’ “The Ten Characteristics of a Servant-Leader,” and Dr. Kathleen Patterson’s “The Seven Virtuous Constructs of Servant Leadership,”—and his own lifetime of work in the fire and emergency services—Russell’s findings establish the groundwork for implementing servant leadership in the fire and emergency services and gives hope that its practice will become commonplace. Although The Desire to Serve focuses on the fire and emergency services, its explanations of ethical and visionary leadership principles make it useful for workers, managers, and leaders in every profession. “You need not be a firefighter or EMT to learn from the leadership challenges faced by professional fire and emergency services organizations. The issues they face are much the same as other organizations, except their mistakes can cost lives.” ~ Don Frick, Ph.D., author of Robert K. Greenleaf: A Life of Servant Leadership