Firefighters have a demanding job. On the one hand, they do everything we expect in a crisis, like turning up and fighting a roaring blaze. Behind the scenes is all the important stuff we don’t see – getting prepared for the next big fire and working to create conditions that make fires difficult to take hold.
In many ways, public leadership is the same. Part of the job is responding to issues as they present, while another is front-footing fires before they can kindle. The critical difference between leadership and firefighting is that leaders can do something that many firefighters don’t—lighting the flame.
Sometimes, we must think more like bush firefighters and set a controlled burn to clear out the litter accumulated underfoot.
Brave public leaders occasionally set the world on fire. They do this by thinking big and embracing new opportunities to achieve their vision for the community.
Lighting fires shouldn’t be done willy-nilly, however. Bold, effective decisions mean we need to be really clear about where we’re going and what might get in our way.
“Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos; you want to use them, not hide from them. You want to be the fire and wish for the wind.”
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Some of the most enjoyable work I do with boards and leadership teams involves helping them make better, faster decisions by helping them understand strategic risk.
Senior leaders don’t always understand strategic risk very well. Sometimes, strategic risk gets mixed in with garden-variety operational risk management. When this happens, decision-makers get stuck in the weeds, and risk falls by the wayside, is delegated, or is ignored.
The result: slow and scattered decision-making, wasted time and lost opportunities.
Strategic risk management, then, is about lighting the odd fire. While operational risk management focuses on prevention – protecting the value we already have, strategic risk management is about creating new value.
While operational risk asks, "How do we keep everything ticking over safely?” Strategic risk asks, "What might stand in the way of meaningful change?”
The difference is like night and day – and when senior leaders and decision-makers focus on those questions, we can think bigger and focus on the stuff that matters to have a real impact.
Where is your board, team or Council on this continuum?
Is it time to light some fires?
Alicia McKay