Trending Topics

Chief Frank Leeb returns: Make yourself ‘difficult to injure, impossible to kill’

The FDNY chief of safety – and Better Every Shift’s first guest – returns a year later to talk leadership, safety and training

To help Better Every Shift mark its milestone 1-year anniversary, our very first guest, FDNY Chief of Safety Frank Leeb, returns to the show to talk all things leadership, safety and training – including the critical mindset that “we owe it to our loved ones to be better every day to make sure that we are making ourselves difficult to injure and impossible to kill.”

Plus, we dig into all this:

  • What Leeb believes will keep fire chiefs up at night for the next 20 years
  • Key principles from Leeb’s new book, “Cornerstones of Leadership” – and even his favorite chapter
  • Leeb’s advice for giving crews just the right amount of information to get the job done
  • Firefighters’ training lineages and why “we need to have as many children as possible”
  • How to give crews both “tasty and nutritious” training and education (and why M&Ms should sponsor the podcast)
  • Leeb’s personal connection to encouraging bystander CPR education
  • Where Leeb sees himself in 1 year
  • A shared love of Tigger, naturally

Episode power quote: “I will never retire from the fire service because the one thing I know for sure is that I could live to be 150 years old, and I will never go to enough fires to satisfy my appetite to go to fires.”

Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. You can also follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And email bettereveryshift@firerescue1.com to share your feedback!

Previously on the Better Every Shift Podcast
Zagaris served as the planning section chief at the scene
The San Francisco assistant chief talks tactical tips for dominating the fire
The Orange County Fire Authority chief traveled to Altadena, where he grew up, as fires tore through the community in January
The thermal imaging expert details how TICs can help firefighters be ‘intelligently aggressive’
How emergency responders overcome communication challenges and secure reliable networks
Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, Chief Josh Waldo and Chief Marc Bashoor offer potential solutions that would accommodate both training and program reviews
The longtime volunteer, safety and health advocate underscores the power of showing your members you care
San Francisco’s new chief is a longtime SFFD veteran and constant cheerleader for the city
With most lawsuits stemming from within the FD, officers must learn to identify and manage the conflict-seeking members most likely to turn problems into litigation
Fire Chief Robert Logan and Battalion Chief David Picone detail how SDFR shows its members ‘we’re focused on you’