Passionate
about making this a better world for ME to live in, I am thrilled to
bring what I have learned to a wider audience – with my new book Calm-Ass
Leadership: Allowing Calm Assertive Energy to Transform Your
Relationships.
What I call “Calm-Ass Leadership” comes from
what I have learned through a life of service – as a kibbutz volunteer
debriefing people after terrorist attacks in Israel, as one of
California’s first women firefighters in the 1980s, as the “Training
Goddess” with the fire department I worked with, and of late
through The Sisters, a consulting company I created with my sister that
delivers programs and workshops to police and fire departments, city
governments, and other organizations.
Characteristics of being a Calm-Ass Leader include:
Building trust: I gained
the immediate trust, respect, and partnership of male team members at a
Fire Service Training class. Facing their looks of dismay at having a
woman on their team, I trusted myself to speak and in turn trusted them
to listen:
“Look, I’m here for the same reason you are: to learn
these techniques to take back to my own department. We’re not
competing; we’re learning together. I want to be the best, but I want
you to be the best, too. Let’s set aside our egos and really learn
something today. We can either help each other or fight with each other.
What do you say?”
Demonstrating
patience and consistency: I overcame a series of obstacles to
become one of California’s first women firefighters, including facing a
Personnel guy whom I had lied to when I picked up an application
pretending that it was for someone else because he wouldn’t have given
it to me as a woman.
“I was suddenly faced with the reality and size of my commitment: I wanted to be a fireman. I represented each and every woman taking the steps necessary to realize her dreams. I did not want this huge responsibility, but it seems I had it anyway. This Jewish American Princess was going to make her entrance into the Fire Service in style!”
Having nothing to defend: I have found that all of us are capable of coming together for a common cause that does not include attack or defense. We are capable of setting lofty goals and accomplishing them without putting any energy or attention into sabotaging others with similar goals.
Making your own
choices: I use my experiences to show people they are not alone in
how they feel and what they need or want in life. Every day, every
moment that I was in the Fire Service, I was there for one reason, and
one reason only. To make good on the promise I made as a six-year-old to
help God help the world. So, I became a believer in the good in
mankind. I became a teacher. I became a learner. I became a Calm-Ass
Leader.
Read Calm-Ass Leadership, and become a Calm-Ass
Leader, too!
Wende Wylie was Firefighter of the Year
in 1988 and was decorated for heroism in 1989. She now leads Real
Life Skills Workshops around the country to police and fire departments,
city governments, and other organizations. Her web site is www.RealLifeSkillsWorkshops.com.
She can be followed on Twitter,
“fanned” on Facebook
and emailed at Wende@CalmAssLeadership.com.
Or call her at 1-805-835-3731.
Just love your style, Wende! Can't wait to read your book - thanks!
Posted by: Ellen Gaver | April 09, 2010 at 10:17 AM