Emergency Services Leadership

Book excerpt: Emergency Services Leadership: A Contemporary Approach offers a comprehensive view of the historical developments of leadership models, presents a variety of leadership theories, and explores how various theories apply to current emergency services leadership roles. The authors address how leadership has evolved from the theories of "position and authority" to more contemporary approaches in which leadership is expressed in terms of influence relations, servitude, risk agencies, and transformational change agents. Best practices for making ethical, compassionate, and competent leadership decisions are also discussed. The ideal introduction to leadership concepts in modern-day emergency services agencies, Emergency Services Leadership: A Contemporary Approach is appropriate for EMS, fire services, law enforcement, emergency management, and military courses and is an ideal resource for department-specific training programs, especially for officer development. The authors weave personal experiences, interviews with current emergency services leaders, and leadership points to ponder throughout the chapters. End-of-chapter activities allow readers to explore their leadership capabilities and apply concepts presented in the text. The author team brings their extensive experience in emergency services, military application, and leadership research to this text. All of the authors are involved in higher education levels and serve in leadership capacities in various arenas.