S3 E43: The Power of Brotherhood and Legacy: An Encounter with Fire Chief Jacob Johnson

Now , chief Johnson started in the fire service at the ripe old age of 15 in an Explorer post . Now , throughout the years he moved up in the ranks until he changed departments in 2007 . So he now works for Perlin Fire and he was one of the first original full-time members that was hired there .

Now currently he sits as a member of the administration , serving as the assistant chief . Now he has taught at numerous schools in Texas and he's traveled all over the country in the past few years to teach his mentoring and leadership class . I cannot say enough good things about Chief Johnson . He's one of the best . I consider him a friend .

He's always there for me and he's always there for you too . I hope you enjoy the podcast . Guaranteed you will . With that , chief Jacob Johnson , I've been working on my other podcast . I got some others coming out and I kept looking at my . Oh damn it , it's not . It's not noon . Yet we should schedule this for like 8 30 in the morning .

So , for those who don't know , several months ago I did me and an HR HR friend of ours , christina we were working on a level two academy Leadership Academy from Scratch and Chief Johnson and his boss , chief Taylor , were instrumental and really helping us get it up and off the ground . And then I had a surprise guest with Chief Jacob there .

He showed up in that class through Zoom and also not to mention just that , but he sent every single person in that class a handwritten note and a very nice swag bag that included all kinds of awesome stuff and every single one of them really appreciate it .

I got a few more to give out because people have been off and all that stuff , but thank you so much for that , brother . You are the absolute best .

And no matter where you're at in the world , if you have a brother or sister that's hurting or just needs a pick-me-up man , why don't you take the time to just do it ? It literally takes two seconds to send a text message .

You know 10 , 20 minutes to make a phone call and if you're really hitting it off , well , maybe it goes an hour , that's fine , but you know , at the end of the day it's about really being there for each other and making sure that that brotherhood stays strong .

I really believe that some people use it as just a word and they don't understand that it's an action . Brotherhood is an action , it's not just a word , and we use it way too often and we act on it way too less and we need to start reversing that .

We need to be enacting the brotherhood and showing the brotherhood way more than we ever just speak about it , you know .

You go where you needed and you help fix it . You know and you stay on top of it and you take on others . I mean you really do . I mean you live it . I mean you are brotherhood . If brotherhood personified is Jacob Johnson , without a doubt , without a doubt .

But you know that didn't come without struggles and failures and it didn't come without points where I might not have been the best brother , you know , or I might not have lived it and just spoke about it , and so you know it's been a very awesome , you know , 20 , 23 year career of learning from mistakes and getting better at what I do and really trying to

hone in on the fact that you know we need to have action behind our words , and each and everything I do , I promise you , is because I learned it somewhere else or because I failed at another point in my career , and this is kind of like my penance , like you and I have talked before of just making sure that I don't go back to where I used to be or

what I used to do , and not that I was a horrific person , but just really honing in on what it means to be a good brother and have the brotherhood and have the action behind the word and what it means to really take care of each other and truly be there for each other , you know .

So you can't be the brother that says I'll pick you up at two in the morning and then when the phone rings , you ignore it or say , oh , I'm busy , you know you gotta be the brother that says , okay , I'll be there and go pick up your buddy at two in the morning .

You know , I've been there , I've done that where my buddy just sent me a picture of the intersection that he was hanging onto in the middle of Midtown and I drive down at 2.30 in the morning and pick him up and bring him to the couch , you know . So that's what we gotta do , that's what we have to be .

So , and whenever you text me , I swear to you it's at the perfect time . That's why I call you an angel . I'm like I'm struggling with something . I'm usually at the gym and I'm struggling thinking about something coming up or issues at work , whatever it is , and I'll get that text . You know , hey , you're gonna have a great day .

And I'm like dude , this is it , this is perfect . Like I'm looking around for you . I'm like is he hiding ? But it has made me as well . I wanna try to share that too . I want this to be viral .

You know , I want everybody to catch this bug of understanding that brotherhood is an action , it's not just a word , or it's not just , and it's not a finish line either . You don't ever stop . You know you're like okay , I'm the perfect brother now .

That's really where I find leadership is important , and it's not that I'm trying to be a leader for you or anything like that , it's really trying to be a good brother . But you know , bring that attitude to the firehouse , bring it to the building that you work in . If you're like me and work in admin , bring that there .

You know , I walk in every single day to work and I go to every single office and I say , hey , it's gonna be a great day , and I walk off Like that's it right , and I just it's gonna be a great day and I walk off and I really feel like , man , if you walk in and you're positive and you start out every day the same way , like that , hey , it's going

to be a great day , then no matter what is thrown at you throughout that day , you started it off good , you know . And so , yeah , there's times where , hey , it's gonna be a great day , and then the day is just slammed with stuff and you're just like man , like today was rough , but it's still a great day .

Right , you come in , don't let anybody know you're struggling , right , like , if you're having issues at home or whatnot , walk through the door and be positive for those people . It's not their fault that you're having issues at home or it's not their fault that you woke up in a bad mood .

Like it's your job to be in there and be positive and to To start the day off . Right , you got to set the tone for the day and so that's . You know , when I text you or when I text other people , you know that are close to me , like you , it's all about that .

Like , let's just start off on the right tone , right , like , hey , it's gonna be a great day , or if they tell you yet is , but I'm struggling , I'm doing this , don't say , oh man , I'm praying for you . Like , yeah , I hope you are , but ask them a question . What can I do for you ? All right what can I do ? How can I help you ?

You know , and and and really show them what the brother who is about , because 99% of the time they're gonna say nothing , brother , I'm good . But that one chance that they need something , man , at least you offered and they can tell you what they need and you can do whatever it can to make it happen .

You know so , even my buddies in South Florida , man , if they need something , I have four or five other buddies in South where I can reach out to say , hey , so and so need some help . Can you please do me a solid and run down there and check on yeah , I got you . Yeah , man , big time .

Oh boy who .

There's no question where your heart lies , and we know I'm not gonna have you repeat the story if you may want to hear the story that that chief , jacob Johnson . What was more of a catalyst for a change for you ? Listen to the my first podcast with him . You've been a multiple podcast Telling that story .

It's a great story , but it basically , in a nutshell , is you , you felt like you . You felt like you've , you did somebody wrong and you changed your entire life about it . And not only did you do that , you share the message and you do everything you can to improve yourself and other people around you , and I think that it's it's viral man .

It's just like that's the bug . I want to get you know . I want that , covid JJ , that's what I want . Catch that one brother .

They should not define you , they should not control your last name or your legacy , right , and the only way that they're gonna do that is if you allow it . If you refuse to be open-minded , if you refuse to change , if you refuse to see your own failures , then you will be , you know , unequivocally defined by those failures .

So it's all about a mindset , right , and I talk about this with my son a lot is . You know , you have to have multiple mindsets throughout life , right , but you got to have one that is consistent and that is that hard work is Is the goal , right ? If I can put in hard work every day , then I know that I will be successful in whatever I do , right ?

And so , when you're on the football field , yeah , we all want you to work hard , but I need that mindset to flip to where you become a monster , right , I need you to lock in zone , in , be a monster for four quarters , you know , sometimes maybe , maybe some OT , and then after that we flip back to just being Luke Johnson .

We flip back to being the Johnson last name and being good people . And and not that you're not a good person on the football field , but I want you to have that mindset of just nothing's gonna stop me , right . And then when you go to work , no matter the job you don't have to be a firefighter , right ?

I mean , no matter the job you're in your mindset should be that I'm going to outwork everybody and that I'm going to Reach my goals and I'm going to be a good person while I reach my goals and I'm gonna support others through it .

And so you know , keeping those mindsets going is what helps you Define yourself , your last name and your legacy Nobody's in charge of that . You own that right . Your legacy , your last name is yours , it's for you , it's yours to , to , to rise to the top , and it's yours that to kill , right .

And and so that's my thing is that we have to have that mindset that nothing's gonna stop us and nothing's gonna get in Our way , and we have to be open-minded to change , because that's the way we grow . You know there's a lot out there right now that you know Failure is is where a leader grows and failures . This Absolutely truth .

But it's not just the failure itself that makes you grow . It's the mindset after the failure and the open-mindedness to change and the want to change , the willingness to change , the willingness to accept your failure . That's what makes you grow . It's your mindset that supports that growth . It's not just the failure , right ?

So how many times have we all failed throughout our life ? And we continually fail . And it's not because we can't do it , it's because we refuse to accept our first failure . We refuse to accept the fact that we did something wrong and that we need to change .

And so that's the number one key , that's the first thing to do is I failed , here's how I failed and here's how I'm going to fix it . And you have to be open-minded to that and fix it .

One of the most liberating things that's ever happened to be is with this podcast , talking to great people that to me , I think the world .

I've read their books or their articles or whatever much like you , but I had no idea how much failure went into their success and it empowered me to really be more self-aware and I could admit and on this podcast , if you go back and listen to so many times I bring up yeah , I did that completely wrong , I failed .

But it's so liberating when you can actually acknowledge your failures and share those failures , even publicly , but you share them Then I think that gives you more validity to the things you're doing now . Like , why should I listen to you ? Well , because I've done what you've done before and now I'm doing this . I've seen both sides of the same coin .

So being able to own up to your mistakes and realizing that mistakes aren't it's part of life . It's no different than walking up and down stairs . It's just what you do . Hiding them from yourself is the worst thing you can do , because you get an inflated self , an inflated view of yourself . Like I said , great things can come from it , like in your instance .

I don't think you would ever want to make the mistakes you made to get where you're at , but honestly it's like okay , how do I fix this and make sure not only I don't do it again , but others don't do it again ? So there's that responsibility and I think you share that .

We talked about it when I was down in Perlin with you about it being your penance , and we were at that I forget that place where you're at sitting outside , and you were like , yeah , I used to be a jerk to him and he's like , oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , but he made up . We have a policy . He's fantastic . I love , chief Johnson , that openness man .

I mean you just you want to be a better person . After talking to people like that , especially people like you , and I'll never forget that you said , oh yeah , I made him horribly , but I pissed him off bad . He sure did , but no , no , it's all good now , but I mean , how many people actually do that ?

Now , to be fair , your department is one of my favorite fire departments and your personnel are amazing .

I mean , the city really didn't start growing until the 90s and really really in the last 16 , 17 years did it really start populating and so it was just a farm in town until then . We have some really cool history there . The city used to just be several big family ranches , right , that have all been split up and made over .

So you know , we have roads that exist , like the Miller Ranch Road , smith Ranch Road , yost or Scarsdale Boulevard . You know that's the Yost Ranch , the Miller Ranch , the Smith Ranch . We have things like Massey Oaks neighborhood , which Massey was a big family name there , big ranch , so it was just a really nice farm in town for a lot of years .

And then when we started there in 2007 , that was when we hired all career firefighters and I was a part of that right , the original 18 of us . And from there to today , right , we've gone from 20 people in the fire department total , 18 in operations to an admin to 179 in 16 years . Right , it'll be 16 years here in a couple months .

So you know , we've really what ? What is that ? Almost , you know , quadrupled , I mean . So I mean we've really grown and we've gone from two firehouses to six . We're we sevens just passed in the bond , so we're gonna be building sevens and then , you know , we're already looking at run numbers . We're probably gonna have to build another couple .

We'll probably top out at nine or ten firehouses . Wow and yeah , and you know , our population has gone from Right around seventy seven thousand , seventy nine thousand and oh seven , to about a hundred and fifty today .

So I Mean it has just grown exponentially and neighborhoods are still popping up , businesses are still popping up , we have rooftops coming in left and right .

So I I would predict by 2030 we'll be hitting close to that 200,000 citizen mark and and probably Eight firehouses , and we're gonna have to start looking at , you know when to go next and and what to do and and do we start doing you know , double company houses ?

Do we start , you know , putting in second battalion chiefs , or do we put in district chiefs and and have a battalion with two districts ? You know what do we do ? How does that look ?

So there's a lot of exciting times coming right , and One of the things that I like to tell every new hire class is look like we are a department in its infancy , and so you will never be able to Sit around a firehouse and say , hey , and you know , 1920 , this firehouse was doing this , or in the 1800s , this firehouse was doing this .

Right , like we're not gonna have that luxury within our career , but what we are doing is establishing the history right now for others to read in the future when they get hired . So we are writing our own chapter right in our own history books and your last name is on that chapter . It's up to you to fill that chapter .

It's either gonna be something that is read thoroughly or something that skipped over , and then decision is yours Right . So in 50 years , when we hire rookies and none of us are here anymore , we're either in or either dead and gone or , you know , retired .

What history do you want to be shared about you and what history do you want to be shared about this fire department and what did we do to build this fire department and our last name and our legacies for others to talk about at the kitchen table in 50 years ?

That is our goal right now , because we'll never be able to enjoy it like it's the firehouses intended to be enjoyed because they are new and we are an infant department . So what can we do right now To establish that that others will enjoy reading in 50 years ? That's our job .

But now I feel like I'm making positive strides and I feel like I'm making my legacy a little bit better . But same time I wouldn't . If I could go back and erase you the bad things in my career , I wouldn't , I absolutely wouldn't . You know it's part of me , it is what it

is . But when you think about it just like you said , the legacy part when you think about when you leave , you know people are gonna talk about you . There's three things that's gonna happen after you leave the fire service , for whatever reason . They're gonna talk great about you , which is awesome . They're gonna talk terrible about you , which is horrible .

And then the worst one is they don't talk about you at all . You know , you were , just didn't even know you were there and I've seen people come and go through the fire service and there's people I saw when I got into New Albany . There's people that have retired like right about the same time .

I got there and I couldn't tell you the first thing about him and nobody talks about him in the firehouse . You know , I can't even tell him the name I can see remember who was that guy that was bald , had a little bit of hair around , you know , and oh yeah , that's so and I can't remember . You know , you don't have any stories about him .

And if you work hard , if you care about the fire service , fire department , and you're trying to implement things and do things , hopefully they're gonna , you know , they'll take hold , they'll grow . And then on this leadership class , like I brought up Christine and I got coffee mugs made that said class 001 . And it served a bunch of purposes .

You know , hey , you were the very first one . And then also , you know , hopefully in several years , you know , when I'm gone , people will still be drinking from those going . Yeah , I was part of the very first one and hopefully between that time and now will be . You know class , you know 027 and all that .

So you know , you got to think that way , you got to think about your legacy . I mean I don't think that's selfish , I mean I think it's when you think about it , when it's all about what you are bringing to the table for your fire department .

And now over the years it's switched to like 1012 , just , you know , because of changing fire chiefs or whatnot . But at the end of the day , like , our badge numbers are 0012 . And so I hang my hat on that right . Like one day I'm going to look down and there's going to be firefighter 112 or , you know , firefighter 212 .

And I'm going to be able to say , hey , like you know , here's how it started and I'm badge number 12 and this is why right . And same thing with fire school . Like I was a part of class 2 at Seifer College , like I hold that deer , right .

And so when I went back and actually taught at that college , you know I would tell them like hey , y'all are class 28 . Like that's cool , but I was class 2 . And let me tell you about my times and how things have changed , and so on and so forth . So it's very important to celebrate moments like that .

Like I love that you did the coffee cups , because we have to have that in our career . You have to have conversation starters .

You have to have the moments where the senior men and women you know take everybody under the wing and have conversations about New Albany , like , hey , you know , in year 2023 , we had this officer academy and here's what it was about and here's who spoke at it and here's who was in charge of it .

And if y'all remember Chief Barnes , you know he retired a few years ago but he started it and had help with Christina and you know this and that and the other . I mean . So it's about those stories and it's about that .

And going back to what you were saying , like there's some things that you don't want to be remembered for , like man , we got to celebrate those too , right , cause we all have things that we don't want to be remembered for . But if you don't have something that you don't want to be remembered for , then you were never truly into the job , right ?

Because a lot of our mistakes or a lot of our situations or things that we don't want to be remembered for , I find , or just do , out of being so passionate about the job , that we say or do something that just isn't right , or we say or defend something that you know makes you look bad in the light of others .

Sometimes it's just out of pure frustration that everybody doesn't love the job as much as you . Right , and that seems to be the firefighters like . Biggest mistake mentality-wise is chopping down others that don't love the job as you , as much as you . Instead , the mentality should be they don't love the job as much as me .

Let me find out why , and then let me see what I can do to instill that love into them and make them love the job . right , just like Pops used to always tell me I will make you love this job or you will quit .

Plain and simple , like I will do everything in my power to make you love this job and at the end of it , if you don't love it , then I promise you you're gonna end up quitting , right , and that's just how he took his approach with me . So you know that's .

That's what we're at is if , if you can honestly say like , oh , I got 20 years on the job , but 30 years on the job , 10 years on the job , and I've never had a moment that I Regret , or I've never had a moment that I don't want to be remembered for , well then , at the end of the day , sorry about that .

You guys need to look him up Not only listen to my podcast list , to all the podcasts that he's on because he is an amazing human being . He's one of those guys that if he says it , he'll do it . There's no doubt in my mind . If I told him I needed him , he would say okay , let me , let me look at the flight schedule and I'll get back to you .

He's that guy . So I'm not just stroking because he's not even a listen . Oh wait , he's back , so I'm a shut up back . He's gonna have to listen to that part on the podcast . So , I'll chat with the listeners while you were gone .

His , his wife is . They're a little bit elderly and his wife fell a couple weeks ago and she left her . She told him to leave her on the floor . She was on the floor for 12 hours before he came knock on my door . And so yeah . So I was like oh my god , I said what I said , let me help you . So I called the fire department .

My buddy was riding battalion chief here at Katie , where I used to be Back in the beginning of my career , and so I got them to come over and help her , and and so now I think he's trying to give Luke a job at his house Cleaning up his yard and doing some other things .