Emergent Leadership: Mentorship: From Rice Fields to Firehouses

In this episode, Pearland (TX) Fire Department’s Battalion Chief Jacob Johnson joins host Brett Lyle to share his personal journey and lessons of humility, mentorship and leadership. In a fascinating account, Chief Johnson helps his father lead guided duck hunts at only three years old, becomes a volunteer firefighter before being old enough to drive, and through those experiences develops into the respected 20-year firefighting veteran he is today. During the discussion, Chief Johnson opens up about overcoming an early setback in his career that left him doubting his ability to coach and lead his team. Through reflection of what he calls a “failure,” he circled back to the fundamentals that made his mentors successful: love, accountability and providing the why. Jacob shares his epiphany during training that it was leaders failing his profession’s newest members, as opposed to the current generation’s unwillingness to learn. As a proposed solution, an instructor challenged him to attack the problem and develop a mentorship class that the Chief eventually cultivated into a proven program designed to help leader be better mentors to their crews. Please join in and listen. What type of hardships or failures have you overcome as a leader that better equipped you to develop others? Welcome to Emergent Leadership where we connect with passionate leaders who just have to share their stories, perspectives, and most importantly, lessons learned. The need is urgent, the events are critical, and the you of tomorrow is just an episode away! Join the conversation: If you have a leadership topic, experience, or lesson learned you would like to share or hear more about, send an email at [email protected] or use and follow #emergentleadership to join the conversation. You can also connect to Brett directly through LinkedIn or follow her journey on YouTube.