Helping our Firehouse Family to grow and excel in their career and in life. We are here to discuss our passion for leadership and firehouse culture but also to use our life experiences to lift each other up. A better fire service starts here.
Listeners of Crew 1st Culture Podcast that love the show mention: jeremy, fire, great, crew 1st.
In this episode of the Crew First Culture podcast, Jeremy Sanders delves into the significance of organizational culture, particularly within firehouse settings. He emphasizes that culture is an inherent aspect of any organization, shaped by the actions and attitudes of its members, especially the station officers. Jeremy discusses the challenges of fostering a positive culture and the importance of leading by example to instigate meaningful cultural change. He encourages leaders to actively influence their teams and highlights that while cultural change is difficult, it is essential for growth and success.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
In this episode, Jeremy Sanders explores the profound nature of compassion and the importance of understanding our own darkness before we can truly support others. He emphasizes that compassion is not about providing answers but about being present with those who are suffering. The conversation delves into the necessity of self-healing and setting boundaries to maintain our own mental health while helping others. Jeremy shares insights from various thinkers, including Pima Chödrön and Carl Jung, to illustrate the depth of these themes.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
Leadership Lesson Learned #3 may be a hard sell to some of you out there, but hear me out. I lay out the complexities of leadership expectations and how they can hinder team dynamics. My view of expectations changed forever after a pivotal conversation with Benjamin Martin in Episode 121. If I can't sway you to completely agree I think that you will at least see the importance of simplifying expectations, focusing on cultural goals, and leading by example to foster a more engaged and autonomous team environment.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
Leadership Lesson Learned #2 was an important one for me - sometimes you have taken someone as far as you can take them. This was a challenge for me as a leader because it came down to a moral issue for me that I discuss. I talk about what I learned as far as where we should be placing our time and energy and what happens if we misplace those priorities. I share the story of how this lesson was learned and yes it was definitely learned the hard way so don't listen in and don't make the same mistakes that I did.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
It is such an honor to not only be recording the 200th episode of the podcast but to share the experience with 2 of my closest brothers truly made it special. Please do not miss this conversation in which Marc Maikoski, Nate "Tuna" Gardner, and I dive into authenticity and vulnerability. This was such a great conversation and one that is sure to bring inspiration and hope to anyone who listens.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
In this episode I am starting a new series titled Leadership Lessons Learned (L3). The content of this series comes from a document that I made for the purposes of sharing some of the lessons that I learned the hard way with young officers. In lesson #1 I talk about the lessons that I learned due to my lack of preparedness to lead grown men and women. I hope you take the time to listen to the mistakes that I made and the lessons that I learned the hard way so that you may not have to make the same mistakes yourself.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
I firmly believe that burnout doesn't come from what we do, it happens when we allow life to cause us to forget why we are doing it. This is something that I think is playing a huge roll in the fire service. We have to find our why and once we find it we can't let outside forces cause us to forget it. It has to be about something much larger than ourselves if we want to survive a productive, healthy, and fulfilling career.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
“For every minute you remain angry, you give up 60 seconds of peace.” Ralph Waldo EmersonI'm like so many of you out there, I'm angry! But anger and negativity are the last things that I want to be consumed with. So how do we fix it? How do we avoid the anger while knowing that we may not be able to remove ourselves from what the source of anger? Listen in as I try to solve this problem for myself and discover some really important things that I can turn my focus to and anchor myself on.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
So many times we waste great opportunities or are simply just not happy with results because they don't look like what we are expecting them to look like. We have exactly what we need at any given moment, but if we don't keep our eyes and mind open we can miss it.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
"They tried to bury me but they didn't know that I was a seed."We will never achieve the growth that we were meant to achieve without being buried a few times. Whether those who stand against you like it or not, God is just using them to get us exactly where He knows that we need to be.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
There is a big difference between having the desire to achieve something and having the discipline that is required to do what is necessary to achieve it. For the most part, we all know what we should be doing, what we should be eating, how we should be spending our time; but that's the easy part right? When it comes down to making choices and taking the actions that support what we know is where is starts getting difficult. We have to go beyond being satisfied with knowing what is right and having the best intentions; we have to start focusing on choices that support what we know to be right.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.No matter where or what you came from, great things can come from you!
I am excited to share this bonus episode with you all because it was a conversation that I really enjoyed and I feel like there are a lot of people out there that need to hear it. I really appreciate my friend Preston Lyons having me on as a guest to the Relentless Rejects Podcast and giving me a chance to share my heart and my message. I hope you find some value in it.Show Notes:In this episode, Jeremy Sanders discusses his journey with Crew 1st Culture, emphasizing the importance of family, mentorship, and building a supportive tribe. He shares personal experiences of vulnerability, resilience, and the challenges he faced in the fire service, including a significant demotion. Jeremy reflects on the concept of the Phoenix, symbolizing rebirth and growth through adversity, and encourages listeners to embrace their stories and support one another.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.
I wanted to share some thoughts on a really good quote that comes from Georgia football coach Kirby Smart. Leadership isn't easy and it doesn't come without a cost. A lot to reflect on in this quote, join me for my thoughts.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.
Lead with your life no matter where life leads you!In this episode I share an experience that I had in which I tried to correct some rumors that were being spread about me. But it only resulted in me reliving some negative feelings that were eating away at me more and more each time I did. I will share with you why I decided to quit talking and just lead with my life.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.
Going back into the thought journal I share my thoughts on a very important topic, especially for those of us in public service. That is the question of where am I placing my identity? One of the most important thoughts that I have had in this area is never place your identity in something that can be taken away. Join me as I dig deeper into this thought and share my own personal stories connected to it.“No matter what or where you came from, great things can come from you!”Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.
A thought that has recently come to me is how much my focus on adding to myself in order to become better is only half of the equation. It is also important that I subtract some things from my life as well. Join me today as I dig a little deeper into this thought.“No matter what or where you came from, great things can come from you!”Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.
It's time to stop making excuses and start making a difference. We were not put here to be stagnant, we were created to do great things.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.
Something that I've seen over and over again in my life and the lives of others around me is how destructive a victim mentality can be. I firmly believe that resilience will never be possible if you see yourself as a victim.Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.
It's been quite a while since I have been in a place to release a new episode, so I am so excited to finally be back behind the microphone. I may have been quiet, but I am still in the fight, and I am ready to continue the Crew 1st Culture mission. Join me and let's do some amazing things together!Thank you for listening! Click here to leave a message to let me know what you think & how this episode impacted you.
Jeremy Sanders has been a firefighter for the City of Edmond in Oklahoma for 21 years and currently serves at the rank of Captain. He lives near Tulsa with his wife Erika who he shares 8 kids with and 1 grandson. In 2020 Jeremy created Crew 1st Culture and the Crew 1st Culture Podcast in which he shares the importance of the pursuit of daily personal growth. This daily growth has helped him to not only become a better firefighter and officer but also a better dad and husband at home.Jeremy's Articles:https://www.fireengineering.com/leadership/waitare-we-the-problem-fire-dept-culture/#grefhttps://www.fireengineering.com/commentary/the-art-of-changing-and-protecting-culture/#grefCheck out his Website!Crew1stCulture.Com
Jeremy Sanders has been a firefighter for the City of Edmond in Oklahoma for 21 years and currently serves at the rank of Captain. He lives near Tulsa with his wife Erika who he shares 8 kids with and 1 grandson. In 2020 Jeremy created Crew 1st Culture and the Crew 1st Culture Podcast in which he shares the importance of the pursuit of daily personal growth. This daily growth has helped him to not only become a better firefighter and officer but also a better dad and husband at home.Jeremy's Articles:https://www.fireengineering.com/leadership/waitare-we-the-problem-fire-dept-culture/#grefhttps://www.fireengineering.com/commentary/the-art-of-changing-and-protecting-culture/#grefCheck out his Website!Crew1stCulture.Com
In Episode 25 Ric Jorge and I talk to Jeremy Sanders about a difficult season of life he endured and how he found strength in his weakness. Jeremy shares how his faith helped him continue to move forward and how the adversity he faced refined him into the man God needed him to be.https://open.spotify.com/episode/4m11PUtMLJeuuKpVIibVtj?si=R9O4fyWOTMC9l3GtTgntYQ
Today I want to share a few journal entries that I recorded while processing one of the most difficult periods of my life. This is such an important episode because I know there are a lot of people out there that need to hear this. Through journaling, meditation, and prayer I realized that when we stop seeing ourselves as victims of life's challenges and of those who stand against us, we can finally see the truth. The truth is that those circumstances and those people are merely just a tool that God is using to guide us along the path that He has chosen for us.
In a career that has been so richly described as the embodiment of courage and bravery, are the members of today's fire service living up to that statement or are we just hiding behind empty and hollow facades that look great on the surface and from a distance but upon any closer investigation our true identities would easily be discovered. My thoughts today dig into this question and reveal my very controversial opinion of what is missing.
Inside all of us is a darkness, a darkness so deep and empty that we are all fearful of it. This doesn't make us good or bad, it just makes us human. Whether we believe in its existence or not; we are constantly haunted by it. Each negative event and seemingly unsurmountable obstacle we face brings us closer to our darkness; it is always there, ever waiting for that final straw that will bring you face to face with it. There are those that have somehow lived their life avoiding their darkness (or at least it seems that way from the outside looking in) but most of us will eventually come to know the darkness well.I will never suggest visiting the darkness as a hobby or a way to pass time but if you are like me and want to make a difference in people's lives and in the world that we live it, spending time in your darkness is unfortunately the price of admission. It is where we find ourselves. It is where we find our purpose. It is where we find our story. it is where we find our value, and it is where we discover that we are worth fighting for.
Over the years since putting myself in a more public role I have been asked a lot of questions from people but there seems to be an overwhelming theme with the majority of them - "How do you keep moving forward when so many things around you want to hold you back?" This episode I share personal experiences and challenges that I have not only faced in the past but still currently facing. Please join me as we talk about finding inner peace through the effort that we give.
As we approach the new year, talk of resolutions inevitably begin to take center stage. Today I just wanted to share a few thoughts on what may be a little different perspective on this. Set goals and resolutions all you want but just don't get so focused on them that you miss something that's placed in your life of much higher value because it doesn't look like the goals we set for ourselves.
**This is one of the most important episodes I've ever released, please listen and share.**Back with me again from Yoga For First Responders are Olivia and Eric to dive deep into the importance of Breath. Using a very helpful tool that they have created to help guide people through different techniques, we look at not only each technique and when they should be used but also explain why. This is an episode that every person needs to hear because our breath is obviously very critical to life. Follow the links below for a free month of their on demand platform and the link to the breath work resource as well. Link to 1 Month Free Yoga For First Responders On Demand Subscription:https://ondemand.yogaforfirstresponders.org/checkout/new?o=87788&d=CREW1ST?via=crew1stTactical Breathwork Guide link:https://www.yogaforfirstresponders.org/product-page/tactical-breathwork-training-resource-poster
**Update: Sorry everyone but when I uploaded Episode 180, I apparently uploaded the wrong file, so I had to redo the process for Episode 180.**Since when does it make sense that those firefighters who stay engaged, who are constantly sharpening their skills, and who work to make others around them better are considered rogues, outliers, rebels, and misfits? It's totally backwards, we are measuring ourselves by the same oath that the first firefighters swore to. So, it's those who are selfish, the weak leaders, those who are ignorant, the complacent, the closed minded, and those who are arrogant that are the true outliers of the fire service.You can call us rogues, outliers, or whatever you want but we know we are doing the right thing.
Since when does it make sense that those firefighters who stay engaged, who are constantly sharpening their skills, and who work to make others around them better are considered rogues, outliers, rebels, and misfits? It's totally backwards, we are measuring ourselves by the same oath that the first firefighters swore to. So it's those who are selfish, the weak leaders, those who are ignorant, the complacent, the closed minded, and those who are arrogant that are the true outliers of the fire service.You can call us rogues, outliers, or whatever you want but we know we are doing the right thing.
I'm so happy to have with me today one of my good friends and brothers Nathan Gardner. Known by most as Tuna, he's a big man with an even bigger heart and one of the most entertaining guys I know. Listen in to this 3 part series as we find out a little more about Tuna and learn some great things about some topics that he's passionate about. These topics include - morale injury, repeat exposure trauma, leadership, and caring for each other. Of course there are going to be funny stories sprinkled in throughout as well.
I'm so happy to have with me today one of my good friends and brothers Nathan Gardner. Known by most as Tuna, he's a big man with an even bigger heart and one of the most entertaining guys I know. Listen in to this 3 part series as we find out a little more about Tuna and learn some great things about some topics that he's passionate about. These topics include - morale injury, repeat exposure trauma, leadership, and caring for each other. Of course there are going to be funny stories sprinkled in throughout as well.
I'm so happy to have with me today one of my good friends and brothers Nathan Gardner. Known by most as Tuna, he's a big man with an even bigger heart and one of the most entertaining guys I know. Listen in to this 3 part series as we find out a little more about Tuna and learn some great things about some topics that he's passionate about. These topics include - morale injury, repeat exposure trauma, leadership, and caring for each other. Of course there are going to be funny stories sprinkled in throughout as well.
Today I just share my thoughts on the true cost of the “rise and grind” lifestyle that you hear so much about from countless influencers and motivational speakers.
It's great to be back on again. Today I want to share some honest struggles that I've been facing and the positivity that is getting me over come them.
Who are those people that have helped you become the person that you are today? Those are the people that have greatly impacted our lives and we owe them a tremendous debt. This is a debt however, that we can never hope to pay back, it can only be paid forward.
Sharing with you some thoughts I've had after spending the day with a couple of our kids on a field trip through the places of my early years.
True champions don't just raise trophies, true champions raise future champions!
This episode we are going to look at the reason that I wrote the article “Wait… Are We the Problem?, which Fire Engineering recently published as an online feature. We have to do better, we have to keep learning and growing. Then we have to share everything we can with those around us. Adding value to others needs to be a priority bit before you can do that you have to add value to yourself.Read the article at:https://www.fireengineering.com/leadership/waitare-we-the-problem-fire-dept-culture/Or on our website at:https://www.crew1stculture.com/articles-1
Today I wanted to share my thoughts on discipline. I'm not like the YouTube celebrity's that do a great job of making discipline seem like something that comes really easy. Discipline is hard and it sucks but it's so important. What kind of character are our choices and actions revealing that we have?
I've heard it so many times, people avoid God's calling because their idea of what a Christian looks like isn't something that they think is attainable. You don't have to be perfect to recover God's love, you don't have to have all of your “problems” fixed before he'll accept you; God loves you as you are. Don't wait any longer, it's time to surrender.
A great book that I've listened to recently is “Unbreakable” by Jay Glazer. It is a great book and I definitely suggest it to anyone especially those dealing with depression and/or anxiety. This episode I go over what he calls the Unbreakable Mindset.
An area that I feel like we can really improve on in the fire service is practicing vulnerability. Vulnerability is such a powerful thing and I have seen so many great things happen because someone decided to have the courage to be vulnerable. This is where our real courage is tested, it's not easy but it is so important.
I am thankful to Chief Corley Moore for not only having me on as a guest but for also allowing me to release this on my platform as well. I enjoyed the conversation and hope you will too.
A struggle for so many of us is placing our value and self worth in the hands of those around us. Whether someone sees the value you have or not does not diminish your worth. We can't allow the words and actions of others determine our level of happiness, confidence, and satisfaction. There may be 100 people telling you that you have nothing to give but God will lead you to the one person that needs what you have to share.
I have the pleasure of being in the company of a great friend and an amazing person today. Marc Maikoski joins me today and I am so excited to be able to let him share a little bit of his story with you all. Marc shares about family, mission work, his tribe, and learning the power of presence. Marc is a 24 year veteran of the fire service and serves at the rank of Captain for the Alpharetta Fire Department in Georgia as well as working as a paramedic for the last 27 years. Marc is a certified instructor with Yoga For First Responders and an instructor with the Tactical Resiliency Training cadre. He's also a tremendous advocate for first responder mental health.
Sharing a story from my past of times that I wasn't really sure how I'd make it out of. Even though my situation is worlds away from what it was back then I still have struggled feeling completely used up and exhausted. But even in those times I know God is working in my life and it will eventually pass.
Outside of time constraints I talk about what other factors come into play in keeping me from putting myself out there and sharing my message.
"It's a great class but the ones that need to be here to hear it aren't here."It never fails that you hear this at least a few times at every conference or class that I have been to. In fact, I have said it myself lots of times in the past as well, but I now have a different opinion of that. Join me on this episode as I discuss how I now look at this statement and why I have changed my perspective on the subject.
I tried releasing this on Thursday when I recorded it but wasn't able to upload it. On my trip to RFT at Lake Ozark, MO I talk a little about life lately, the struggle with consistent podcasting, and excitement for my upcoming class at the lake.
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