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Chief Frank Leeb returns: Make yourself ‘difficult to injure, impossible to kill’

The FDNY chief of safety – and Better Every Shift’s first guest – returns a year later to talk leadership, safety and training

To help Better Every Shift mark its milestone 1-year anniversary, our very first guest, FDNY Chief of Safety Frank Leeb, returns to the show to talk all things leadership, safety and training – including the critical mindset that “we owe it to our loved ones to be better every day to make sure that we are making ourselves difficult to injure and impossible to kill.”

Plus, we dig into all this:

  • What Leeb believes will keep fire chiefs up at night for the next 20 years
  • Key principles from Leeb’s new book, “Cornerstones of Leadership” – and even his favorite chapter
  • Leeb’s advice for giving crews just the right amount of information to get the job done
  • Firefighters’ training lineages and why “we need to have as many children as possible”
  • How to give crews both “tasty and nutritious” training and education (and why M&Ms should sponsor the podcast)
  • Leeb’s personal connection to encouraging bystander CPR education
  • Where Leeb sees himself in 1 year
  • A shared love of Tigger, naturally

Episode power quote: “I will never retire from the fire service because the one thing I know for sure is that I could live to be 150 years old, and I will never go to enough fires to satisfy my appetite to go to fires.”

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Previously on the Better Every Shift Podcast
Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department Captain Mark Killion details how to build realistic simulations — and the training culture that makes them work
Kentland (Md.) VFD Sergeant Alex Caldaro shares how culture, high standards and member buy-in keep a busy volunteer house staffed — without begging for members
After separate trips down under, Chief Caughey and Zam break down what Australian departments are ahead on, where they struggle and what U.S. firefighters can borrow
Retired Orlando firefighters Chris DeMaagd and Joseph McCluan share how a bench, a walk and firehouse camaraderie became a proactive approach to mental health
Cherry Grove Fire and Rescue shows what can happen when CRR starts with the needs firefighters see every day