I’m a full time firefighter for the City of San Diego. And I have been for 19 years. In those 19 years, I’ve had an annual evaluation each and every year.  But I have yet to be asked what I think about my Captain and his/her leadership performance.

My teammates and I were multiple time world champions in a crazy non-stop, multi-day sport called Adventure Racing, in which mixed gender teams of 4 people kayak, mountain bike, mountaineer, raft, run and hike for 5-10 days, across some of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth, using only a map and compass for navigation and racing NON STOP — so if we slept and when we slept was all part of our team’s strategy.