Leadership Conversations @ The Kitchen Table
Oct 23, 2026 · 48 min · 15 segments
From succession planning at a 12-station, 200-plus firefighter department to the culture shifts behind his new book *Down the Pole, Up the Ladder*, this conversation is a blueprint for anyone who…
So real briefly here, so we got the new book, right? So the new book is Down the Pole, Up the Ladder.
And for those of you that are tuning in, I'll give you the exact website on where to look this up.
And so Chase, tell us about the inspiration about this new book and take us on that journey.
Well, you know, I look back at my own career and, uh, you know, I think a lot of people in the fire service can relate to this, but I think it crosses all professions.
We, you know, we come into whatever profession we're in and we're starting at the bottom.
And, uh, And the down the pole, up the ladder is a metaphor for what we, I think, all go through in our own personal leadership journey.
And, you know, I just wanted to use that because it's, you know, fire service related and it's kind of what I experienced.
And if you were upstairs and the tone went off, you slid down the pole, got on the truck, and went out and did your job.
And then all of a sudden, you find yourself climbing that ladder of leadership.
And as we start to climb up that ladder, we often find that While we were very prepared for our technical aspects of our job when we were a firefighter or whatever profession you're in, and then all of a sudden you get promoted to that next level, and now you're leading people.
And all of the things that aren't the technical aspects to the job, they're the human aspects of the job.
And so that was really kind of the basis for what I wanted to talk about because so oftentimes we focus so much on being good technically.
And then all of a sudden, because we're good technically, we get promoted up to the next level and we go, I don't know anything about this or I know a little about this and we struggle.
So real briefly here, so we got the new book, right? So the new book is Down the Pole, Up the Ladder.
And for those of you that are tuning in, I'll give you the exact website on where to look this up.
And so Chase, tell us about the inspiration about this new book and take us on that journey.
Well, you know, I look back at my own career and, uh, you know, I think a lot of people in the fire service can relate to this, but I think it crosses all professions.
We, you know, we come into whatever profession we're in and we're starting at the bottom.
And, uh, And the down the pole, up the ladder is a metaphor for what we, I think, all go through in our own personal leadership journey.
And, you know, I just wanted to use that because it's, you know, fire service related and it's kind of what I experienced.
And if you were upstairs and the tone went off, you slid down the pole, got on the truck, and went out and did your job.
And then all of a sudden, you find yourself climbing that ladder of leadership.
And as we start to climb up that ladder, we often find that While we were very prepared for our technical aspects of our job when we were a firefighter or whatever profession you're in, and then all of a sudden you get promoted to that next level, and now you're leading people.
And all of the things that aren't the technical aspects to the job, they're the human aspects of the job.
And so that was really kind of the basis for what I wanted to talk about because so oftentimes we focus so much on being good technically.
And then all of a sudden, because we're good technically, we get promoted up to the next level and we go, I don't know anything about this or I know a little about this and we struggle.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
