The Triangle of Character

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The Triangle of Character

• Gary L. Patton, Ph.D. LPC

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If you think about renowned leaders, the mention
of their names, leads to memories of their
deeds.We are in essence thinking of their
character.
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• What is this thing called character?
• Why does it matter about public safety and
  protection?

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• Words / Actions
• Cognitive Processes
• Belief Systems

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• Our belief system actually guides
• our
• thoughts, ideas, and behavior.

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A roll call.

• Dwight Eisenhower
• Colin Powell
• Idi Amin
• Nelson Mandela
• Saddam Hussein
• Billy Graham
• John Wooden

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Integrity

• Do the right thing, in the right way, for the
  right amount of time.

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Courage

• Courage is when you are scared to death and yet
  you do what you have to do.
• Gen. Omar
  Bradley

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Courage contd

• Courage is the greatest virtue because it allows
  for all the others.

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Discipline

• The pain of discipline hurts less than the pain
  of regret.

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Traits of First Responders

• Need to be in control
• Obsessive
• Compulsive
• Highly motivated
• Action oriented

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Traits contd

• High need for stimulation
• Need for immediate gratification
• Easily bored
• Risk takers
• Highly dedicated
• Need to be needed
• Source ICISF
• Jim Gunnels, Special Agent,
• Immigration Customs
  Enforcement (ICE)

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• How can these fit into a sense of response to
  disaster and a sense of justice?

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• There are obviously some things in that list that
  can essentially go either way in terms of
  outcomes.

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• Do you want an obsessive, easily bored person who
  likes to take risks babysitting your children?

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• Probably not , however

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• Do you want an obsessive, easily bored, highly
  motivated, highly dedicated (disciplined) person
  who is willing to take risks who is known for
  impeccable integrity taking care of your children?

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• A reminder of our time in history..

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The wisdom of Allan Greenspan

• Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• He observed a very basic and yet haunting point..

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• The common ingredient in all disasters,
  emergencies, and crisis.

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• is that something was unanticipated.

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Examples

• The Great Depression
• 9-11
• School shootings

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The Unanticipated

• The good guys have to guess ahead of the bad
  guys.
• Once something happens, we often hear, nobody
  thought of this.
• An example

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CASVE Model of Decision Making
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• Comes from the field of career planning.
• Is an adaptable model for planning and triage.

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• Communication
• Execution
  Analysis
• Valuing Synthesis

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• Communication (Identify a gap)
• Analysis (Interrelating problem components)
• Synthesis (Creating likely alternatives)
• Valuing (Prioritizing alternatives)
• Execution (Forming means-end strategies)

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Critical Thinking Skills

• Critical Evaluative
• Minimize risks
• Maximize gains
• Assess a situation for outcomes
• Work from a principle to an issue
• Work from an issue to a principle

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• Thinking is often casual and informal, whereas
  critical thinking deliberately evaluates the
  quality of thinking.
• In productive problem solving you generate ideas
  (by creativity) and evaluate ideas (by
  criticality). 

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Critical Thinking and Character

• Linda Elder and Richard Paul in
• Valuable Intellectual Traits, describe the
  traits of
• - courage
• - integrity
• - perseverance (discipline)
• as intrical to critical thinking.

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A Point In Planning

• Whatever does not get resolved gets repeated.

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Inspiration

• Inspiration is helping to believe that they can
  do that which they previously believed themselves
  unable to do.
• Gen. Joshua Lawrence
  Chamberlain

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Two things to keep in mind when delegating and
hiring

• Hire for attitude and train for skills.
• 2. The why influences the how.

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Integrity

• Accepting responsibility
• No excuses and managing reasons
• Upholding justice
• Forgetting about perfection and pursuing
  excellence

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Discipline

• Training a little harder
• The easy day was yesterday
• Do all you can do, and then do one more