Vendor Viewpoint: Leadership Lessons From 'Hamilton'

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On January 20, 2015, Hamilton premiered off-Broadway, bringing forth a unique depiction of the life and times of Alexander Hamilton as told through songs penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda.¹ What does this theatrical depiction of a founding father have to do with present-day EMS? The answers are hidden in the depiction of leadership development throughout the lyrics of various songs, coupled with a historical review. 

Much like Alexander Hamilton, who was approximately 21 when our nation was founded, the EMS industry is “young, scrappy, and hungry.”² EMS, when compared to our public safety counterparts, is young, in that EMS only has been formally recognized since the mid-1960s. It’s scrappy in its efforts to bridge the gap between prehospital care and public health. It’s hungry to constantly improve itself to ensure the highest quality of care in a diverse country.

While EMS is a young, scrappy, and hungry industry, it is important to establish a foundation. Whereas other public safety entities have the FBI National Academy, the National Fire Academy, and the Emergency Management Institute, presently there is no nationally accepted resource for leadership development within the EMS industry. There are several developmental frameworks, such as the National EMS Management Association’s seven pillars of national EMS officer competencies. Yet even with these individualized programs, there remains no national EMS leadership development program or institute. 

How Hard It Is to Lead

Without a standardized model for exploring the concepts of leadership versus management, we look to various models of history and theory to grow our industry’s future leaders. While a theatrical Broadway production may not be the first thought as a methodology, the juxtaposition of mainstream culture and history creates a profound learning opportunity.

In the early years of our new nation, how did we select those who would be its voices and leaders? The various colonies used different methods, but of the 12 original colonies that made up the Continental Congress leadership, members were selected from within established legislative bodies.³ 

In the EMS industry leaders are typically promoted from within based on tenure or clinical ability. While this may not be a negative, it can create barriers, as the industry often provides limited training, if any at all, to these future leaders. 

In “History Has Its Eyes on You,” George Washington tells Hamilton about his early leadership failures. In the lyrics, we hear “I made every mistake and felt the shame rise in me, and even now I lie awake knowing history has its eyes on me.”⁴ With the industry failing to prepare leaders, we find ourselves deep in King George’s song “What Comes Next?” The king asks the leaders of a new country, “Do you know how hard it is to lead?”⁵ 

EMS has few champions that discuss leadership theory and the differences between being a leader and a manager. Without strong research, education, and further development, we will find our future leaders not being in “the room where it happened,” with no one really knowing “how the parties got to yes.”⁶ 

Servant Leadership

This is often coupled with a misperception by leaders that the organization’s members “don’t have a desire to help.”⁷ It’s here where self-awareness is key: Under the model of servant leadership,⁷ a leader should demonstrate the traits of stewardship, conceptualization, and foresight while being self-aware of their style and connection to the organization.⁸ In these three traits we find an understanding of lessons learned from past experiences, views of the reality of the present, and how a leader sees the future of the organization. 

This self-awareness must ultimately be coupled with stewardship to be a stronger servant leader. In applying stewardship, a leader should display a “strong desire to prepare the organization to contribute to the greater good.”⁸ Giving up control does not simply mean waiting for failure; it shows the leader’s intent to grow the organization by empowering others to lead. The self-aware servant leader must be empathetic and connected not only to the values and vision of the organization but to members ready to take on leadership roles.

Empowering team members to lead without title or rank is critical to preparing our future industry leaders. As the current leader it is imperative to set your organization up for a community of growth that allows it to live long beyond your tenure. 

Conclusion

How will we as an industry tell our story? EMS must advocate for leadership development, including theories that remove the barriers of feeling inadequate or fearing failure. History has its eyes on our current system, and we must decide who tells our story and what the narrative will be. 

Not only does history have its eyes on us, but our future leaders are watching and learning from us. Until  a national leadership development institute can be established, we must advance our understanding of leadership and develop those who will look back on us as EMS’ founders. 

As current leaders we must not throw away our shot at being more self-aware, more empathetic, and more empowering of those within the organizations we lead. Failing to remove barriers that prevent people from being in the room where decisions are made and not allowing others to grow will only hold our industry to the status quo. 

References

1. Vankin D. A ‘Hamilton’ timeline: How a single song grew into a global musical juggernaut. Los Angeles Times, 2017 Aug 10; www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/theater/la-ca-cm-hamilton-history-timeline-20170813-htmlstory.html.

2. Miranda L-M. “My Shot”. On: Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording). Atlantic, 2015.

3. Horan K. First Continental Congress. George Washington’s Mount Vernon, www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/first-continental-congress.

4. Jackson C, Miranda L-M. “History Has Its Eyes on You”. On: Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording). Atlantic, 2015.

5. Groff J. “What Comes Next?” On: Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording). Atlantic, 2015.

6. Odom Jr. L, Miranda L-M. “The Room Where It Happens”. On: Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording). Atlantic, 2015.

7. Eno Global Media. 12 Principles of Servant Leadership, https://enoglobalmedia.com/2018/05/06/12-principles-of-servant-leadership.

8. Donahue B. Why Leaders Don’t Share Leadership. SmallGroups.com, 2011; www.smallgroups.com/articles/2011/why-leaders-dont-share-leadership.html.

Aaron M. Rhone, PhD, is a faculty member at Columbia Southern University. He holds a doctorate in philosophy in organizational leadership from Northcentral University.