Leadership Under Fire

Ben Oliva is a certified mental performance consultant and mental health counselor. He is a member of the SportStrata team, which utilizes the most recent innovations in sport and performance psychology to coach individuals and teams to reach their maximum potential. He specializes in training athletes and elite performers using evidence-based mental skills training. Ben is the mental performance coach for Fordham University and New York University Athletics. He has works with the Baylor Football program and other NCAA teams. Beyond athletics, Ben is a mental performance coach for the New York City Fire Department’s Mental Performance Initiative and delivers leadership and mental performance workshops for business organizations across the country. Ben’s experience includes working for the mental skills group of the Boston Red Sox and serving as an assistant coach at Williams College for the baseball and football programs, where he was also a two-sport varsity athlete. He received his master’s degree in sport and performance counseling from Boston University and his undergraduate degree in psychology and astrophysics from Williams College. Ben serves as a human performance advisor for Leadership Under Fire.

Charlie Black is a retired Marine Corps Officer with diverse experiences that span over three decades of service on four continents with conventional and special operations forces. His mission-focused leadership consistently enabled success in the most demanding and uncertain environments by building resilient and adaptive teams. For close to a decade since active service, he has pursued a range of endeavors from executive leadership in a non-profit and commercial business, laboratory research to graduate teaching. He regularly speaks and writes on the disruptive, turbulent and unpredictable nature of our world and what is required to successfully navigate the fog of uncertainty, especially those in leadership positions. He is the Co-Founder and a Managing Partner at Xundis Global—a niche trans-disciplinary consultancy focused on organizational change and plural futures.He also is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Joint Special Operations University, US Special Operations Command. Charlie serves an Operational Leadership Advisor for Leadership Under Fire.

Captain Michele Fitzsimmons is an 18-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department. She currently is the Department’s highest-ranking, senior woman in fire operations as the Company Commander of Ladder 12 in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. From 2002 through 2004, she was the president of FireFLAG, the FDNY’s Gay and Lesbian organization. In 2007, she co-founded Phoenix Firecamp, a weeklong sleep away camp that introduces teenage girls to the fire service. She continued as a camp instructor for seven years at the annual program. Then, from 2013-2015, she was an instructor at FDNY's Probationary Firefighter School. She is a graduate of the FDNY Officers Management Institute—a program offered by Columbia Business School Executive Education. She has been a Guest Lecturer at Fire Service Women of Ontario, University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School and Graduate School of Education. She has presented on holding a position of leadership in a male dominated field as well as decision making while working with Mission Critical Teams. Prior to joining the FDNY, Michele worked at GMHC from 1993-2001. GMHC is the world’s first and leading provider of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy. Her last three years there were spent as a coordinator of the Lesbian AIDS Project. 

In this episode, we're honored to have U.S. Marine Lieutenant General Lawrence Nicholson as our guest. General Nicholson served as the Commanding General of III Marine Expeditionary Force, leading 30,000 Marines and Sailors in the Asia-Pacific region, from 2015 to 2018. He retired in August of 2018 after 39 years of dedicated service. During his career, he commanded at every level in USMC infantry units and commanded Marines in both Anbar Province, Iraq and Helmand Province, Afghanistan during critical periods of military campaigns. General Nicholson is the first General Officer to be interviewed on our show.

Welcome to the second part of our 2019 Year In Review. This episode picks up with podcast host Patti Murphy, Leadership Under Fire Founder and President Jason Brezler and FDNY Senior Firefighter James McNamara. In the previous episode, we discussed the LUF team's accomplishments and focused efforts during 2019. Now, we'll dive deeper into some of the lessons Jason and Jim learned firsthand during the year that impacted their views on human performance and leadership.

In this episode, host Patti Murphy is joined by Leadership Under Fire Founder and President Jason Brezler and FDNY Senior Firefighter James McNamara. Together they discuss the LUF Team's 2019 accomplishments and focused efforts which included the rigorous examination of resilience--most specifically, exploring the question of "what happens when we play to win and lose?" Jason and Jim also share as some of the lessons that they learned firsthand during 2019 that impacted their views on human performance and leadership, as well as events and resources that shaped their professional development. This is the first of a two-part series.  

Timothy Clarke is an FDNY Firefighter in Ladder Company 12 in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and an International Association of Firefighters Peer Certified Fitness instructor (which is a personal trainer for firefighters). He spent three years racing professionally in the sport of triathlon and is a QT2 systems level 3 certified triathlon coach. As both an athlete and a coach, Tim has spent the last 10 years using biometric heart rate data as a tool for training and racing. His experience has given him a unique insight into what happens inside the human body at real world fires and emergencies as well as during workouts and recovery.

In this episode, listeners will hear from a guest who you may recognize from an episode we published in the spring of 2019 on Risk and Resilience. Please welcome back Deputy Chief Eric Nurnberg who currently serves as our team’s Leadership Director. Eric is a Deputy Chief with the Iowa City Fire Department and is a second generation firefighter. He’s a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of Iowa. In 2013, Eric graduated from the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program. His research during the four-year program focused on rapid tactical decision-making under stress and the psychological and physiological effects of stress on tactical performance. He continues to research human factors related to tactical performance and is the co-author of “FirePsyche: Mental Toughness and the VALOR Mindset for the Fireground.”

Charles “Sid” Heal retired as a Commander from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in 2008 after nearly 33 years of service, more than half of which was spent in units charged with handling law enforcement special and emergency operations. He was present for emergency operations at the Oklahoma City Bombing, the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, and the 2001 attacks. Sid also dedicated 35 years to the US Marine Corps Reserve and served four combat tours. He is the author of Sound Doctrineand Field Command, as well as more than 180 articles on law enforcement subjects. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Police Science from California State University, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California and a master’s degree in management from California Polytechnic University. He is also a graduate of the FBI’s National Academy and the California Command College. He is the President of the California Association of Tactical Officers and the national chairman for Strategy Development for the National Tactical Officers Association. He is a frequent teacher at the U.S. military war colleges and has taught throughout the world.

Hannah Huesman, a Mental Performance Coach for the Philadelphia Phillies with a rich background in sport psychology and a passion for mental training, discusses crucial topics like building mental skills in athletes and navigating a male-dominated industry. She highlights her 'Mental Sweat Monday' initiative, promoting mental health alongside physical fitness. The conversation also dives into the importance of mindfulness, self-talk, and structured goal-setting, offering listeners valuable insights to enhance performance in sports and beyond.