Beware: Unknown Faces from Unknown Places

In Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Brutus stabs and kills Caesar, to which Caesar responds, “Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar.”1 These are memorable words, spoken by the Roman dictator Julius Caesar to his friend Marcus Junius Brutus at the moment of Caesar’s assassination. Shakespeare’s play illustrates Brutus’ internal struggles, his assassination of Caesar with other conspirators, and their subsequent downfall. In the final scene, Mark Antony describes Brutus as “the noblest Roman of them all,” for he was the only conspirator who acted for the good of Rome. Earlier in the play, Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March,” a warning that he should be alert for betrayal by his friends and colleagues. Whenever I hear of an EMS leader being verbally attacked, blocked or stymied from promotion, or “dethroned” from their leadership position when a new boss or administration comes in, I think of those memorable words. They’ve stood the test of time, have shown that some things are predictable, and the phrase, more specifically the word “beware,” needs to be etched in the minds of all EMS leaders and managers who wish to “survive” in their leadership position. Document Everything It’s not easy to be a manager in any profession, let alone in EMS, where there’s so much competition, and so many different personalities all around us. Here’s some very poignant advice my father and many other managers taught...
Source: JEMS Administration and Leadership - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Columns Administration and Leadership Source Type: news