Ep. 88: Ryan Power, Deputy Chief - The Power of Communication

About this episode

Deputy Chief Ryan Power discusses the importance of communication in leadership within the fire service.

Deputy Chief Ryan Power of the Spokane County Fire in Washington talks about the lost art in the fire service, "The Human Factors of Communication." Chief dives into the 4 C's of Communication: 1) Connection, 2) Choice, 3) Competency, 4) Consistency. Chief also dives into the different styles of communicators: 1) Social, 2) Direct, 3) Empathetic, 4) Logical. Effective communication is a cornerstone to effective leadership and the best leaders can transition between the different styles seamlessly. Chief Power emphasizes that communication and emotional intelligence are tactical skills and they should be practiced like anything else, and that you can't lead people effectively if you don't understand people.

People in this episode

Host: Berlin Maza

Guest: Ryan Power

Topics covered

• communication
• leadership
• emotional intelligence
• fire service
• human factors

Keywords

• communication
• leadership
• emotional intelligence
• fire service
• 4 C's of Communication

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Spokane County Fire

Places: Washington

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• Ep. 96: Trisha Wolford, Fire Chief - Perspective & Gratitude · April 12, 2026 · 1h 12m
• Ep. 95: Mike Dugan, Captain (ret.) - It's Your Turn · March 25, 2026 · 1h 10m
• Ep. 94: Chuck DeSmith, Deputy Fire Chief (ret.) - Resiliency & Peer Support · March 17, 2026 · 1h 29m
• Ep. 93: Paul Conway, Assistant Chief (ret.) - A Life Full of Mistakes · February 23, 2026 · 1h 21m