About the Founder

EDUCATION SUPPORTS THE EXPERIENCE

Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in Fire Science and master’s degrees in Public Administration, Organizational Leadership, and Homeland Security.

He has also earned the Chief Fire Officer (CFO) designation through the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

His education has provided the academic foundation to examine many of the same organizational questions he has encountered throughout his fire-service career.

WHY OPERATIONAL ALIGNMENT?

Operational Alignment began with a question:

Does our culture help us accomplish our mission, or have we gradually begun changing the mission to accommodate our culture?

That question led to a larger realization.

Culture may contribute to an organizational condition—but it may also be the result of one. The same condition can originate in leadership, governance, structure, systems, resources, standards and expectations, individual behavior, culture, or relationships.

When we begin with a presumed cause, we risk diagnosing the organization before we have adequately examined the evidence.

Operational Alignment grew from that realization.

FIRE CULTURE PROJECT

Ryan founded Fire Culture Project to create a place for disciplined conversations about leadership, culture, accountability, readiness, and organizational performance in the fire service.

Operational Alignment is the foundational framework of Fire Culture Project.

It is not intended to provide a single correct answer for every organization. Instead, it provides a disciplined way to examine whether the parts of an organization make sense for what that organization is legitimately responsible for accomplishing—and whether it can sustain that capability over time.

Operational Alignment should also be held to the same standard it asks organizations to apply to themselves:

Where credible evidence challenges an assumption within Operational Alignment, the framework should evolve.