Stanford knew that he would be immediately shot down, laughed at, or ignored if he announced that “the Texas Forest Service is here to bring order to the situation!” His experience showed that the best way to get a team to embrace you in a disaster situation was to make yourself as helpful as possible. “Figure out who’s in charge by observing the scene. Then go up to that person and say, ‘What three things are biting you on the ass?’ And then you make it your goal to fix those three things. Then you’re part of the team.”
