There is no shortage of cringe-worthy things we've heard and said on the job. The things we say reflect what we are thinking, even if it's only what we are thinking at the moment and not representative of our deeply held thoughts and beliefs.
For an officer in the fire service, what you say is registered by the crewmembers and will alter how they view their leaders — even the flip remarks. Nobody will always say the perfect things, but for company officers, it is critical to avoid these five statements. I don't care what you think: You're the officer, right? You're in charge. So you might feel that the only opinion that really matters is your own. Most officers realize how stupid this thinking is, but sometimes people do get caught up in it, especially on emergency scenes.
Of course you don't want to have a debate or a consensus discussion when you need to act quickly under emergency conditions. But you still need to have a way for all others to be able to convey information to you, from the senior engineer down to the newest firefighter.