A STORY OF HEROISM FROM KNOXVILLE:

Robert Roche was the first firefighter to arrive. He also was one of the first firefighters to enter the burning apartment building. And because he did, a woman who depends on a wheelchair for mobility is alive today. He’s not, however, just a firefighter. Roche is an assistant chief of the Knoxville Fire Department, based at headquarters downtown.

Assistant chiefs are not typically the first on the scene of a fire and rarely the first of the firefighters to enter a burning building with heavy black smoke rolling and flames roaring, as this apartment building was.

But enter it he did … on his hands and knees … and returned on his hands and knees with a woman on his back.

In a soundly run organization, the managers can handle the jobs of the people they manage, and will do those jobs when necessary.

UPDATE: See, e.g, Federal Express: “Like nearly every person you meet who works in a managerial position at FedEx, Kirkeminde has worked here forever. Nineteen years as of November. He also, like nearly everyone you meet at FedEx, started as a package handler—an entry-level position that involves long hours on your feet scanning packages, unloading packages, or shifting packages along belts.”

Sure, a hospital manager can’t do brain surgery, any more than a FedEx manager can fly the planes. But he/she should be able to pass out trays, deliver meds, clean the floors, do admissions, or whatever else might need to be done in an emergency.