City leadership seminar focuses on ethics, bullying, crisis response

LACONIA — Anti-bullying conversations aren't just for kids.

Durham Fire Chief Dave Emanuel gave a presentation called “How Bullying Affects Your Health, Safety and Survival” to city leaders and future managers Wednesday morning, focused on identifying and understanding bullying and how it impacts people in an organization.

Emanuel was one of several speakers, including Primex3 Chief Executive Officer Ty Gagne, during the day-long networking and professional development event at the Lakeport Opera House.

Police Chief Matt Canfield, Fire Chief Tim Joubert and City Manager Kirk Beattie were joined by other city department heads, and future leaders, as well as those from neighboring communities like Gilford and Meredith.

“This is the second year we have done it, and last year was very successful, so we wanted to continue to push for strong leadership training,” Beattie said. “It was very well received, and attendees were pleased with what we had for topics.”

The day started at 8:30 a.m. with Gagne leading a conversation called “When No One’s Watching: Trust, Ethics, and Decision-Making in an Unpredictable Environment.” The segment focused on honest behaviors in the public sector. Gagne told the story of a solo hiker’s life saving-actions on Mount Washington amid tough winter conditions. The goal of the presentation was to challenge leaders to assess their decision-making process, motivations and values.

“When nobody’s watching, why shouldn’t we simply do what’s in our own individual and organizational self-interest?” asks a sheet from the event materials.

Emanuel said bullying is unsafe and founded on a power differential.

“You can’t have bullying in a high-performance team,” Emanuel told the crowd.

“What we’ve learned about bullying research is that it impacts everybody.”

Emanuel said some leadership tactics haven’t aged well, and it's time to adapt, learn and change. He said some pranks are outdated, and while he admitted he was part of some, it is time to get up to speed for 2025. Beattie agreed with this notion, and said “leadership is evolving.

“It is always evolving, and I think we have to stay ahead of it,” Beattie said. “This is something I’m happy we’ve been able to do here, and it is important for us in the city’s administration.”

Finishing out the day was a presentation about the meta-leadership framework and practice method to prepare for and respond to crisis incidents. It was hosted by Eric McNulty, an author who teaches leadership, as well as negotiation and conflict resolution at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. McNulty is the author of case studies on leadership decision-making in the response to the Boston Marathon bombing, Hurricane Sandy, and Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

“All three of these speakers speak nationally on their topics, so we are really bringing in experts of their field,” Beattie said. “Each one of them brought something different to the table, but it was all centered around being better leaders and growing that leadership ability.”