People are starving for leaders who tell the truth. Embrace it.
Growing up, Aaron Lipski had no burning desire to be a firefighter.
His father was a fireman, as was his grandfather and great-grandfather. But he resisted the family’s call to duty for many years.
“I saw my dad and grandfather come home battered, bruised and burned,” Lipski said. “To me, that did not look like a good way to spend your time.”
Still, their stories of commitment, community and courageous service resonated deep inside him. So in 1997, Lipski joined the Milwaukee Fire Department. He started scaling the leadership ladder and was appointed fire chief in 2020.
“This is the greatest job I’ve had in my life. I love it,” he told a group of students, faculty and staff at Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Oak Creek Campus.
Lipski and Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita R. Ball shared their career journeys at a Student Leadership Series program hosted by MATC President Anthony Cruz on Wednesday, October 8.
The Student Leadership Series, held once a semester and sponsored by the college’s office of Student Engagement and Community Impact, gives MATC students a unique opportunity to hear the educational and professional experiences of leaders in various careers.
Many in the audience were students in MATC’s Protective Services programs, which include Fire Protection Technician, Criminal Justice Studies and Emergency Medical Services. All are based at the Oak Creek Campus.
Lipski and Ball related how they started their careers, how they advanced through the ranks, and described their leadership styles and habits.
“Leadership doesn’t just happen,” said Dr. Cruz, who moderated the discussion. “It happens through hard work, through education and through training. These two individuals have the qualities we want in an exemplary leader.”
Ball started with the Milwaukee Police Department in 1985 and served for 25 years. In 2022, she was appointed Milwaukee County sheriff; the next year, became the first female elected to the position.
Along the way she had a supervisor who was “the worst leader in the world. I knew I could be a better leader than that person,” she said. “I had learned early that if you want anything, you have to work for it.”
An effective leader is an educated leader, said Lipski, who took his first fire science course at MATC. “You can never learn enough. You can never take enough classes, attend enough seminars or go to enough conferences,” he said. “The world is changing so fast around you. You need to know the things that will keep you alive.”
Ball added, “Be a lifelong learner. Learn from the mistakes that others make so you don’t make the same mistakes.”
Education will also help you seize opportunities to be a leader, Ball said. “It’s all about preparation. When the chances come, you need to be ready,” she said.
Lipski urged the students to never turn down a request for help from a co-worker or colleague. “When people call, say yes,” he said.
Students should cultivate mentors, people who will both encourage you and be honest with you.
“The time you really need a mentor is when you’re screwing up,” Lipski said. “At a point in my career I was treating people badly. I was mean. I had two people I considered mentors tell me what I was doing and that I needed to stop.”
These days, social media makes it easier to find mentors and role models. “With podcasts, TED Talks and other posts, you can find someone who knows more than you do,” Ball said.
Lipski and Ball agreed that good leaders are also ethical leaders.
“Try to base everything you do on the truth,” Lipski said. “Just be honest. If you make a mistake, be honest you made it and then do the hard work after that to fix it. People are starving for leaders who tell the truth. Embrace it.”
Ball and Lipski said other good habits for leaders include maintaining eye contact, being present in conversations, assembling a good team, aiming for excellence and taking criticism constructively.
“You should try and be the best version of yourself that you can be,” Ball said.
“You folks are the future,” Lipski told the students in the audience. “We need you to step up and make things better for all of us.”
Learn more about MATC’s Protective Services programs
About MATC: Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
