M.A. Organizational Leadership — Gonzaga University — 2026

Martin J. Striefler Jr.
With, not at.

Leadership is possible to the extent that one can move beyond the parameters of a preferred framework to understand that such a framework is merely a partial view of what's possible. — Carey, 1999

Public Servant, Fayetteville Fire Department. Leader, Wedington Volunteer Fire Department. Veteran, United States Marine Corps. This portfolio is an accounting of the past two years spent figuring out what leadership actually requires, beyond competence.

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Overview

A portfolio in five parts.

Eleven years across engine, ladder, and rescue companies, a parallel decade of volunteer leadership, and a graduate program that kept asking me the same question every profession I've worked in eventually asks: who are you underneath the rank?

Experience

Fire service, military, and volunteer leadership across 16 years.

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Leadership Philosophy

"With, not at" — presence over control, tested on a mountain and on a call.

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Evidence & Grounding

The coursework, research, and fieldwork this portfolio stands on.

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Leadership Project

Looking Inward First — a mentorship framework built with a department, not handed to it.

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Competencies

What the program actually gave me, in practice, not just in theory.

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From the field

What came out of the work.

Two off-site pilot sessions, twelve firefighters across rank, all voluntary. A few things people said that stuck with me.

"The person messing up is always the last one to know. Nobody's told them, and there's no real structure behind that conversation."

Pilot participant — Session 1

"You finish probation and you're just cut loose. There's nothing in place."

Pilot participant — Session 2

"We're eons ahead of where we were ten years ago. But the relational stuff is what actually makes or breaks a department."

Pilot participant — Session 1