Add Two Coaching Sessions with Chief Armstrong to any course
The course gives you the framework. This is where you figure out how it applies to your situation.
Most leadership development ends when the course ends. You close the final lesson, get your certificate, and go back to the firehouse with a head full of content and no one to think it through with. The crew is watching. The problems are real. And the gap between what you learned and what you actually do next is where most of the development gets lost.
Direct Line closes that gap.
Two focused, one-on-one sessions with Chief Armstrong — used however serves you best. Bring your course content and what you're trying to apply. Bring the personnel situation you're not sure how to handle. Bring the organizational dynamic that's frustrating you. Bring whatever is actually in front of you right now.
This is not a debrief. It is not a check-in. It is a direct line to someone who has sat in the chair you are sitting in — and who will tell you what they actually think.
How to Use Your Sessions
Your two sessions are yours to use where you need them most. Most officers use them in one of two ways — or a combination of both.
Course Follow-Up and Application
You finished the course. You have an action plan. Now you want to make sure it actually holds up in the real world of your department — with your crew, your chain of command, and the specific dynamics you're dealing with.
Use your sessions to work through how the course content applies to your specific situation. What does setting the standard actually look like in your firehouse? How do you handle the officer who was passed over for the promotion you just got? What does your 90-day action plan look like when it hits the reality of shift work and organizational politics?
Live Leadership Challenge
You have something happening right now that needs more than a lesson and a knowledge check.
A personnel issue that's getting worse. A difficult conversation you've been avoiding. A budget fight you don't know how to navigate. A crew dynamic that isn't working and you can't figure out why. A decision coming that will define how people see you — and you're not sure you're calling it right.
Bring it. That's what these sessions are for.
What to Expect
Each session runs 60 minutes via video call. Chief Armstrong does not use a script or a pre-packaged coaching template. He listens to what you're dealing with, asks the questions that get to the real issue, and tells you what he thinks — directly and without padding it.
You will leave each session with a clearer picture of what you're facing, a more honest read on your own role in the situation, and specific actions you can take when you go back to work.
This is not therapy. It is not cheerleading. It is a direct conversation with someone who has led through the things you are learning to lead through — line-of-duty deaths, labor disputes, budget crises, political pressure, personnel failures, and the quiet daily work of holding a standard when no one is watching.
About Chief Armstrong
Chief Chris Armstrong is a retired Fire Chief with more than 35 years in public safety leadership across two departments and three states. He led organizations with hundreds of personnel through line-of-duty deaths, major incidents, budget crises, labor disputes, and political pressure from every direction.
He is a Harvard Kennedy School graduate, a John Maxwell-certified speaker and trainer, and the founder of The Thinking Chief Leadership Group. He is the author of Bugles Don't Make Leaders, Critical Conversations in Fire and EMS, Unspoken Rules, and the Fire Service Leadership Case Studies series.
He did not survive all of it perfectly. He learned from all of it. That is what he brings to every coaching session.
Scheduling
After completing your course, you will receive an email with instructions to schedule your two sessions directly with Chief Armstrong. Scheduling is handled via email to accommodate shift schedules, rotating days off, and the reality that your calendar does not run on a nine-to-five.
Sessions are available on a rolling basis and must be completed within 90 days of course completion.
Who This Is For
Direct Line is for the officer who takes the work seriously.
The newly promoted lieutenant who knows the course content but isn't sure how to apply it to the crew that's already testing them. The Battalion Chief who is navigating a personnel situation that has political dimensions no training prepared them for. The Division Chief who is trying to figure out how to lead peer chiefs without losing credibility in every direction at once.
If you are looking for someone to tell you that you're doing great and everything will be fine — this is not that.
If you are looking for someone who will engage honestly with what you're facing, push back when your thinking is off, and help you leave the conversation with more clarity than you came in with — this is exactly that.
Add coaching to your cart alongside any course at checkout.
$299 | Two 60-Minute Sessions | Scheduled via Email After Course Completion
The course gives you the framework. This is where you figure out how it applies to your situation.
Most leadership development ends when the course ends. You close the final lesson, get your certificate, and go back to the firehouse with a head full of content and no one to think it through with. The crew is watching. The problems are real. And the gap between what you learned and what you actually do next is where most of the development gets lost.
Direct Line closes that gap.
Two focused, one-on-one sessions with Chief Armstrong — used however serves you best. Bring your course content and what you're trying to apply. Bring the personnel situation you're not sure how to handle. Bring the organizational dynamic that's frustrating you. Bring whatever is actually in front of you right now.
This is not a debrief. It is not a check-in. It is a direct line to someone who has sat in the chair you are sitting in — and who will tell you what they actually think.
How to Use Your Sessions
Your two sessions are yours to use where you need them most. Most officers use them in one of two ways — or a combination of both.
Course Follow-Up and Application
You finished the course. You have an action plan. Now you want to make sure it actually holds up in the real world of your department — with your crew, your chain of command, and the specific dynamics you're dealing with.
Use your sessions to work through how the course content applies to your specific situation. What does setting the standard actually look like in your firehouse? How do you handle the officer who was passed over for the promotion you just got? What does your 90-day action plan look like when it hits the reality of shift work and organizational politics?
Live Leadership Challenge
You have something happening right now that needs more than a lesson and a knowledge check.
A personnel issue that's getting worse. A difficult conversation you've been avoiding. A budget fight you don't know how to navigate. A crew dynamic that isn't working and you can't figure out why. A decision coming that will define how people see you — and you're not sure you're calling it right.
Bring it. That's what these sessions are for.
What to Expect
Each session runs 60 minutes via video call. Chief Armstrong does not use a script or a pre-packaged coaching template. He listens to what you're dealing with, asks the questions that get to the real issue, and tells you what he thinks — directly and without padding it.
You will leave each session with a clearer picture of what you're facing, a more honest read on your own role in the situation, and specific actions you can take when you go back to work.
This is not therapy. It is not cheerleading. It is a direct conversation with someone who has led through the things you are learning to lead through — line-of-duty deaths, labor disputes, budget crises, political pressure, personnel failures, and the quiet daily work of holding a standard when no one is watching.
About Chief Armstrong
Chief Chris Armstrong is a retired Fire Chief with more than 35 years in public safety leadership across two departments and three states. He led organizations with hundreds of personnel through line-of-duty deaths, major incidents, budget crises, labor disputes, and political pressure from every direction.
He is a Harvard Kennedy School graduate, a John Maxwell-certified speaker and trainer, and the founder of The Thinking Chief Leadership Group. He is the author of Bugles Don't Make Leaders, Critical Conversations in Fire and EMS, Unspoken Rules, and the Fire Service Leadership Case Studies series.
He did not survive all of it perfectly. He learned from all of it. That is what he brings to every coaching session.
Scheduling
After completing your course, you will receive an email with instructions to schedule your two sessions directly with Chief Armstrong. Scheduling is handled via email to accommodate shift schedules, rotating days off, and the reality that your calendar does not run on a nine-to-five.
Sessions are available on a rolling basis and must be completed within 90 days of course completion.
Who This Is For
Direct Line is for the officer who takes the work seriously.
The newly promoted lieutenant who knows the course content but isn't sure how to apply it to the crew that's already testing them. The Battalion Chief who is navigating a personnel situation that has political dimensions no training prepared them for. The Division Chief who is trying to figure out how to lead peer chiefs without losing credibility in every direction at once.
If you are looking for someone to tell you that you're doing great and everything will be fine — this is not that.
If you are looking for someone who will engage honestly with what you're facing, push back when your thinking is off, and help you leave the conversation with more clarity than you came in with — this is exactly that.
Add coaching to your cart alongside any course at checkout.
$299 | Two 60-Minute Sessions | Scheduled via Email After Course Completion