Rising from Ground Zero: 9/11 and the FDNY's Path through Crisis to Transformation

Rising from Ground Zero presents the story of the FDNY, a proud, long standing, and widely respected organization that suffered intense systemic shock on September 11, 2001.  Using over 90 hours of never-before-published author-conducted responder interviews, mainly FDNY firefighters, this book relates the story of battling through the crisis, managing the aftermath, and constructing the future. 

The interviews provide a vital oral history of the experience of handling the path of the FDNY through the crisis and decades long organizational transformation, one that continues today. They also provide the basis for lessons (often starkly concrete) offered by the authors to all those, especially leaders, facing crisis or seeking fundamental organizational change. 

Much remains to be told about and, consequently, learned from 9/11. In the case of the FDNY, the day and its long shadow contain foundational stories of who we are as well as who we aspire to be. 

This book will help readers to see, learn, and apply lessons in crisis management, leading in prolonged hard times, and succeeding in organizational change.

Gregory P. Shea, PhD, is Senior Fellow at the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management, Senior Fellow at Penn Implementation Science Center (PISCE), and adjunct Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Paul Brown is a retired New York City Fire Captain and educator. A third-generation firefighter, Paul spent over thirty years as a first responder. While a member of the FDNY Incident Management Team, he deployed numerous times to natural disasters and wildfires throughout the nation. He speaks regularly on managing crises, high stakes decision making and organizational change.

André Kotzé is the founder of AirtimeBA and Principal Consultant at Teamworks Training and Development. A veteran with 30 years of field experience, including 15 years in mountain rescue and refugee camps, he developed AirtimeBA to categorize human interaction through "behavioral telemetry." Beyond his role as researcher and writer for this study, André converts observable behaviors into measurable frameworks that make professional conversations meaningfully better.