Serving to lead

Greg Friese turns the tables by interviewing host Rob Lawrence about how his Royal Army Medical Corps service has influenced his leadership through 30 years of EMS

December 22, 2021 11:35 AM •

Then Army Captain Rob Lawrence serving as an air assault medical unit officer in Bosnia in the 1990s.

This episode of EMS One Stop is sponsored by Blink; the mobile app helping EMS providers to better communicate with their field staff. Learn more about how Blink’s two-way communications features are helping to reduce first responder turnover at www.joinblink.com.

In the final EMS One-Stop podcast of the year, the tables are turned on host Rob Lawrence as Lexipol/EMS1 Editorial Director Greg Friese, MS, NRP, takes over the mic and welcomes Rob as the guest.

Rob is about to celebrate 30 years in EMS leading both military and civilian prehospital ambulance services and Greg drills into Rob’s views on leadership.

Having served in the British army and many deployments in the early ’80s, Rob was selected for officer training and entered Britain’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

On receiving the Queen’s Commission as a second lieutenant, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and the rest – as they say – is history.

Rob and Greg discuss the influences of Sandhurst on Rob’s leadership style and how that is carried forward to this day.

Topics discussed include pride, integrity, learning, humor, service, courage, communication, trust, training and serving to lead.

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Rob Lawrence

Rob Lawrence has been a leader in civilian and military EMS for over a quarter of a century. He is currently the director of strategic implementation for PRO EMS and its educational arm, Prodigy EMS, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and part-time executive director of the California Ambulance Association.

He previously served as the chief operating officer of the Richmond Ambulance Authority (Virginia), which won both state and national EMS Agency of the Year awards during his 10-year tenure. Additionally, he served as COO for Paramedics Plus in Alameda County, California.

Prior to emigrating to the U.S. in 2008, Rob served as the COO for the East of England Ambulance Service in Suffolk County, England, and as the executive director of operations and service development for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust. Rob is a former Army officer and graduate of the UK’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served worldwide in a 20-year military career encompassing many prehospital and evacuation leadership roles.

Rob is a board member of the Academy of International Mobile Healthcare Integration (AIMHI) as well as chair of the American Ambulance Association’s State Association Forum. He writes and podcasts for EMS1 and is a member of the EMS1 Editorial Advisory Board. Connect with him on Twitter.