Fred Factor
Nathan Douglas
ESS 497
Fred Factor Are you a Fred? Throughout this book Mark Sanborn describes the four principles of what constitutes and makes you a Fred. He explains further on how to develop others into Fred’s or teams of Fred’s. At the beginning of the book he says, “Do you move your organization closer to or further from its goals? Do you perform your work in an ordinary way, or do you execute it superbly? Do you lighten someone’s burden or add to it? Do you lift someone up or put someone down?” I like how he opens up and asks you to ask yourself these questions because how someone might answer these will reflect on the type of person they are. Principle one is that Everyone Makes A Difference. He talks about how “nobody can prevent your from choosing to be exceptional.” You as a person are what you want to be and you have to make a decision if your going to have a positive or negative outlook on things. No one has unimportant jobs in life, there are just people who feel unimportant doing their jobs. If you feel like you are wasting your time doing something, then you are portraying to yourself that what you are doing is not very important. Principle two is that Success Is Built On Relationships. Sanborn talks about how leaders will succeed when they recognized that their employees are only human and will do the best that they can. This goes back to people believing that all the jobs they do are important. I like his quote about how your position in a job doesn’t determine performance; your performance determines your position in your job and in life. He covers what he calls the 7 B’s of relationship building: be real, be interested, be a better listener, be empathic, be honest, be helpful, and be prompt. Principle three states that You Must Continually Create Value For Others, And It Doesn’t Have to Cost a Penny. Do something you love so that you have passion for your job, do the right thing so that doing it is its own reward. “Excellence,
ESS 497
Fred Factor Are you a Fred? Throughout this book Mark Sanborn describes the four principles of what constitutes and makes you a Fred. He explains further on how to develop others into Fred’s or teams of Fred’s. At the beginning of the book he says, “Do you move your organization closer to or further from its goals? Do you perform your work in an ordinary way, or do you execute it superbly? Do you lighten someone’s burden or add to it? Do you lift someone up or put someone down?” I like how he opens up and asks you to ask yourself these questions because how someone might answer these will reflect on the type of person they are. Principle one is that Everyone Makes A Difference. He talks about how “nobody can prevent your from choosing to be exceptional.” You as a person are what you want to be and you have to make a decision if your going to have a positive or negative outlook on things. No one has unimportant jobs in life, there are just people who feel unimportant doing their jobs. If you feel like you are wasting your time doing something, then you are portraying to yourself that what you are doing is not very important. Principle two is that Success Is Built On Relationships. Sanborn talks about how leaders will succeed when they recognized that their employees are only human and will do the best that they can. This goes back to people believing that all the jobs they do are important. I like his quote about how your position in a job doesn’t determine performance; your performance determines your position in your job and in life. He covers what he calls the 7 B’s of relationship building: be real, be interested, be a better listener, be empathic, be honest, be helpful, and be prompt. Principle three states that You Must Continually Create Value For Others, And It Doesn’t Have to Cost a Penny. Do something you love so that you have passion for your job, do the right thing so that doing it is its own reward. “Excellence,