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The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary (Hardcover)
by Mark Sanborn
| Category:
Personal leadership, Personal improvement, Motivation, Attitude |
| Market price: ¥ 200.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
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In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
MSL Pointer Review:
Simple but engaging and life-transforming, The Fred Factor is the best book to teach the
work ethic and the Star Employee mindset of how to be extraordinary. A must read.
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Author: Mark Sanborn
Publisher: Currency
Pub. in: April, 2004
ISBN: 0385513518
Pages: 128
Measurements: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA01063
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0385513517
Language: American English
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- Awards & Credential -
BusinessWeek Bestseller and Wall Street Journal Bestseller. |
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- MSL Picks -
This little book (5.5 X 8 inches) is inviting just by it's small size. It's not intimidating, like some management and leadership books can be. The writing is a mix of storytelling and advice, flowing from the attitudes, behavior, and effectiveness of Fred the Postman. Fred is just an ordinary postal carrier who performs in an extraordinary way.
Author Mark Sanborn, a well-respected motivational speaker, explores what Fred does, why he does it, and the impact that effort has on others. Throughout the book, Sanborn offers examples of people in all walks of life-regular people like you and me, showing how they go over and beyond the ordinary to make a difference in the lives of those around them. The lessons are both instructive and inspirational. The themes are so well interwoven that you hardly realize that you're being taught or inspired; it just sort of happens.
Much of the advice offered consists of the same material that we've heard from motivational speakers for decades. The phrases and morals will sound familiar as you move comfortably through the pages. The personal one-on-one sharing style that the author uses to convey his messages somehow makes the messages much easier to "get," absorb, and use.
The Fred Factor is great for individual reading and personal growth. It will also be valuable for years as a training tool. Employers no doubt will buy this book in large quantities to inoffensively encourage their employees to be Freds in their work, to reach out to others, to build relationships, to do the extra things, to make a difference. This book would make a great gift for young people about to go out and make their way in the world. When they commit to Fred behavior, they will open their lives to that much higher level of satisfaction that comes from serving others.
(From quoting Roger Herman, USA)
Target readers:
Anyone who aspires to be successful in work and life. Not for the lazy, indifferent or unmotivated.
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MARK SANBORN is an international known author, motivational speaker, and the president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea studio for leadership development. He gives nearly one hundred presentations each year on leadership, team building, customer service, and mastering change. Mark and his family live near Denver, Colorado.
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From Publisher
Meet Fred.
In his powerful new book THE FRED FACTOR, motivational speaker Mark Sanborn recounts the true story of Fred, the mail carrier who passionately loves his job and who genuinely cares about the people he serves. Because of that, he is constantly going the extra mile handling the mail - and sometimes watching over the houses - of the people on his route, treating everyone he meets as a friend. Where others might see delivering mail as monotonous drudgery, Fred sees an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those he serves.
We’ve all encountered people like Fred in our lives. In THE FRED FACTOR, Mark Sanborn illuminates the simple steps each of us can take to transform our own lives from the ordinary - into the extraordinary. Sanborn, through stories about Fred and others like him, reveals the four basic principles that will help us bring fresh energy and creativity to our life and work: how to make a real difference everyday, how to become more successful by building strong relationships, how to create real value for others without spending a penny, and how to constantly reinvent yourself.
By following these principles, and by learning from and teaching other “Freds,” you, too, can excel in your career and make your life extraodinary. As Mark Sanborn makes clear, each of us has the potential be a Fred.THE FRED FACTOR shows you how.
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Chapter One
The First Fred
Make each day your masterpiece.
- Joshua Wooden, father of John Wooden
I first met a "Fred" just after purchasing what I called a "new" old house. Built in 1928, the house was the first I'd owned and was located in a beautiful tree-lined area of Denver called Washington Park. Just days after I moved in, I heard a knock on my front door. When I opened it I saw a mailman standing on my porch.
"Good morning, Mr. Sanborn!" he said cheerfully. "My name is Fred, and I'm your postal carrier. I just stopped by to introduce myself - to welcome you to the neighborhood and find out a little bit about you and what you do for a living."
Fred was an ordinary-looking fellow of average height and build with a small mustache. While his physical appearance didn't convey anything out of the ordinary, his sincerity and warmth were noticeable immediately.
I was a bit startled. Like most of us, I had been receiving mail for years, but I had never had this kind of personal encounter with my postal carrier. I was impressed - nice touch.
"I'm a professional speaker. I don't have a real job," I replied jokingly.
"If you're a professional speaker, you must travel a lot," said Fred.
"Yes, I do. I travel anywhere from 160 to 200 days a year."
Nodding, Fred went on. "Well, if you'll just give me a copy of your schedule, I'll hold your mail and bundle it. I'll only deliver it on the days that you are at home to receive it."
I was amazed by Fred's conscientious offer, but I told him that such extra effort probably wasn't necessary. "Why don't you just leave the mail in the box on the side of the house?" I suggested. "I'll pick it up when I come back into town."
Fred frowned and shook his head. "Mr. Sanborn, burglars often watch for mail building up in a box. That tells them you're out of town. You might become the victim of a break-in." Fred was more worried about my mail than I was! But it made sense; he was the postal professional.
"Here's what I suggest, Mr. Sanborn," Fred continued. "I'll put mail in your box as long as I can get it to close. That way nobody will know you're gone. Whatever doesn't fit in the box, I'll put between the screen door and the front door. Nobody will see it there. And if that area becomes too full of mail, I'll just hold the rest of it for you until you come back into town."
At this point I started to wonder: Does this guy really work for the U.S. Postal Service? Maybe this neighborhood had its own private mail-delivery system. Still, because Fred's suggestions sounded like a terrific plan, I agreed to them.
Two weeks later I returned home from a trip. As I put the key in my-front door lock, I noticed my doormat was missing. Were thieves actually stealing doormats in Denver? Then I saw the mat in a corner of the porch, concealing something. I lifted the mat and found a note from - who else? - Fred! Reading his message, I learned what had happened. While I was gone, a different delivery service had misdelivered a package sent to me. The box had been left on somebody else's porch, five doors down the street. Noticing my box on the wrong porch, Fred had picked it up, carried it to my house, attached his note, and then tried to make the package less noticeable by placing it under the doormat.
Not only was Fred delivering the mail, he was now picking up the slack for UPS!
His actions made a huge impression on me. As a professional speaker, I am particularly adept at finding and pointing out what's "wrong" with customer service and business in general. Finding examples of what's "right" or even praiseworthy is much harder. Yet here was my postman, Fred, a gold-plated example of what personalized service looks like and a role model for anyone who wants to make a difference in his or her work.
I started using my experiences with Fred as illustrations in speeches and seminars that I presented across the United States. Everyone wanted to hear about Fred. Listeners in my audiences were enthralled, whether they worked in the service industry, at a manufacturing company, in high-tech, or in health care.
Back home in Denver, I occasionally had a chance to share with Fred how his work was inspiring others. I told him one story about a discouraged employee who received no recognition from her employers. She wrote to tell me that Fred's example had inspired her to "keep on keeping on" and continue doing what she knew in her heart was the right thing to do, regardless of recognition or reward.
I related to Fred the confession of a manager who had pulled me aside after one speech to tell me he never realized that his career goal all along was to be "a Fred." He believed that excellence and quality should be the goals of every person in any business or profession.
I was delighted to tell my postman that several companies had created a Fred Award to present to employees who demonstrated his trademark spirit of service, innovation, and commitment.
And one fan of Fred once sent him a box of homemade cookies in care of my address!
On the first Christmas after Fred became my postman, I wanted to thank him more formally for his exceptional service. I left a small gift in the mailbox for him. The next day I found an unusual letter in my box. The envelope had a stamp on it, but it wasn't canceled. That's when I noticed the return address; the letter was from Fred the Postman.
Fred knew it would be illegal to put an unpostmarked letter in the box, so even though he personally carried it from his house to my house, he had done the right thing by placing a stamp on the letter.
I opened the letter, which said in part, "Dear Mr. Sanborn, Thank you for remembering me at Christmas. I am flattered you talk about me in your speeches and seminars, and I hope I can continue to provide exceptional service. Sincerely, Fred the Postman."
Over the next ten years, I received consistently remarkable service from Fred. I could always tell which days he wasn't working my street by the way the mail was jammed into my box. When Fred was on the job, all items were neatly bundled.
But there was more. Fred also took a personal interest in me. One day while I was mowing the front lawn, a vehicle slowed in the street. The window went down and a familiar voice yelled, "Hello, Mr. Sanborn! How was your trip?"
It was Fred, off duty, driving around the neighborhood.
After observing his exemplary attitude and actions, I concluded that Fred - and the way he did his job - provides a perfect metaphor for high individual achievement and excellence in the twenty-first century. Fred - and the countless other Freds I've met, observed, or been served by in numerous professions - inspired me to write The Fred Factor. It contains the simple yet profound lessons all the Freds around the world have taught me.
Anyone can be a Fred! That includes you! The result will not just be extraordinary effort and success in your work. You'll find yourself living an extraordinary life as well. |
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| View all 8 comments |
Brian Tracy, author of Focal Point and Goals, USA
<2007-11-16 00:00>
The Fred Factor is a powerful, poignant parable of success. It’s about going the extra mile and always doing more than is expected. It is revolutionary, yet simple. It is life changing. |
C. Chu (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-16 00:00>
Short and catchy, this book is an easy read about ordinary people who have ordinary jobs but do it with passion and a true concern for their customers. Fred, the postman, may have a routine job as many see it, but he treats the people on his route as personal friends, looks out for them and greets them personally.
I've used a few questions from this book successfully when interviewing candidates and gauging their response for their sense of customer service. Among them are:
1) Who are your heros and why?
2) Why would anyone do more than necessary?
3) Tell me three things that you think will delight most customers/clients/consumers?
4) What was the coolest thing that ever happened to you as a customer?
5) What is service?
From these answers I can tell if someone has a customer focus, a self-sacrificial ability to go that extra mile, or if they are basically self-centered. What I want, in addition to technical skills, is the ability of a person to delight customers and do it from the heart, not just as a cursory "have a nice day." But to really mean it and look for ways to help. |
B. Sudhakar Shenoy (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-16 00:00>
This real life story has the potential to change our lives. I loved every word in this short book especially after a very recent Fred experience. I can confirm that Freds exist and we need to learn a lot from such great souls, though they may be employed in very ordinary jobs.
Last fortnight, while on a short vacation with my family on the west coast of India we had engaged a taxi for four days for sight seeing. Suddenly there was a local strike on a sensitive political issue and all roads were blocked. While we were feeling very insecure and afraid of being caught in mob fury in the middle of our tour, the taxi driver made sure that he took us to our hotel safely, talking his way through small groups of miscreants who tried stopping vehicles from plying. We had to stay overnight at a hotel to continue the journey the next day when normalcy was restored. To my surprise, the taxi driver would not charge us anything for the extra time he had spent for us and on the other hand was feeling sorry that we were inconvenienced during our vacation. He invited us to visit the place once again so that he could take us to some more interesting places nearby. While he dropped us off at the airport, I just couldn't resist hugging him with a big THANK YOU from our family. I promptly rewarded him with a fat tip for taking such good care of us. Exceptional service from a very ordinary taxi driver.
This book teaches us to become Freds, locate Freds and create Freds. Mark, I am grateful to you for this extraordinary book. I also salute the real Fred who works for the U.S. Postal service in Denver who inspired you to write the book. |
Henry Cate III (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-16 00:00>
This short book focuses on a mailman Mark Sanborn met, a man named Fred. When the author first met Fred, Fred took an effort to get to know his new customer, and find ways to do a better job as a mailman. This book about the value of doing a better job, how to build relationships, and why we should take initiative. In short by going the extra mile we'll have a better life, and others will benefit.
It is a good book, and a short book. It is well written. The book is entertaining and at the same time makes many good points.
The first of four sections covers how the author met Fred the mailman, and how very quickly the author realized that Fred was a superstar mail carrier. The basics of what a "Fred" is are explored, and then the author mentions sightings of other "Freds."
The second section explains how you can become a Fred. Basically you need to build relationships with others so you know them well enough to then be able to be create, take initiative and make a difference.
The third section gives pointers on how you can help others grow into being Freds. The basic steps are to:
1) Find - how do you recognize a Fred
2) Reward - how should Freds be rewarded
3) Educate - how help people improve their Fredness
4) Demonstrate - model the correct behavior
The final section recounts the value and importance of being a Fred.
This is a book worth reading. It provides a good reminder and motivation to go the extra mile and do a better job. |
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