The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn is a book about how passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Below are various quotes from the author and quotes that he mentions by other people that I related with in the book.
Make each day your masterpiece. Joshua Wooden
Whatever you are, be a good one. Abraham Lincoln
Principle #1: Everyone Makes a Difference
There are no unimportant jobs, just people who feel unimportant in their jobs. Mark Sanborn
There is more credit and satisfaction in being a first-rate truck driver than a tenth-rate executive. B.C. Forbes, founder of Forbes magazine
Faithfully doing your best, independent of the support, acknowledgement, or reward of others, is a key determinant in a fulfilling career. Mark Sanborn
Principle #2: Success is built on relationships
Service becomes personalized when a relationship exists between the provider and the customer. Mark Sanborn
…relationship building is the most important objective because the quality of the relationship determines the quality of the product or service. Mark Sanborn
The 7 B’s of Relationship Building
- Be Real.
- Be interested (not just interesting).
- Be a better listener.
- Be empathetic.
- Be honest. Say what you’ll do and do what you say.
- Be helpful.
- Be prompt.
Principle #3: You must continually create value for others, and it doesn’t have to cost a penny
The object is to outthink your competition rather than outspend them. Mark Sanborn
Sanborn’s Maxim says that the faster you try to solve a problem with money, the less likely it will be the best solution. Mark Sanborn
There are two types of people who never achieve very much in their lifetimes. One is the person who won’t do what he or she is told to, and the other is the person who does no more than he or she is told to do. Andrew Carnegie
Principle #4: Reinvent yourself regularly
IQ = Implementation Quotient. It’s the difference between having a good idea and implementing it.
Practice one a day. If you had to do everything in an extraordinary manner, you’d barely make it to work in the morning. Focus on doing one extraordinary thing per day. If you do that 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, your life will soon be a record book full of extraordinary.
Compete with yourself. There will always be people who accomplish more or less than you. It’s more productive and fun to compete against and benchmark yourself.
Becoming a Fred
You change the world of another driver when you allow her to change lanes abruptly without blaring your horn, recognizing that she too is human and fallible. Of course you alter her world in a different way if you blast your horn, yell and gesture obscenely.
You also change the world of a coworker, a customer, a vendor, or a cafeteria worker with your smile or your frown.
No these aren’t dramatic changes. They won’t alter the course of world affairs or bring about a cure for AIDS. But whose to say these little changes don’t have a cumulative, profound effect in the lives of others and, ultimately, in your own life. Mark Sanborn
The fact is that everybody is already making a difference every day. The key question is, What kind of difference is each of us making. Mark Sanborn
Developing Other Freds
There is something that is much more scarce, something finer by far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability. Elbert Hubbard
When people feel that their contributions are unappreciated, they will stop trying. And when that happens, innovation dies. Mark Sanborn
You teach what you know but you reproduce who you are. John C. Maxwell
You can preach a better sermon with your life than your lips. Oliver Goldsmith
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle
At the Day of Judgment we shall not be asked what we have read but what we have done. Thomas A Kempis
