Boota, Jessica J
Book Title : The Fred Factor, By Mark Sanborn
Content Areas: The Parables
Summary: The Fred Factor is a true story. It discusses how passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. The work highlights the life of a mail carrier who loves his job, he cares about the people he deals with, is genuine in his work and is very caring towards his customers. He goes an extra mile giving out mail. On his route, he also watches out over the houses of the people. Everyone is his friend. He makes a difference in his service. The author,
Mark Sanborn illuminates the steps that everyone can take in changing the lives of others. This can be done by transforming the ordinary to the extraordinary.
The Fred Factor is a Parable of success and is very motivating. It changes the reader’s attitude toward work and life. Fred is a postman who serves his customers with exceptional service and commitment. He was a professional postman .According to Mark Sanborn, “He believed that excellence and quality should be the goals of every person in any business or profession.”
(Sanborn 6) .According to Mr. Sanborn, there are four principles that apply to any person in any profession:
1. Everyone makes a difference.
2. Success is built on relationships
3. You must continually create value for others, and it doesn’t have to cost a penny.
4. You can reinvent yourself regularly.
Any individual, in any organization whether large or small can make a difference. As Sanborn states “Where others might have seen delivering mail as monotonous drudgery, Fred saw an opportunity to make the lives of his customers more enjoyable. He chose to make a positive difference” (Sanborn 6). Also Mark discusses how relationship contributes towards a service. He states “It’s easy to see why Fred stood above the crowd. Indifferent people deliver impersonal service. Service becomes personalized when a relationship exists between the provider and the customer.” (Sanborn11). He also points out a very important point that value can be created for customers and this will not even cost a single penny. According to Mark Sanborn “Fred mastered the most important job skill of the twenty-first century: the ability to create value for customers without spending more money to do it” (Sanborn 12). The story also tells us that Fred enjoyed his job. To some it may sound monotonous but he performed his job differently and so loved it.
As he said “You can convert your job into one you love, not by doing a different job, but by doing the one you have differently. That’s what made Fred unique.” (Sanborn 30)There are a lot of opportunities that Fred took advantage of to help others.

The author, Mark Sanborn explains how a person can be developed into a Fred or teams of Fred.
He says that whoever reads “The Fred Factor”, can become a Fred, by adapting the work habits of Fred. Companies need people who have excellent customer service. It is fun and feels good to make other people happy. But besides this it is also important to re-invent yourself and your job.
When you find out what is important, and what else you could provide just as easily that would make your job easier, you will be looked upon as a valued colleague. If you keep providing value to other colleagues, then this will be noticed and you may be asked to participate in interesting projects.
Find
Are Freds born or made? Some people are born with predisposition to be Fred like. It is good to have the characteristics of Fred. The more Freds you attract to your organization or team the more successful you will be. There are 3 basic ways to seek out Fred, both inside and outside your organization. They are the following:
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1. Let them find you
If you want your company to be world class then your company must be the one that attracts Fred. People want to work for companies that offer them a change and a chance.
The change is the opportunity to work for an organization that recognizes rewards, encourages, and values Freds. The chance is to become better than one has ever been.
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2. Discover Dormant Fred
One should watch for people who flair. Some of the tips are, an elegant client meeting, or a clever suggestion. These are all possible tip-offs that a dormant Fred is standing right before your eyes.
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3. Hire Fred.
It is a challenge to hire a Fred. You need to know how to identify a potential Fred in an interview.
A team of Freds led by Fred is very successful. Any organization can truly maximize the potential of the Fred Factor when leaders and followers share the same value and commitment.
The challenge is finding the people who are Fred like. The solution is to discover them, attract them, and hire them. Over time anyone can build a winning team of Fred.
Reward:
We can get the behavior we reward. According to Dr. Le Boeuf it is a matter of rewarding the right behavior and using the right rewards. When Fred factor is fully operative the smallest

gesture makes the world a better place. People should be rewarded for the right behavior. When people feel that their contributions are appreciated, they will stop trying. Organizations should implement the reward strategy. Rewarding others is not hard to do. One should make sure that team members know that they are making an important contribution. Remember the reward formula and apply. Recognize a contribution, reinforce its positive effects on your business and repeat.
Educate:
The brighter you are the more you will learn. If people are taught only ordinary skills, they will only know how to do ordinary work. As the author says “Every organization in the world today should be teaching employers how to be extraordinary work.” The benefit of learning these things is that it will make you a better leader. This is how you can do it.
1. Find examples everywhere.
2. Dissect and Debrief.
3. Looking for ways to improve it.
4. Identifying opportunities to apply it.
Demonstrate:
Here are some suggestions to inspire your employees to serve your customers, vendors, and fellow employees in a better way:
1. Inspire, but don’t intimidate
2. Involve
3. Initiate
4. Improvise
Discuss what you learned from this book as it relates to leadership.
I have learned a lot from this book. It is a true story. It explains how people can change the life of others. The heart of leadership is service. From a leadership point of view, it tells us how we can make a difference. According to Sanborn, “The purpose of this book is to help you think ,act, and become Fred-Like, to bring the same spirit of magnanimity to your work, relationships, and

life as Fed did to his –not periodically, but persistently.” (Sanborn 36) There are three strategies that can be used to do so.
Strategy 1: Identify when you will make a difference
Strategy 2: Target the people to whom you will make a difference
Strategy 3: Be the difference
It also tells us that we should not do anything for praise. This will only bring short goals, but in the long run it can be like icing on the cake. Fred believed in Excellence, wisdom, and dedication. He said that “Excellence, wisdom, and dedication are all functioning parts of Fred’s world” (Sanborn 31).He set an inspiring example for companies and organizations, teammates, customers, friends and families. I have also learned that a little extra time and affection changes the world around us. Anyone can make a difference by affecting another person, group or situation. We can make a positive difference by paying attention to others, giving them the respect they deserve, and politely serving them. In contrast to this we can produce a negative difference, by neglecting, criticizing and belittling others, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Fred builds relationships with his customers. These are the seven B’s for relationship building.
 Be interested
 Be a better listener
 Be empathetic
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Be honest
 Be helpful
Be prompt
 Be Real
Critique the book.Be certain to discuss one point that you disagree with and why you disagreed with it. What was the most important point you learned from reading the book?
Would you recommend the book to someone else? Why or why not?
One point that I disagree with is that it is not possible to have a personal relationship i.e. relationship between employer and employee. This can have benefits but at the same time can be devastating.
A professional distance should be maintained. Surely, a personal relationship can be based upon mutual respect and still be professional, but it should be limited.

I have enjoyed reading this book “The Fred Factor.” It is a true story about a mail carrier who makes a difference and also introduces us to many other real people making a difference in the world. I recommend this book to professionals so that they can be more like Fred by incorporating the Fred Factor in their life as this would help them to do something special for others and their selves.
The most important point I have learned from reading this book is that we should care about the people we serve. We should try to go an extra mile and treat others as a friend. Where some of the work may seem monotonous, we do not realize that there are opportunities with which we can make a difference in the lives of others we serve. There are four basic principles that help bring energy and creativity to life and work. They are:
1. How to make a real difference every day
2. How to become more successful by building strong relationships
3. How to create real value for others without spending a penny
4. How to constantly reinvent yourself.
Fred Simon, is a distinguished author and business leader. He saw an opportunity to make the lives of his customer more enjoyable. He made a positive difference. Fred was motivated to do well to others and this made him feel good. He treated his customers and others as a friend. He likes to help others and make the life of other people easy. He said that we should treat others; just the way we treat our selves. It is important to have the heart of Fred .The most important thing is love. He did his job with compassion and his work becomes extraordinary. This is one of the most important points. I have learned from this book. Also, I have learned in this book is that love is important. Fred loved his customers because of which, he become a good postman who made a difference. He cared about his customers and served them with love and care.
I would encourage others to read this book.It is enriching and shows you how you can enrich other people’s lives. It also tells us how to make raving Fan customers. It can start the career for someone. This book contains parables. It is about doing extra work for people that are doing more for people than it is expected. The Fred factor is a good book to read to develop professionally and make a difference in other people’s lives. It is a valuable book. When I read this book I was inspired by it. It is about giving normal people extraordinary service. Mark
Sanborn clearly built a road map to knowing, the difference that every person can make.