Kevin and the kids..

Just back from a skiing week in Vermont. My regular readers will know last year on this trip my son, then age 9, broke ulna, radius, tibia, fibula….he did better this time and avoided the barn.

We did reconnect with Kevin Fitzpatrick. He is a ski instructor at Okemo and went out of his way last year to make that experience a good one. He truly went above and beyond the call of duty….He is also an outstanding instructor and we get along with him well. Our family spent alot of quality time with him last week. Okay, he isn’t just an instructor, he is OUR instructor.

This brings me to a book called The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn. It isn’t a new book but the principles are solid and relate so well to Kevin.

Sanborn writes Principle number 1: Everyone makes a difference. I add that some make a positive difference and some make a negative difference but everyone does make a difference.

Principle number 2: Everything is built on relationships. Kevin and my family have a relationship. He has a blog to foster and maintain the relationship. We eat lunch together when his schedule supported it.

Principle number 3: You must continually create value for others, and it doesn’t have to cost a penny. Kevin would join us for lunch. He would ski an extra hour with us at the end of the day. He was done with lessons for the day and this was his time to enjoy the mountain. He chose to do that with us. Marketing? Sure. Adding value. Yes.

Principle number 4: You can reinvent yourself regularly. Kevin lost 50 pounds this past year. He also kids me that I ski like a fossil. Meaning, he and I grew up in a time when feet tight together and skis parallel was the way to ski. Well, technology has changed the ski which has changed the way we ski. I am adapting. Kevin is already there. As an instructor he had to learn a new way of skiing before he could teach it. Not an easy thing to do – change something you have been doing for a lifetime.

I suspect we will ski again next year. I hold out hope for the golf resort but my wife nor my son golf. I have a friend who has offered me his place in Telluride. There are many mountains that might be nice to visit. However, Okemo remains near the top of the list of where we might ski next year.

It isn’t about the mountain. It is about Kevin. Are you a Kevin? Or to quote Sanborn, are you a Fred?

Are you creating the conditions for people to even want to be a Fred or Kevin? Great leadership does that. It creates more Kevins and more Freds.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Excellence, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.