What’s a Fred? What does a Fred do? How can I be a Fred?
A Fred is someone who wants to make life a little easier for others. Someone who is a Fred does small random acts of kindness to help others. They do extraordinary things in their ordinary lives. Fred Factor is a book written by Mark Sanborn. Fred was Mark’s mailman. Fred always went out of his way to help Mark in any way he could. He didn’t do huge things to change the world but he did things that helped change Mark’s world. Mark was a professional speaker and started speaking about Fred. Many people realized all they ever wanted to do was be a Fred.
“One thing I do know: Fred, and the way he did his job, is a perfect metaphor for anyone who wants to achieve and excel in the 21st century. Truth is transferable, and the four principles I learned from Fred apply to any person in any profession. ” -Mark Sanborn
The Leadership Institute at Central Michigan University gave all the LAS 2015 recipients a Fred Factor book. In LDR 100, we were then told to become Freds. Our final project was a group project on being Freds. My group had many ideas but we decided to implement a random acts of kindness throughout campus. We all made cards that said things like “you are beautiful, have a great day, donate an old piece of clothing, and write a letter to an old teacher that you appreciate.” Some of the cards had compliment and by giving those out we were being Freds. Some of the cards had a random act on them which encouraged others to be a Fred. One of our goals was to brighten peoples day. We believe we did because we had multiple people thank us through our hashtag, #cmurandomacts. We didn’t change the world but we did make a difference in the lives of others and that’s what matters.
Savannah Fraser 