Fred is a decorated veteran Army officer with command level leadership experience. His programs include historically proven leadership methods, character development, and real world job skills. Fred has given presentations to tens of thousands of students and teachers, as well as Generals, CEO's, and Congressmen. Fred's military experience and leadership training are the foundations of his success. These are the same lessons he brings to your students.
His personal stories of success and failure connect with students on a deeper level.
Fred is also an outdoor enthusiast, fly fisherman, and backpacker who’s come so close to a bear in the dark that it was able to sniff the back of his head. He's been chased by a mother moose, mother goose, and one very aggressive sparrow, all on the same day. Plus, he's been struck by lighting twice.
Becoming an Army officer wasn’t easy for Fred. He has had to learn to manage and deal with the difficulties of being dyslexic. Fred struggled throughout his schooling barely graduating high school and literally having to talk his way into the leading Senior Military University in the nation.
On the Personal Side
I credit the lessons I learned from military leadership as the foundation of my success, both in and out of the military. These are the same leadership lessons I teach students. After serving in the military, I complete my my master’s degree in marketing, and later I earned my master's in education. All this schooling sounds so crazy to me because all I wanted from school when I was young was out of school.
Early in my civilian life I had a great job working for a Fortune 25 company were we built a completely new business unit. We were a major success to start with, both financially and within the business community. Ultimately, the unit failed almost as quickly as we developed it. I really learned a lot about business success and failure from that experience.
After that, I shifted my focus to serving others. I took a huge pay cut and went to work for a non-profit. My job was to develop workforce needs for adults with mental disabilities. Sounds fancy right? Basically, I was responsible for finding work for adults with special needs. My team and I were very successful and I loved that job. I was fortunate enough to travel the country speaking to others about how we found success. This was when I became excited about speaking as a way of helping others.
My Early Years
Growing up, I was a happy- go-lucky kid with a big brother and a dog to play with. My father was an officer in the Army and my mom stayed home with the kids. Everything was great until I started school, where I suffered significant academic challenges. But I was fortunate; I was diagnosed with dyslexia in the second grade. At that time, in the early 1970's, this diagnosis was unusual. Though they could tell my parents what I "had" they couldn't tell them what to do about it.
It was decided that I would repeat the second grade and attend selective special education classes. So I found myself missing out on regular instruction in order to receive additional attention for reading, grammar and math, and I fell further behind.
Ultimately, I survived the academics, the bullying, and my own mischief, and graduated high school at the bottom of my class. Upon graduation I literally talked my way into North Georgia College, the leading Senior Military University in the country. I graduated in the top third of my class and earned a commission as an officer in the US Army, and in time earned the rank of Major and received a number of distinguished service awards. Not too bad for a kid they never thought would graduate high school.
My Current Passion
My passion for working with students started almost 30 years ago in the military when I was training young students to become soldiers. It was then that I recognized the value of quality teaching and training and how important this can be for students. It's the lessons I learned in the military that I still teach today. I started volunteering at my local middle school and my passion for working with students grew. I spent 15 years as a youth pastor. I've transitioned to reaching students on a broader scale as a speaker and trainer for the past 6 years, reaching nearly 250,000 students.
In my presentations, you’ll learn leadership lessons, leadership hacks, and how to identify what makes you an expert. As a bestselling author, I have two books that contain much of his experience, passion and stories. Who’s In Charge of Bob? Moving from Ordinary to Extraordinary, and my newest book; B.A.S.I.C. The Student Leadership Field Manual, Leadership Lessons for Every Student.
On stage or in my workshops, you’ll witness my "military flare" when I physically engage the audience, and through my funny, but clean, Army stories. Be ready to get on your feet, call cadence, and be inspired to take command.
